New data out of the UK has compared how much major streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music pay artists per stream, and between the highest and lowest-paying streamers is stark.
The move away from physical sales and towards streaming as the dominant way in which we consume music has undoubtedly been taxing on musicians, and the fiscally exposed position that many artists find themselves in has been highlighted by the cancellation of live music globally amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Now the Director of PRS, Tom Gray, has shared a new breakdown of the current pay rates for all the major streamers, as part of his #BrokenRecord campaign. The numbers are pretty bleak, and as Gray notes, the figures assume you own all the rights to your music.
The chart breaks down each company’s rate of pay, the number of streams needed to earn one pound, as well as the number of streams required to earn just one hour of the minimum wage in the UK.
Amazon is the most generous of the streamers, despite paying just £0.009 per stream. Tidal isn’t far off, giving out £0.007 while Apple Music pays £0.0054.
Spotify doesn’t fare particularly well, paying musicians £0.0028 per stream, but that’s still more than double what YouTube pays; a paltry £0.0012.
In terms of UK minimum wage, an artist could earn an hour’s pay with 970 Amazon streams, but they’d need 3,114 spins of their tunes on Spotify or 7,267 on YouTube to earn the same amount.
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Check out Tom Gray’s streaming platform breakdown:
Terrifying. The most up-to-date streaming rates adapted for £ and for UK minimum wage. Data from the excellent
@thetrichordist. #BrokenRecord pic.twitter.com/XOoZ3IGisT— Tom Gray (@MrTomGray) April 18, 2020
It makes for even worse reading when you convert the numbers to Aussie dollars. The UK’s minimum wage for someone 25 or over is just £8.21 an hour, which converts to $16.15 AUD (Australia’s minimum hourly wage is $19.49).
Many artists have hit out about the rates of pay that streamers set in recent years. Slipknot’s Corey Taylor recently claimed that a million streams of YouTube would see him earn $400US.
“If the streaming systems paid more online with how publishing in radio pays – people could make a living,” said Taylor.
“I have had friends of mine who have had to retire and they are popular bands because they can’t make a living.”
Check out ‘Nero Forte’ by Slipknot:
