In recent years, the rise of music streaming services has drastically changed the way people consume music. While these platforms offer convenience and accessibility for listeners, the same cannot be said for the artists themselves. Reports have shed light on just how little money artists are making from their music on these streaming platforms.
Amount artists earn per stream vs. Amount of streams needed to earn $1 .
This report from headphonesty.com has shed light on just how little music streaming platforms pay artists per stream.
The report revealed that Amazon Music pays artists the least per stream, at a rate of $0.004. This is followed by Pandora, which pays artists $0.0013 per stream. While Tidal pays the highest rate at $0.013, it is worth noting that the platform has a much smaller user base compared to other streaming services.
Spotify, one of the most popular streaming platforms globally, pays artists just $0.0033 per stream. This means that for an artist to earn a modest living of $30,000 per year, their music would have to be streamed over 9 million times.
Apple Music pays a high rate among major streaming platforms at $0.01 per stream. However, this still falls short of what many artists consider to be fair compensation for their work.
The low payouts from music streaming platforms have been a source of frustration for many musicians. Some have even accused these services of exploiting artists and failing to provide fair compensation for their work.
Music streaming platforms have transformed the way people listen to music. With the convenience of being able to access millions of songs on demand, more people are turning to music streaming services than ever before.
Data from businessofapps.com and thehill.com shows that as of 2021, Spotify has the largest user base among music streaming platforms, with over 365 million monthly active users worldwide. The platform offers a free, ad-supported version as well as a premium version that costs $9.99 per month for an individual subscription. Students and family plans are also available at a discounted rate.
Apple Music, which has over 60 million subscribers worldwide, charges the same subscription fee as Spotify for its premium service. However, it does not offer a free, ad-supported version like Spotify.
Amazon Music has over 55 million users globally, with an additional 150 million Amazon Prime members who have access to a limited music streaming library. The platform offers a basic subscription plan at $7.99 per month for Prime members and a premium plan at $9.99 per month for non-Prime members.
YouTube Music also has a significant user base, with over 50 million subscribers as of 2021. The platform offers a free, ad-supported version, as well as a premium version called YouTube Music Premium, which costs $9.99 per month for an individual subscription. A family plan is also available for $14.99 per month, which allows up to six family members to use the service. Additionally, YouTube Premium, which includes ad-free access to both YouTube Music and YouTube videos, costs $11.99 per month for an individual subscription and $17.99 per month for a family plan.
Tidal, which is owned by Jay-Z, has a smaller user base than the other services mentioned, with approximately 3 million subscribers worldwide. However, the platform is known for its high-fidelity audio quality and exclusive content. The standard Tidal subscription costs $9.99 per month, while the HiFi subscription, which offers lossless audio quality, costs $19.99 per month.
Streaming platforms paying artists a very low amount per stream has sparked a lot of conversation on Twitter.Many people calling for music streaming platforms to pay artists more fairly. One user tweeted, "It's insane that artists are making so little money from streaming platforms. They're the ones creating the content that these companies profit from!" Another user wrote, "I love being able to access all this music on streaming platforms, but it's not fair that the artists are getting ripped off. They deserve to be paid more."
indie bands and artists very often get taken advantage of by recording companies and/or managers and get paid way less than they deserve while putting in 2x the work. per stream on spotify, they get paid $0.003-$0.005. i’d advocate for that to be better if i were you.
— cat 𖦹 (@pearlyddewdrops) February 25, 2023
i do not get why anyone would want to put their music out EXCLUSIVELY on streaming platforms unless:
— MtH (@emmnyaa) February 21, 2021
- they dont really want to make money off of it and just care about accessibility and outreach
- they already make enough money through other means (merch etc)
Now thinking bout it Spotify pay is so messed up. I get less than $0.002 per stream bro.
— Connor Gray (57-25), (RD1: 4-2), (RD2: 0-1) (@thisdudeconnor) April 26, 2023
Maaan I’m just tryna get us paid like at least 1 cent per stream
— Mack Keane (@MackKeane) November 2, 2022
Some artists have also spoken out about the issue, with Taylor Swift famously pulling her music from Spotify in 2014 over the platform's low artist compensation rates. In a past tweet, Swift called on Spotify to "put songwriters and creators first" and increase its payments to artists.
While the issue of artist compensation on music streaming platforms is complex and multifaceted, it is clear that many people believe that artists deserve to be paid more fairly for their work. As the music industry continues to evolve and adapt to new technologies and platforms, it will be important for all stakeholders to work together to ensure that artists are fairly compensated for their contributions.
The controversy surrounding artist compensation on music streaming platforms has prompted many stakeholders to speak out about the issue, including the CEOs of some of the world's largest music streaming services. As we previously reported, the amount of money paid to artists per stream varies across different platforms, with Spotify at just $0.003 per stream, while Tidal pays the most, at $0.013 per stream.
While many artists and music industry experts have spoken out about the issue, the CEOs of music streaming platforms have also weighed in. Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, has been particularly vocal in an interview with musically.com. Spotify doesn’t think it’s doing anything wrong. In fact, the streaming company believes it’s the artists who aren’t doing enough to help themselves.
“There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough,” said Ek.
Other music streaming platform CEOs have also addressed the issue, with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, stating in an interview that "artists deserve to be paid for their work," and Jay-Z, the founder of Tidal, advocating for a "stream-to-own" model in which fans can purchase a song after a certain number of streams.
In March 2021, Spotify launched its "Loud and Clear" website, to provide more transparency about how the platform pays artists and to engage in a dialogue with the music industry about how to improve the system. The website features detailed information about how Spotify pays artists and how royalties are calculated, as well as insights into how artists can optimize their earnings on the platform.
Below is a table showing the amount of artists that make a certain amount of revenue that Spotify released on their "Loud and Clear" website.
While some have praised Spotify's efforts to increase transparency and engage in dialogue with the music industry, others have criticized the platform for not doing enough to improve artist compensation rates.The issue of artist compensation on music streaming platforms remains a contentious and complex one, with no easy solutions. However, the fact that companies like Spotify are engaging in dialogue with artists and music industry professionals about the issue is a positive sign that change may be possible in the future. As the industry continues to evolve and adapt, it will be important for all stakeholders to work together to ensure that artists are fairly compensated for their work.
As the debate over artist compensation on music streaming platforms continues to heat up, some artists and music industry professionals are taking matters into their own hands. One example is the "Justice at Spotify" campaign, which was launched in 2020 by a group of musicians and music industry professionals who believe that Spotify and other streaming platforms need to do more to compensate artists fairly.
The campaign is calling on Spotify to increase its per-stream royalty rates to at least one penny per stream, which would represent a significant increase over the current rates. The group argues that this increase is necessary in order for artists to be able to make a living wage from their work.
In addition to the "Justice at Spotify" campaign, some artists have taken other direct actions to push for better compensation on streaming platforms. In 2020, for example, musician Zoe Keating announced that she would be removing her music from Spotify in protest of the platform's low royalty rates.
Other musicians and music industry professionals have called for more systemic change, such as the implementation of a "user-centric" payment model, in which royalties would be paid out based on each individual user's listening habits, rather than being pooled and distributed based on overall market share.
Copyright © Danna Braga 2023