Streaming services. This is a domain where the competing interests of artist recognition and listener retention are significant.
The key source of revenue is contingent on the business approach of the streaming site, and naturally this amount varies due to a multitude of factors. A common distinction made is that between the premium/paid subscribers and freemium/ad-supported subscribers. The former tends to generate more money than the latter, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
A Reddit user has acquired recent data which roughly identifies how much a single stream on the big streaming services (Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music) pays an artist.
As posted to Reddit by user u/GoldieWilson3, here are the rough 2019 stats on how each service pays out artists:
YouTube is the cheapest at $0.00069 for one stream. Spotify is a bit better at $0.00437. Apple Music is solid with $0.00735. Tidal upholds the best position for artists at $0.01250 per stream. Amazon Music moderate at $0.00402.
These numbers are more clearly broken down this way in the context of 1 million views. On YouTube, you would receive $690. On Spotify, you would receive $4370. On Apple Music, $7350. On Tidal, $12,500. On Amazon Music, you would get $4,020.
Bump that up to a platinum single (recognised as 150,000,000 streams by the Recording Industry Association of America) and here are the numbers; Youtube nets you $103,500, Spotify nets you $655,500, and Apple Music nets you $1,102,500.
