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Music Streaming Royalty Calculator
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Music streaming has become more popular in the last couple of years. By paying 10 dollars a month, you can get unlimited amount of music streamed on almost any device.
The royalty system seems to generate a small sum for the artists, but can they make a living from it? This is because the exact size of the royalties that the artists get is often hidden behind complex equations.
For instance service called TIDAL has been claiming that it pays more than Spotify for exclusive deals. While these numbers are certainly vague, they show that many artists are being paid significantly more than they deserve.
In total, there are around 286 million people who use Spotify to consume music. Over 130 million of them are paid subscribers. Despite the huge number of people using music streaming services, there is still one big issue regarding music royalties!
Two types of online music streaming services
There are two types of streaming platforms: On-demand and non-interactive. On-demand services are typically referred to as Spotify and YouTube while non-interactive platforms are referred to as Netflix.
Listeners can hear any song they want to hear, without having to select specific tracks. Non-interactive streaming platforms allow listeners to play songs at random.
What are music streaming royalties?
The higher the streaming royalties are for on-demand platforms, the more they are for the rights holders.
Musicians and artists rely on these fees to keep themselves afloat. However, it is not as simple as it sounds.
Regardless of the outcome, the songwriter retains the publishing rights, while the artist retains the master rights. When a song is recorded and uploaded to a streaming platform, the fans can stream and listen to it at their leisure.
The songwriter is then paid via a Performance Rights Organization or a Mechanical Rights Organization. The recording artist is then paid via a record label or distributor. The amount typically depends on several factors: The type of streaming platform that the song was on.
The vast majority of the singer-songwriter's income was derived from the mechanical royalties and sound recording revenues.
Instead of paying royalties to record labels and music publishers, they are instead streaming their music through popular platforms like Spotify.
The streaming service that we use pays a revenue of £0.05 for every stream that a song receives. The band members take a split based on how many streams they get.
Performance and mechanical royalties are also collected by royalty collection societies.
Some distributors also take a commission on the sales of the recorded sounds. In most cases, the recording artist gets the majority of the earnings from the sound recording industry.
Due to the lack of revenue from recorded music sales, artists are forced to rely on other sources such as ticket sales and merchandise to break even. This is not surprising since the recording industry is not making much money.
How much money artists get per one song listen?
It can be difficult to determine how much an artist will make due to the various factors involved in making a living from music.
Most platforms don't disclose how much they pay to the rights holders per stream. This is also annoying!
We’ve compiled the closest estimates possible for various popular streaming platforms. We also created our own royalty calculator to help you determine your own streaming royalties.
How much money artists get on Spotify?
It is estimated that Spotify pay around £0.0031 per stream. This means that an artist would need around 366,000 streams to make minimum wage.
How much Apple Music pays to artists?
Apple Music is the most expensive streaming platform in the world. It costs around £0.0050 per stream.
While it is true that Apple Music pays more to the artists, it is also worth noting that the company has a lower subscription rate than Spotify.
How much would you make from SoundCloud?
It costs around £0.0019 per stream to use, which is quite low compared to other major platforms. It is also difficult to get royalties from as artists have to be part of the platform’s partner program in order to get paid.
How much could you make from music on YouTube?
YouTube only pays around £0.00046 for a view. In order to be considered for monetization, your account must have at least a thousand subscribers and at least 4,000 watch hours in the last year.
If you make a YouTube video and get more than 2 million views, you would need to make minimum wage to break even. But, there are plenty of ways to make money from YouTube.
Use our music royalty calculator to calculate streaming royalty payments from YouTube.
The basic idea is to introduce new music by playing tracks that sound exactly like the ones that the listener has pre-selected. This platform currently has around 66 million subscribers.
Summary of streaming royalty payments
Listeners can skip songs but they can't choose what they are listening to. Due to the increasing popularity of these platforms, the royalties they pay artists are always increasing.
Not every artist can make money from streaming. There are plenty of ways to make money in the digital industry. If you are an artist who is looking to expand your reach and income, then check out our sync licensing service.
Article author
Angelica Miller
Angelica is a psychology student and a content writer. She loves nature and wathing documentaries and educational YouTube videos.
Music Streaming Royalty Calculator English
Published: Fri Aug 20 2021
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