Spotify pay per Stream

During the last decade, the music industry went through severe transformations and reached a specific turning point in 2019. The arise of independent music production that started around the 80’s met a major globalization of music streaming services. Spotify, Apple and all other DSPs are now in the center of a new and much more broadened way of music distribution. Before them, an artist would have significant expanses to distribute music. Certainly, back then there was a limited scope of those who could do so.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in 2019 music streaming came to represent 80% of the US music market share. In 2010, that number was merely 7%, against 53% from physical distribution (CDs, Vinyls, DVDs, etc) and 38% from digital downloads. Nowadays, physical distribution and digital downloads shrunk to 9% each. In other words, in 2019 paid subscriptions almost completely took the place of album sales.

Music distribution, at a first glance, may seem to have become more democratic with the growth of streaming services. Nowadays, digital technology made making music a lot easier, and one can even distribute to Spotify for free. Basically, a new and independent artist can place himself in the center of the music market, where 80% of music consumers listen to music, and compete for plays and downloads.

However, for artists, some crucial questions should come up: more immediately, how much does Spotify pay per stream? And, mainly, how to navigate this new and complex landscape of digital royalties?

How much does Spotify pay per stream?

It’s become a consensus between artists that you should get your music on every platform you can. That’s because each platform has different payout rates and sometimes different paying methods. As of 2018, there are more than 200 active music services with streaming capabilities. From local players to major ones like Apple Music and Spotify, the market keeps growing. And Spotify is expected to continue as the biggest streaming service out there as of 2022. But also ranking one of the worst per-stream payout rate.

There are basically two main sources on the internet to answer that question. It’s important to keep in mind that it constantly changes, as the companies grow or decline. Digital Music News has the most complete and updated research made with information from a number of worldwide indie labels and artists. You can also cross-information with The Trichordist’s Streaming Price Bible, if you’re curious on how much variable the numbers can be.

Here are the numbers, for 2021:

Spotify pays an average of US$ 0,003 to US$ 0,005 per stream (a third and a half of a penny, respectively)
Napster is the king of streaming payouts with an average of US$ 0,019 per-stream
Tidal is at second place with US$0,0125 per-stream rate
Apple Music takes the third place with an average of US$ 0,00783 (and announced in April, 2021, that’s rising to US$ 0,01 per stream)
Deezer is at fourth place with a US$0,0064 per-stream pay rate
YouTube has a multi-channel payout system with at least 3 sources of royalties: YouTube Premium/YouTube Music stream (US$ 0,008), per-stream from the Official Artist’s channel (US$ 0,00164), and Content ID monetization (US$ 0,00087)

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