What Streaming Services Pay Artists

[Vernon Barnes]

I have seen numerous posts on social media on what Spotify and their ilk pay artists, there has been quite a variation in the quoted rates but they are all variations on next to rock all.

This article explains the variations and gives a insight into what is paid. https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-streaming-rates-payouts

I am not planning to put anything on Spotify but here is a best guess on how many streams I would need to pay for some outgoings.

• The session fee of the singer for her lead vocals on the track I am working on. 41,000
• One Month EW Composer Cloud Subscription.  6,286
• Melodyne Studio update. 46,800
• Full Licence or Studio One 5 147,000

You will need a lot of streams to break even, let alone make a profit.

[paulo]

32 minutes ago, Vernon Barnes said:

I am not planning to put anything on Spotify but here is a best guess on how many streams I would need to pay for some outgoings.

• The session fee of the singer for her lead vocals on the track I am working on. 41,000
• One Month EW Composer Cloud Subscription.  6,286
• Melodyne Studio update. 46,800
• Full Licence or Studio One 5 147,000

You will need a lot of streams to break even, let alone make a profit.

I think I see the flaws in your not plan.......

You're paying a singer to sing it so badly that it costs you more than what you paid her to put it right. 

EWCC -wellllllllll, you don't really need that.

SO5 - See above. 

 

 

[synkrotron]

Yeah, I don't even consider streaming services.

Perhaps I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face but I just don't go there on principle. It's okay for artists who are somehow getting traction in the industry. My music is far too "niche" (AKA crap) anyway.

I also never listen to any music on spotify and the like.

Bandcamp all the way for me. That way, Craig B can fund my GAS habits

 

[craigb]

At my age, I'm my own streaming service... ?

[Vernon Barnes]

14 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Yeah, I don't even consider streaming services.

Perhaps I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face but I just don't go there on principle. It's okay for artists who are somehow getting traction in the industry. My music is far too "niche" (AKA crap) anyway.

I also never listen to any music on spotify and the like.

Bandcamp all the way for me. That way, Craig B can fund my GAS habits

 

Unless you are in a position to get on the big playlists an get millions of streams its like playing gigs for "exposure". I have noticed several "small" but critically acclaimed band with reasonable size followings either pull their music off the platform all together of not add any of their new releases. 

I really don't expect to make anything out of music, its a hobby, but I am considering putting the project I am currently working on, which is somewhat different, and I hope better than the stuff on my Soundcloud on Bandcamp as an EP.  If so I will be trying to drum up some sort of local interest because of the background story to the songs.

I do use Spotify for exploration, seeing if I like a band before a gig, deciding if i want to buy an album etc. but not as a primary source of my musical entertainment. I have left favorite bands albums playing silently in the background overnight to get play-counts up, but its a futile gesture really.

[Philip G Hunt]

I've used Landr for a few years to publish my stuff to streaming services. The subscription to do so it's pretty low, but this year I will not be renewing.

Firstly, Landr does not have a great automated system. I often find I cannot freeze releases and have to contact them directly to freeze or unfreeze a release.

Secondly, it's purely a vanity project. If you are like me, working full-time and releasing music as a hobby, putting stuff up on streaming services is just for the sake of being able to say you have music on streaming services.  It will not make you any money.

I suspect that a lot of people 'play the system' by paying agencies to boost their plays and get their stuff on playlists or charts, in the same way record companies used to buy their own records to get their artists in the charts. If you have money to throw away, you can do that too, but you are unlikely to ever recover that money.

So, I depends what your aims are.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Philip G Hunt

[synkrotron]

1 hour ago, Philip G Hunt said:

So, I depends what your aims are.

My aim is to just get my stuff out there.

SoundCloud and Bandcamp is the means... Bandcamp allows you to sell your stuff if you wish.

[Philip G Hunt]

2 hours ago, synkrotron said:

My aim is to just get my stuff out there.

SoundCloud and Bandcamp is the means... Bandcamp allows you to sell your stuff if you wish.

So you've got your stuff out there.... Now what?

Point being, getting stuff on Spotify, bandcamp etc is the easy part, but what is your long term goal? Get exposure so that labels take interest? Sell a shed load of tracks? Give all your money to charity?.... What is the bigger picture?

Truth is, you would make more money busking in the street than from streaming services. If you want to make decent bucks, gig and sell merchandise.

[synkrotron]

1 hour ago, Philip G Hunt said:

So you've got your stuff out there.... Now what?

Nothing. That's it.

1 hour ago, Philip G Hunt said:

Truth is, you would make more money busking in the street than from streaming services. If you want to make decent bucks, gig and sell merchandise.

I'm not a "performer." I simply ain't good enough.

Merchandise? What, you mean like cups with my logo on? T-shirts? CBA.

Despite that negativity I have now earned £400 more than I ever thought I would from my hobby when I started back in 1979.

I certainly wouldn't earn that on spotify.

I am a happy bunny.

[bjornpdx]

To me it's all about googling my name and my tracks pop up from various places, amazing my friends and relatives and especially my obnoxious brother-in-law with the Porsche.

 

[synkrotron]

1 hour ago, bjornpdx said:

To me it's all about googling my name and my tracks pop up from various places, amazing my friends and relatives and especially my obnoxious brother-in-law with the Porsche.

 

Way to go Bjorn!

 

[S.L.I.P.]

This is how little you make from streaming. This is from a recent BMI Royalty statement.  Spotify premium paid the most. Almost 8,000 streams and royalty amount was $2.03. Over 16,000 streams labeled, "Internet." One penny. 

 

[Philip G Hunt]

3 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Nothing. That's it.

I'm not a "performer." I simply ain't good enough.

Merchandise? What, you mean like cups with my logo on? T-shirts? CBA.

Despite that negativity I have now earned £400 more than I ever thought I would from my hobby when I started back in 1979.

I certainly wouldn't earn that on spotify.

I am a happy bunny.

A friend of mine who used to be in my band back in the day and now works in the music biz once said that if you did a gig and sold 10 CDs after the gig, you'd make more money than you'd make from years off streaming services... And do you know what. He's right.

When my music was on radio I made hundreds from weeks of airplay. When it was played once on Sky TV I got 400 bucks for one play...and that was back in 2000. It used to be a viable income source.

The peanuts that streaming services throw at you it's nothing compared to how much they make.

[synkrotron]

15 minutes ago, Philip G Hunt said:

A friend of mine who used to be in my band back in the day and now works in the music biz once said that if you did a gig and sold 10 CDs after the gig, you'd make more money than you'd make from years off streaming services... And do you know what. He's right.

Been there, done that.

[synkrotron]

Got the T-shirt

[Philip G Hunt]

13 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Been there, done that.

So you know then that streaming services are just vanity projects for non-gigging musicians, right? ?‍♂️

[paulo]

13 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Got the T-shirt

That's where you went wrong - you're supposed to sell the T-shirt.

[Philip G Hunt]

To give you an idea of what 'playing the system' for plays on Spotify is like...I get these adverts like this in Facebook offering services to do just that: 

 

[synkrotron]

3 hours ago, Philip G Hunt said:

So you know then that streaming services are just vanity projects for non-gigging musicians, right? ?‍♂️

I don't understand what you are getting at

[Wibbles]

20 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Merchandise? What, you mean like cups with my logo on? T-shirts? CBA.

But who wouldn't want a pair of Synkrotron branded underpants?