Which streaming platform pays musicians the most?
In 2022, UK vinyl record sales grew for the 15th consecutive year, with sales rising to 5.5million units, the highest level since 1990 when Phil Collins’…But Seriously was the year’s best-selling album. In 2023, the vinyl comeback showed no sign of weariness, with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reporting an 11.7% increase in record sales on 2022’s figures. Intriguingly, CD sales also showed green shoots of recovery in 2023. Could this be the result of widespread disillusionment with streaming platforms?
When streaming took a stronghold on the market in the 2010s, artists rejoiced in the expungement of illegal mp3 downloads. However, a new hurdle had arrived for rising talent. Artists like Ed Sheeran and Tayor Swift and enduring titans such as Elton John or Queen are certainly not short of dough in the modern climate, but those unable to draw streaming figures by the millions are getting a kick in the teeth.
In November last year, Spotify was rebuked for announcing changes to its royalty payment scheme. One amendment proposed for 2024 stated that songs would now need to attain a minimum of 1,000 plays every year to return any royalties – another punch below the belt for smaller artists.
Spotify is currently the world’s most popular music streaming platform, with over 210 million paid subscribers and 515 million monthly active users worldwide. However, undercutting some of its closest competitors, Spotify generally pays its artists less per stream ($0.003-$0.005).
According to Viberate, the high-fidelity streaming service Tidal pays the highest royalties per stream ($0.0125 to $0.015). Artists will tend to earn $1,250 to $1,500 for every 100,000 streams on this platform.
Below, we present the average streaming royalty rates for the six most popular music streaming platforms. Before reading on, it’s important to note that a stream is clocked when a song is listened to for a minimum of 30 seconds.
The payment from each stream is subject to various factors, including the platform’s overall revenue during the concurrent timeframe, the number of streams totalled by the artist, the subscription held by the listener and the listener’s location. The payment is then usually split 70:30 between the rights holders and the streaming platform respectively.
Streaming royalties paid by popular platforms:
- Spotify: $0.003-$0.005 per stream. Artists can expect around $400 for every 100,000 streams.
- Apple Music: $0.006-$0.008 per stream. Artists can expect $600 to $800 for every 100,000 streams.
- Tidal: $0.0125-$0.015. Artists can expect $1,250 to $1,500 for every 100,000 streams on this platform.
- YouTube Music: $0.001-$0.003 per stream. Artists can expect $100 to $300 for every 100,000 streams.
- Amazon Music: $0.004-$0.007 per stream. Artists can expect $400 to $700 for every 100,000 streams.
- Deezer: $0.005-$0.007 per stream. Artists can expect $500 to $700 for every 100,000 streams.
