Here’s how DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh makes $1million per year from ‘Ridiculousness’ theme song

nme.com:

DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh has revealed that he makes $1million per year from the Ridiculousness theme song alone.The vocalist, composer and co-founder of the iconic band has made a name for himself outside of the line-up, going on to develop music for TV series and scores for movies.

Now, in a new interview he has revealed that it is the 20-second-long theme tune for Ridiculousness that is his biggest source of income.The comedy series – which is hosted by Rob Dyrek – has been on the air since 2011 and showcases a selection of viral clips that have been making the rounds online.

Its theme song is a reworked version of the DEVO track ‘Uncontrollable Urge’.“I’ve written so many other songs for films and television shows,” the artist told Rolling Stone. “I would’ve been shocked [years ago] if you told me this is the one that would become the prime source of income.”His wife and manager, Anita Greenspan, also reflected on the huge success the show – and therefore the theme song – has had on MTV throughout the years, and explained how there is a sense of irony with the track being so prominent on the channel.“In the beginning of MTV, you saw a lot of DEVO because they were early to make videos, but MTV started questioning the videos DEVO were making,” she said. “[Their videos] were subversive, they didn’t like them and wouldn’t play them anymore… Now ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ is easily the most-played song on MTV, so [DEVO] wins.”Mothersbaugh reiterated the comments and revealed that the theme for Ridiculousness alone brings in around $1million each year. “MTV stopped playing us but we came to the other side of the circle,” he said.