In case you’re not jealous of Justin Bieber already (and be honest, you are), you may be after seeing he was ranked 10^th on Forbes’ list of the highest earning musicians for 2012.  The Canadian pop sensation, who tied with country star Toby Keith is the 10^th spot, collected a cool $55 million in the past 12 months from his studio album, world tour, and investments in Spotify, Tinychat, and other ventures.

“I do calls every week with my business manager and my lawyer,” Bieber told Forbes earlier this year. “Each week I’m learning something about my business and what I need to know for my career.”

Somewhat surprisingly, hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre topped the list, mostly due to his Beats by Dre line of headphones. Dre earned $100 million pretax from HTC’s purchase of a 51 per cent stake in the headphone company (he and his business partner later bought back half the shares they sold). Dre earned a total of $110 million over the past 12 months before taxes.

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Here’s a short but interesting article that appeared on the New York Times’ website about the creation of the iconic Rat distortion peddle. It also includes a short interview with musician and producer Gordon Raphael, who’s most famous for his production work on The Strokes’ first two albums.

From www.nytimes.com:

“Yes, there were literally rats down there,” says Scott Burnham, who in the mid-’70s hunkered down in a basement in Kalamazoo, Mich., in search of a new sound for garage bands. At the time, Burnham worked as Hippie in Charge of Technology — his official title — for a manufacturer of electric-guitar cables and accessories called Pro Co Sound. While customers wandered around the company’s first-floor showroom, Burnham tinkered below. “I had started thinking about what would make a killer distortion pedal,” he says.

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The lineup in front of Elements, a dance club and concert venue in downtown Kitchener, ON, began a few hours prior to the performance with diehards and casual listeners alike waiting eagerly in anticipation for two Vancouver-based performers: avant-garde alt-rockers Mother Mother and quirky indie pop songstress Hannah Georgas.

Prior to the show, CM‘s Brenin Edmunds had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan Guldemond (lead vocals, guitar) and Ali Sadat (drums, percussion) to discuss their newest album, The Sticks, their plans for boosting their profile in the U.S., and plenty more.

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