How much were artists paid to perform at Woodstock ‘99 in Central New York?
The concert festival, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Woodstock, was held July 22-25, 1999, at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y. Performers included Limp Bizkit, KoRn, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Jewel, Fatboy Slim, Alanis Morissette, DMX, Kid Rock, Dave Matthews Band and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Official numbers for the Woodstock ‘99 talent fees have long been kept under wraps, but one artist has revealed how little he got. MC Serch of 3rd Bass revealed in a new interview that the hip-hop group received just $1,000 — split three ways — to appear on stage on opening day.
“So the funny thing was we were like one of the first, if not the first group, to perform at Woodstock (’99). That was Thursday,” MC Serch told “Track Star,” an online music game show, earlier this month.
“We literally set an alarm and you just see a wave of people running to the stage… the promoters of Woodstock didn’t really realize how significant we were as a group ‘cause we [had been] disbanded for more than 6 years,” he continued. “By the time we got back to the mobile homes where they had us [staying], they were like ‘Yo, we need you to stay for the whole weekend.’ And we were like ‘Yeah, f— you, man. We out of here.’”
“Yo, they paid us $1,000. We split $333 each. I still got the check, ‘cause the check’s more valuable than the dough.”
He might have a point. Even with inflation, his cut would be just $647 in today’s dollars while Woodstock remains a legendary brand.
By comparison, the then-little-unknown band Santana was paid $750 for the 1969 Woodstock festival (or $6,603 adjusted for inflation in 2025). Headliner Jimi Hendrix received $18,000 (or $158,000 adjusted for inflation), while artists like The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Sly & The Family Stone received between $6,250 and $7,500 (between $55,000 and $66,000 in today’s dollars).
Woodstock 50 never happened at Watkins Glen due to financial and organizational problems, but all of the 2019 performers — including Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, Santana, The Lumineers, Dead & Company, John Fogerty, Halsey and Imagine Dragons — were paid in advance for a total of $30 million. Individual fees were not disclosed, but Jay-Z was reportedly receiving upwards of $1 million for a gig at the time.
MC Serch, whose real name is Michael Berrin, is a rapper who co-founded 3rd Bass with Pete Nice and DJ Richie Rich in the late 1980s. They released two albums, scoring hits in 1990 with “The Gas Face” and in 1991 with the Vanilla Ice diss track “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
Rapper MC Serch (aka Michael Berrin) of 3rd Bass appears backstage at the 7th Annual New York Music Awards held at The China Club on November 1, 1991 in New York City. (Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Getty Images
3rd Bass broke up in 1992, but the trio has reunited several times over the years, including for Woodstock ‘99. Berrin previously told Rolling Stone that the booking agent knew he wanted to perform but they still felt slighted by the low pay, “half-assed dressing room” in a mobile home “with no bathroom and no shower,” and pressure to keep their set short because of a scheduled performance on the main stage.
“We were on the second stage… They were telling us, ‘You got 30 minutes, get on, get off,’” he told the magazine in 2014.
MC Serch estimated 10,000 people came to see the 3rd Bass reunion, prompting promoters to ask them to do nearly a full hour — plus another set on on the main stage Sunday. He said they refused, happily missing out on the ensuing chaos that included oppressive heat, looting, vandalism and fires.
“I still have my check, I refuse to cash it,” he told Rolling Stone. “I kept it because it says ‘Woodstock Inc.’”
The souvenir is pretty nice, but not cashing it means he could’ve missed out on some value. According to Nerd Wallet, if he invested $333 in 1999, he could’ve made $3,968.75 just by leaving it in a stock market fund with 10% growth over the last 26 years.
But Serch, 58, kept plenty busy over the years. The New York rapper helped discover hip-hop legend Nas, hosted radio shows in Detroit, led VH1’s reality TV series “ego trip’s The (White) Rapper Show,” and performed on a 3rd Bass reunion tour earlier this year.
More than 400,000 people attended the first Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, held Aug. 15-18, 1969, at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near White Lake in the Catskill Mountains. The iconic concert was revisited in 1994 with a modern lineup of artists like Nine Inch Nails and Green Day in Saugerties, but the festival effectively ended when Woodstock ’99 was marred by riots, fires and allegations of sexual assault.
See video of 3rd Bass’ performance at Woodstock ‘99 on YouTube, plus MC Serch’s “Track Star” interview below:
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