Music

Fugazi's Ian MacKaye is allegedly worth $25 million

by Mark Teo

Former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye, if you’ll believe his reputation, is passionate about D.I.Y. Fugazi, his post-hardcore project, steadfastly set door prices at their shows at a meagre $5 (they then relented, shifting to a pay-what-you-can model). His label, Dischord Records, famously doesn’t charge more than $11 for a 12-inch vinyl LP—ignoring that fact that inflation is, y’know, an actual real thing. In an interview with website Kicking Against the Pricks, MacKaye summarized his ethos succinctly:  “I’ve been running a record label. I’m booking the bands, driving, managing; doing everything,” he said. “That’s our work. I don’t have to play music for a living. I play music to live.”

And playing music D.I.Y.-style would seem to be fulfilling. Noble. Maybe even rebellious. But apparently, it’s pretty damn lucrative, too. How lucrative, you ask?

MacKaye’s net worth is reportedly $25 million.

Of course, this might be complete bullshit. The site doesn’t specify how or where they obtained these statistics (we spotted this at the Daily Swarm),  though they’re correct in noting that Justin Bieber is worth $110 million. (Meaning that riches-wise, MacKaye’s worth roughly a quarter of the Biebs.) And, according to the site, MacKaye’s worth the same as The Game, while he’s much wealthier than Psy ($10 million) or Steve Aoki ($20 million). Of course, D.I.Y. isn’t the most profitable pursuit: Mick Jagger is allegedly worth $300 million, Prince is worth $250 million, and Jon Bon Jovi is worth $125 million.

It could all be hogwash—even if its author is supposedly “a real estate tycoon but is also a fanatic of editorial production…. [who] managed a powerhouse content production team in the past, [who] launched TheRichest as a passion project”—and therichest.org could be the product of cybersquatting. But we certainly hope not, because in a just world, Ian MacKaye net worth isn’t tangible—but it’s at least $25 million.