On NPR’s Planet Money blog is this breakdown of the hypothetical cost of a hit pop song for a record label, using artist Rihanna. I find it fascinating for two reasons: getting a glimpse at the process that record labels use to create hits, and getting an idea of the relative costs of doing business. For example, the cost of supporting talent—songwriters, producers, production—tallies to $78,000, on average, for a single song. The lion’s share of the money goes to marketing, flying the artist around for promotions, and schmoozing the radio people, adding $1,000,000.00 to the total bill. If the song makes all that money back, then Rihanna gets paid. What a weird business model…