Spotify artist revenue per stream is one of the subjects that is important for all singers who want to become an artist on Spotify and this question may exist for all of them that how much Spotify pay per stream?
You may also be wondering
- whether artist popularity and artist rank (Silver – Gold – Platinum – Diamond) has any effect on artist’s income from Spotify
- artists have equal revenue per Spotify stream in all countries or like Spotify premium prices that each Spotify premium plan has a different price in each country, in this platform artist revenue per stream also vary all around the world.
If you want to know more about the subjects which we mentioned, I recommend to read this article to the end.
- How Much Dose Spotify Pay Per Stream?
- How does Spotify make money?
- How many streams you need to go to (gold – platinum – Multi platinum – diamond) in USA.
- How much Spotify pays artist (silver – gold – platinum – diamond)?
- How Much Does Artist Make From Spotify?
- Spotify Pay Per Stream Calculator
How Much Spotify Pay Per Stream(Silver – Gold – Platinum – Diamond)?
It wasn’t long ago that radio and television were the most important ways for artists to promote their music and sell physical files to their fans.
But as the Internet and streaming music became more prevalent, the revenues of artists and those in the music business decreased.
For example, according to Mr Russ Crupnick of the National Public Radio group, a respected music consultant in the United States, only 45% of people want to pay for music. others don’t pay for the enjoyment of listening to their favorite music.
Spotify has attempted to solve this problem and finds a way for people in the music industry to benefit from their production work as before.
Now you might be wondering: How do artists get paid by Spotify when their fans listen to their works?
To answer this question, let me outline the formula Spotify uses to determine how much artists should be paid.
SMR * ASS/TSS * 70% * ARR= Artist pay out
SMR= Spotify Monthly revenue
ASS= Artist Spotify stream
TSS= Total Spotify stream
ARR= Artist royalty rate
Let’s examine each part of the formula one by one.
How Does Spotify Make Money?
To investigate Spotify Monthly Revenue, it is better to answer the following question first;
Spotify operates on a freemium business model, which means providing basic subscription services for free near additional features you can use with paid subscriptions.
Free plan;
Spotify users should listen to advertisements in between songs when listening to music through their computers and mobile devices, and the Company is taking money from the advertisements.
Premium plants;
- In this plan Spotify users can access their favorite songs with very high quality and without ads. Depending on the plan they buy, they can take advantage of another part of the service.
- you should know that people in different countries pay different amounts to use their desired plans, so the company makes a different amount of money from selling these plans to their customers.
- Likewise, the company would pay different amounts to artists in the countries based on their country’s rate and the number of people they use premium plans.
To conclude, Spotify’s revenue comes from two sources;
1- Subscription payments.
2- Advertisements.
Artist Spotify Stream / Total Spotify Stream
To examine the second part of this formula (Artist Spotify Stream / Total Spotify Stream), perhaps it makes sense to examine these issues.
You may wonder if famous artists make more money on Spotify than unknown artists and if this factor is effective in how much money do artists make.
To answer this question, we need to look at the ranks according to how artists are classified. The rating of an artist is determined by the country in which he or she lives or where their songs are published, and every country has its own ranking.
For example, the songs of artists are examined by (RIAA) in the United States and (BPI) in the United Kingdom. In the following, we will have a brief look at how artists are ranked in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Artist Royalty Rate
Artist royalty rate is the other factor that important to calculate artist revenue after each time their songs are played by their fans.
Calculating artist royalty rate is difficult in the first place because
- there is no coefficient in the formula for paying artists, based on the rating of the song, for example, diamond songs do not have a higher coefficient than gold songs,
- so perhaps you may think for Spotify its not important the popularity of the artists but its not correct.
Popularity will indirectly bring more income for artists for two reasons.
1- Spotify’s formula measures the ratio between the number of songs heard by fans of artists compared to the total number of songs heard. Based on that formula they will pay that artist. Although the calculation is given by the songs heard on Spotify software, popular songs will probably have a higher ratio on the Spotify app too.
2- Secondly, famous artists usually consider a higher royal artist rating ratio when negotiating with music distribution.
To conclude although Spotify pays equally for silver and gold and diamond songs and only the number of the songs which are heard by the artist fans can influence the amount of money that artists will receive, so the popularity of songs will indirectly affect the amount of money that they collect.
Spotify’s income comes from two sources and each of these sources has a different royalty rate.
1- Free tier of Spotify;
This source has a lower royalty rate, so the music that is played by these kinds of accounts brings in lower revenue for the artist.
2- Paid Tier;
In this version, when people who have a premium account listen to the music, more money transfers to the artist.
The artists do not get all of the money they collect from these two sources. First, the artists get paid their recording royalties. This is money they owe for being streamed on Spotify. According to the agreements they have in place, this can be paid through an aggregator or record label.
Another piece goes to music publishers to pay the writers for the recordings we stream. If I were to give you a number, about 20% of an artist’s gross income goes to their managers and Approximately 15% of their income goes to the record label, and artists must recoup 15% of their income as well. Additionally, if you have a business manager, you should pay them 5% of your income as well.
Company Share
Spotify pays 70% of their income to the right holders, meaning this money goes to artists, labels, publishers, distributors and also independent artists, and 30% of this money goes to the company itself for profits and company expenses.
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams?
Spotify pays an average of about one-third to one-half cent per stream, according to reputable websites like the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider. But here we want to consider other factors, like where your songs were listened to by your fans, and find a more accurate answer.
This bar chart shows you how much Spotify pays you per million streams in several countries.
Because an artist’s earnings from their songs are totally dependent on many variables, it is difficult to answer this question, but for each country, I need to use as accurate a number as possible if I want to answer the question in reverse engineering.
In 18 of the biggest music markets, like in the UK (4912 USD) and India (1408 USD), you’d get an average of 3,222 USD for one million streams.
In this table, I show the artist earnings per one million streams and the individual premium plan price for different countries.
This bar chart shows you how much Spotify pays you per stream in some countries. (in USD / Status July 2020)
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams in the Middle East and Africa?
| Country | Individual price (USD) | pay per 1000,000 streams |
| Morocco | 4.99 | 800.31 |
| Egypt | 3.18 | 969.27 |
| Jordan | 4.99 | 993.88 |
| Saudi Arabia | 5.33 | 1029.03 |
| Kuwait | 4.99 | 1447.93 |
| Qatar | 4.99 | 1453.79 |
| South Africa | 4.01 | 1568.96 |
| Lebanon | 4.99 | 2031.13 |
| United Arab Emirates | 5.44 | 2527.1 |
| Israel | 5.98 | 3282.94 |
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams in the Asia?
| Country | Individual price (USD) | pay per 1000,000 streams |
| Philippines | 3.07 | 814.01 |
| Indonesia | 3.82 | 963.83 |
| Thailand | 4.53 | 1162.02 |
| India | 1.64 | 1408.34 |
| Taiwan | 5.29 | 1515.92 |
| Malaysia | 3.86 | 1553.14 |
| Vietnam | 2.50 | 1632.78 |
| Hong Kong | 7.47 | 2743.41 |
| Singapore | 7.36 | 2916.65 |
| Japan | 9 | 3549.14 |
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams in the Europe?
| Country | Individual price (USD) | pay per 1000,000 streams |
| Portugal | 8.36 | 1625.95 |
| Latvia | 8.36 | 1773.36 |
| Hungary | 5.96 | 1904.35 |
| Italy | 11.93 | 1993.52 |
| Czech Republic | 7.16 | 2106.58 |
| Spain | 11.93 | 2351.29 |
| Estonia | 8.36 | 2688.37 |
| France | 11.93 | 3165.16 |
| Belgium | 11.93 | 3244.71 |
| Germany | 11.93 | 3367.4 |
| Netherlands | 11.93 | 3627 |
| Luxembourg | 11.93 | 4159.51 |
| Austria | 11.93 | 4417.7 |
| Sweden | 12.84 | 4440.8 |
| Finland | 13.13 | 4445.06 |
| Ireland | 11.93 | 4571.97 |
| Liechtenstein | 13.94 | 4723.72 |
| Switzerland | 13.95 | 4735.91 |
| United Kingdom | 13.98 | 4912.44 |
| Denmark | 11.66 | 5159.21 |
| Norway | 14.02 | 5479.27 |
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams in the Americas?
| Country | Individual price (USD) | pay per 1000,000 streams |
| Argentina | 1.53 | 850.040231 |
| Bolivia | 5.99 | 994.451986 |
| Colombia | 4.2 | 1049.730797 |
| Guatemala | 5.99 | 1170.695015 |
| Nicaragua | 5.99 | 1225.763737 |
| Chile | 5.73 | 1261.957647 |
| Brazil | 3.04 | 1294.613594 |
| Mexico | 5.55 | 1441.136576 |
| Peru | 5.09 | 1461.335494 |
| El Salvador | 5.99 | 1468.84924 |
| Ecuador | 5.99 | 1639.485203 |
| Honduras | 5.99 | 1720.584382 |
| Costa Rica | 5.99 | 1975.841924 |
| Uruguay | 9.55 | 2488.829214 |
| Canada | 8.01 | 2738.648734 |
| Panama | 5.99 | 2905.183839 |
| United States | 9.99 | 3526.648541 |
How much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams in the Oceania?
| Country | Individual price (USD) | pay per 1000,000 streams |
| Australia | 9.32 | 3964.82 |
| New Zealand | 10.77 | 4977.85 |
Streaming Royalty Calculator
Although there are various parameters to calculate the precise income of each artist and their income vary from one country to another as we pointed out in our article before, you can use the Streaming Royalty Calculator website to get a fairly reliable picture of the income of artists on Spotify or other music streaming software.
For that you should follow these steps:
1- Go to the SRC website. and choose Spotify in the Streaming service part.
2- Insert the number of artist streams that you want to calculate his income from them. here we inserted 1000, now you can estimate the income of the artist by these amount of stream.
3- Click on the “CALCULATE” key to see the income.
How Many Streams You Need to Go to (Gold – Platinum – Multi Platinum – Diamond) in USA.
RIAA classifies songs into four categories in the US market.
| Gold | 500,000 Units |
| Platinum | 1,000,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | 2,000,000 Units |
| Diamond | 10,000,000 Units |
The definition of the unit for different modes is given below.
| Single Award | In this award, the number of downloads and on-demand streams is counted. In this formula, one download sale is equal to 150 on-demand streams. |
| Short Form Album Award | This formula accounts for the number of albums sold and tracks sold and the number of on-demand audio and video song streams. 1500 on-demand stream= 10 track sales= 1 album sale |
| Full-length Album Award | Album and track sales are counted in this formula along with on-demand audio and video streamed songs. 1500 on-demand stream= 10 track sales= 1 album sale |
For Music Video Single you need
| Gold | 25,000 Units |
| Platinum | 50,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | 100,000 Units |
For Music Video Longform and Multi-Box Music Video set.
| Gold | 50,000 Units |
| Platinum | 100,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | 200,000 Units |
Note;
RIAA awards are only given to sales and streams originating in the USA.
We suggest checking the https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/about-awards/ page for more specific information on the USA.
The UK’s artists are classified by BPI, there are four classes in the UK, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Multi-platinum.
Single Awards
| Silver | 200,000 Units |
| Gold | 400,000 Units |
| Platinum | 600,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | Multiple 600,000 Units |
Album Awards
| Silver | 60,000 Units |
| Gold | 100,000 Units |
| Platinum | 300,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | Multiple 300,000 Units |
Music DVDs
| Gold | 25,000 Units |
| Platinum | 50,000 Units |
| Multi-Platinum | Multiple 50,000 Units |
More information about the UK is provided at https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/award-levels/
Conclusion
Spotify was created to create an environment where music producers can earn money from creating artwork and also provide a platform for ordinary people to access a wide variety of songs.
The company distributes 70% of its revenue (from sales of paid accounts or from advertising) among the artists.
The company considers several factors in paying artists for each song. For example:
Spotify Factors in Paying Artists for Each Song
- Subscription price
- Subscription type (Free / Premium)
- Origin of the stream (country)
- Advertising revenue generated in the respective market
- Number of subscriptions
- Number of streams generated per month
- Distribution contract
- listener base
Although many people might believe that the popularity of songs has a direct effect on paying artists, the reality is quite different.
(as many of you know, to encourage artists to make more songs, in some countries, the songs are ranked according to the number of times it is heard, for instance in the United States, songs have four ranks, Gold, Platinum, Multiplatinum, and Diamonds.)
In summary, artists are paid an average of US $3,222 for each one million plays on Spotify, according to the parameters mentioned above.
Morocco with $ 800 and Norway with $5,470 receive the lowest and highest payout, respectively, for listening to 1 million songs on Spotify.
I hope this article is useful for you. If you see a flaw in our text or if your question is related to this topic and we did not cover it here, please share it with us, in future posts or by updating this post we will try to answer your question as soon as possible.
If you find this article useful, then please let your friends know about it. This gives us the energy to produce the next better article.