Streaming royalties calculator

About the Streaming Royalty Calculator

The music industry is no longer what it used to be. The digital era that began with iTunes in 2003, followed by the subsequent launch of Spotify in 2006, forever changed the way we consume music.

Approximately 286 million people use Spotify to listen to music, of which about 130 million are paid, subscribers. That's an incredible amount of people, and we haven't even mentioned other music streaming services yet!

With this royalties streaming calculator, we aim to give you an idea of how much the major streaming stores pay per play. Remember that These figures are an estimate and do not guarantee earnings.

Types of streaming service

There are two types of streaming service: On-demand and non-interactive.

On-demand services include platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. They fall into this category because their music is "on-demand." Listeners can listen to any song at their leisure.

Non-interactive streaming platforms include services such as Pandora and Internet radio websites. These platforms operate much like a radio station, playing songs to listeners randomly, without the ability to select specific tracks.

Music royalties are, as expected, much higher for on-demand services than for non-interactive platforms.

What are streaming royalties?

Streaming royalties are fees paid to rights holders (e.g. artists, record labels, songwriters, publishers, etc.) every time a song is played on music streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon, Youtube and Apple Music. These fees are a vital source of revenue for songwriters and artists. However, it's not as simple as it may seem....

Let's start at the beginning with some music publishing basics. When a song is composed, its author owns the copyright to it. That song can be recorded and performed by the author or given to another artist or group to record and perform. Whatever the result, the songwriter always has the publishing rights, while the recording artist has the copyright. If the songwriter or artist signs with a publisher or a record label, they may also be considered the rights holder.

Once the song is recorded and uploaded to streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music, fans can listen to the song at their leisure. The songwriter is then paid through performing rights organizations and mechanical rights organizations. The artist, on the other hand, is paid through the record label or the distributor.

How much Record Labels earn from streaming?

Music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, and Amazon do not have a fixed "pay-per-stream" rate when it comes to paying royalties to artists.

There are many factors that affect how much money a stream is worth in royalties. Some of the main factors are:

- The country and location of the listener.
- Whether the listener has a paid subscription or a free account.
- The royalty rate of the artist in question.
- The relative price and currency in different regions.

This complicates things when it comes to predicting what will be earned in streaming royalties. It is virtual.

Spotify

You're all wondering by now if Spotify is the biggest streaming platform of all, how much money is made from streams on Spotify?

Spotify pays an estimated 0.00342 EUR per stream. That means an artist would need approximately 366,000 streams of a song just to earn minimum wage. That's insane.

Apple Music

Apple Music pays approximately 0.00510 EUR per stream. That's more than Spotify and this is probably due to the fact that Apple Music doesn't offer a free subscription, unlike Spotify therefore allowing them to pay artists more money.

However, Apple Music has a considerably lower subscription rate than Spotify, with just over 60 million people. You may receive more money for streams on Apple Music, but that may be dwarfed by the volume of streams you can receive from Spotify.

Deezer

Deezer pays an approximate 0.00600 EUR per stream, which is slightly more than Spotify but still less than what Apple Music pays. The platform is one of the few that helps musicians generate revenue for their music easily through distributors. The platform has more than 73 million songs, 100 million playlists, and 17 million monthly active users. Independent artists and record labels can upload an unlimited number of songs.

SoundCloud

Although it is not the largest streaming platform in comparison to Apple Music or even YouTube, SoundCloud is still a strong player when it comes to music royalty revenue.

With an approximate payout of 0.00798 EUR per stream, SoundCloud ranks very low on the comparison chart. That said, this platform has its place in the streaming world, being very popular among independent artists and beat makers.

YouTube

YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. It's amazing to think about, especially when its content is based exclusively on video. No doubt people of all ages use this platform to consume music and other forms of media on a daily basis. So it would be foolish not to include your music on this platform.

However, YouTube only pays a small amount of 0.000981 EUR per view. In addition, your YouTube account must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of views in the last 12 months before you can monetize your account (don't worry we are able to collect the money from all those views). Generally speaking, you would need 2.1 million views on your video to be able to earn minimum wage.

Although it may seem harsh there are many other ways to make money using YouTube. Artists can also receive royalties thanks to YouTube's Content ID algorithm. Basically, every time your song is played or used in a video, rights holders can receive a small royalty. Every little bit helps.

While these figures may give a vague idea of streaming music royalties, it's important not to think of streaming services solely as platforms for making money.

As you can see from our calculator, it takes a lot of streams to start making a lot of money, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. There are plenty of record labels and independent artists who get big streaming numbers and make a good living from streaming rights alone.

However, when you release music on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms, you provide a direct avenue to new and existing fans. Exposure like this is a springboard to success.