The Wiggles - A Case Study For Comic Creators?

Ok, bear with me. As the father of a pre-school child, The Wiggles is all the rage in my house. I wondered about their success, hearing that they were the highest paid entertainment group in Australia in 2007 for making $45 million AU (about $35 million American), so I went and did some digging. Turns out they could teach a thing or two to some comic creators.

They started out in a very grassroots style, with an unusual approach to their performances. They played at pre-schools, malls, and other off the path places. They paid for everything, including the making of their music, so that they retained all the rights. They even produced their first video themselves, getting family members to help out and using quick and dirty video techniques to get it to work. They've worked incredibly hard the past 15 years (yes fifteen long years) and have even launched their own production studio to do their own videos, of which they are executive producers.

All of this I found interesting for would be creators looking to make it in the comic book world. It will take a lot of hard work, trying out unusual and unexpected things, networking like crazy, making sure their creative rights are kept safe so that they can capitalize on them when needed. The Wiggles aren't a perfect indicator of how to go about things by any means, they do have to sing and dance to the demands of children the world over, but for 45 million? Sign me up.