How Much Do Streaming Services Pay in 2019?
There are many way to get your music out to the public, one of the most common ways of doing it is by earning through plays on every stream. Streaming services vary from anything on Youtube or Spotify to Apple Music and even Amazon!
Streaming:
Here is a list (from highest to lowest) of the most used music streaming websites and how much they pay per stream, download, play and/or share:
- Napster: $0.019 per stream
- Tidal : $0.0125 per stream
- Apple Music: $0.00735 per stream
- Google Play Music: $0.00676 per stream
- Deezer: $0.00640 per stream
- Spotify: $0.00473 per stream
- Amazon Music: $0.00402 per stream
- Pandora Premium: $0.00133 per stream
- YouTube: $0.00069 per stream
Soundcloud:
Soundcloud is by far the most complicated service at the moment. Rates vary depending on the countries that play the music and you would need access to monetize your account either directly or though an affiliate distributor. Most accounts don’t make any money at all, and the ones that are monetized are paid based on how many people click the ads on the streams.
Here’s a general breakdown: $0.0025 to $0.004/stream (~$2.50–$4.00/1000 plays.)
It’s an average of about $3 / 1000 plays.
That being said, the pay also varies depending on what country that play comes from.
How to earn the minimum wage?
Here’s a breakdown of what it would take to make about $1,160 per month in the United States for each streaming service:
- Napster: 61,052
- Tidal : 92,800
- Apple Music: 157,823
- Google Play Music: 171,598
- Deezer: 181,250
- Spotify: 245,243
- Amazon Music: 288,557
- Pandora Premium: 872,180
- YouTube: 1,681,159
How to get started:
A easy way to get started on monetizing your music on streaming services is by reading our blog on Music Distribution. You’ll see a list of the top music distribution sites, rates, and royalty splits (if any). Check that out here:
Music Distribution: A Guide to Get Your Music On Spotify
Conclusion
Depending on the platform on where your music gets heard, you may find your checks coming in a little fatter. This information may be useful to you to determine where you want to focus your marketing strategy. You might find that Youtube has a larger audience and it may be easier to rack up your streams, but the pay is substantially lower.
Depending on your individual goals you may opt to try to push your existing audience to follow you and listen on a more suitable streaming service.
