Find out what streaming services pay out to artists and labels per listen on a song.
How much a stream is worth is important for an artist to know when they’re releasing their music on these huge new platforms. It is however crucial to note however that there is no consistent payout rate across services and in fact streams can pay out very differently between two artists on the exact same services.
The reason that there is no way to say for sure what a stream is worth on a platform is because the streaming rate is dependent on so many variables which can drastically change the value of a play. The most important elements that decide how much a stream will pay are as follows:
- Whether the listener is a paying subscriber or on an ad-supported free tier
- The territory they are listening from (country and location)
- The number of streams on the service overall
- How many streams other artists on the service are getting
The listener’s subscription (or lack thereof) makes a huge difference, as a subscribers money is worth so much more than a free listener’s – no matter how many ads they’ve seen/heard! Price points for subscriptions and therefore also streaming value change between every territory; so a stream in the US won’t be worth the same as a stream in India.
Then there is the pro-rata model which the majority of streaming services use to distribute their streaming revenues between the artists being listened to on their services. Using this model, all of the revenues that are allocated to be paid out to artists and labels go into one large pot. That pot is then divided out based on the percentage of streams that artists have gotten compared to everyone else.
This system means that not only your own streams, but the streams of every other artist on the service can have an impact on how much you’re earning.
Depending on how your music has been distributed to streaming services, your revenue may also be split by your label or distributor. Labels often take a high percentage cut from the streaming revenues. Distributors will often also take a percentage of the streaming revenue of artists they’re distributing
At RouteNote, we provide artists a choice so that they can distribute their music making the best choice for how much they’re earning on streaming services. Artists can upload unlimited music for free and keep 85% of all of their revenues still – one of the best splits on the market. If an artist is likely to make a lot of streams on their release, they can upgrade to Premium for a one-time fee at a competitive rate to keep 100% of their streaming revenues.
Estimated streaming rates for each platform
With the important disclaimer out of the way, we can still gauge a rough estimate of how much you’d expect to see from each platform as a streaming artist. This information comes from various up-to-date sources online. It is very important to bear in mind that whilst we estimate a rough average streaming rate for platforms that this does not suggest your streaming revenue will be represented on each platform by this average.
Spotify
Spotify pays out between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream on their platform.
As always, territory also plays a large part. Reports suggest that streams from the US may earn $0.0039 whilst a listen in Portugal can pay $0.0018.
Artists looking for a rough calculation of their potential earnings from Spotify streams can use this royalty calculator. This tool provides an approximation based on the number of streams, helping artists understand what they might earn from their music on the platform.
Use this new royalties calculator to work out how much your music streams are worth
Apple Music
Apple Music pays out an average of $0.01 a stream on their platform.
YouTube
For official content uploaded to YouTube, music earns on average between $0.005 and $0.007 depending on whether the listen comes from a visitor to the website or a paying YouTube Premium subscriber.
Music used in YouTube videos – but not uploaded by the rightsholder or their affiliates – also earns money through Content ID. Content ID will earn on average $0.00087 per stream.
YouTube Music
YouTube Music is the music streaming service associated with and technically alongside and connected to YouTube’s platform. It has its own app and website and earns slightly different for music streams than plays on YouTube’s main site videos will garner as its a dedicated music streaming service.
Plays on YouTube Music will gain on average $0.008.
TIDAL
TIDAL has long boasted some of the highest streaming rates in the industry with an artist focussed model and more expensive subscriptions for users.
TIDAL pays on average $0.013 per stream. TIDAL is remarkable as one of the few streaming services to pay more than 1 cent per stream.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music is the official streaming service from the marketplace and tech giant. They offer a number of music offerings including the limited Prime music service which comes included in a Prime subscription. Here we’re talking about their full music service – Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon Music pays an average of $0.004 a stream.
Napster
Napster are one of – if not the – highest paying music streaming service per play. Napster, like TIDAL, are a rarity in that they pay more than a cent per play. This is notably surprising if you take into consideration Napster’s storied past as a pirated music platform in the early 2000s.
Napster pays an average of $0.019 – $0.021 per stream.
Deezer
Deezer pay an average of $0.0064 per stream.
Pandora
Pandora pays an average of $0.0013 per stream.
How Spotify counts streams and royalties on tracks
As of 2024, for a track to produce royalties on Spotify, it must have been played at least 1,000 times over the past year. Spotify announced their royalty changes in 2023 in a bid to help artists earn more by removing micro-payments which they claim never even reach the artists. Artists will continue to be paid publishing royalties that generate under 1,000 streams.
Spotify confirm changes to streaming royalties
Spotify registers a count for a stream when a track has been played for a minimum of 30 seconds.
If we’ve missed out a platform that you’re curious about, do let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to keep the article updated with the figures that people are interested in.
