With over 182 million premium subscribers, Spotify dominates the music streaming landscape. Naturally, every artist wants their music on the platform tapping into this engaged audience. Beyond reach, Spotify also offers the potential for steady revenue through its artist royalty program. But exactly how much does Spotify pay per stream? And once you know potential streaming royalties, how do upload your music to Spotify to start collecting them? Let’s break it down.
How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream
The exact per stream rate Spotify pays varies based on multiple factors:
Premium vs Ad-Supported Streams:
Premium streams (paid subscribers) payout higher royalty rates than ad-supported listeners. In 2022 premium streams paid about $0.00437 on average versus just $0.00218 for ad-supported. This showcases the higher value of engaged subscribers – attracting and converting fans into paying members directly correlates to higher streaming revenue. Read more about how much does Spotify pay per stream
Country and Currency:
Payouts also differ slightly by geographic market after converting local currency into USD based on currency exchanges rates. For example, while the average US per stream rate floats around $0.004, Australian streams pay approximately $0.0038. Countries with higher streaming adoption tend to pay marginally better as well given greater competition.
Label vs Independent Artist:
Artists signed to record labels also see reduced royalty rates since the label takes a revenue share ranging anywhere from 25% to 40% or more depending on contract terms. Independent artists keep the maximum royalty percentages.
So putting these factors together, the average 2023 Spotify stream payout shakes out as follows:
Premium Streams:
– Signed Artists – $0.0035 payout per American stream
– Independent Artists – $0.00437 payout per American stream
Ad-Supported Streams
– Signed Artists – $0.0016 payout per American stream
– Independent Artists – $0.00218 payout per American stream
Global average blended rates come out to around $0.0033 per stream across both premium and ad-supported.
We can calculate estimated revenue based on these rates according to your number of streams. As a baseline, 1 million premium streams nets approximately $4,370 for independent artists.
But with the top tracks well exceeding 1 billion streams, this showcases the revenue potential at scale on Spotify.
How Spotify Royalty Payouts Compare
Here is how Spotify per stream rates compare to other leading music streamers:
Platform – Premium Payout Per Stream:
Spotify: $0.00437
Apple Music: $0.00735
YouTube Music: $0.004
Amazon Music: $0.004
Pandora: $0.00133
The exact numbers continue to shift each year, but Spotify has aimed to increase payouts through Premium subscriber growth, ad supported monetization, and reduced operating costs.
Of course $0.004 a play may sound disappointing initially considering it takes almost 250 streams to earn just $1.
But the combination of premium subscriber growth expanding yearly revenue alongside artists cultivating dedicated fan bases through playlists additions, saves, shares, canvas loops, and ancillary monetization through tickets sales tipping to profitability.
Understanding the royalty payout model now prompts the next question – how do artists actually deliver music to Spotify to start collecting these streaming royalties?
How to Get Your Music on Spotify
Getting your song catalog on Spotify to tap that per stream revenue does require some specialized know how. Here are the main routes for uploading music to Spotify along with their requirements and processes. Read more on how to upload music to Spotify
Spotify for Artists
Spotify allows all rights holders to manage their own releases through its self-serve Spotify for Artists platform.
To qualify for Spotify for Artists access, you must:
– Own all applicable rights to the music including songwriting, publishing, and recording rights
– Provide ISRC codes for proper attribution and payments
– Have all members or contributors to recordings sign label services agreements
With eligibility criteria met, simply create a Spotify for Artists account using your preferred distributor in the settings panel and upload tracks to get them live on Spotify worldwide.
You can also access Spotify analytics for detailed streaming metrics across all tracks and playlists. This empowers data driven marketing seeing precisely which songs resonate and warrant further promotion. Check out the best Spotift promotion platform available today
Distribution Companies
Alternatively, artists can post music to Spotify by enlisting an online music distribution platform like CD Baby, Distrokid, or TuneCore.
These companies automate global publishing across leading streaming services and gather all attributable streaming royalties to pay out directly to artists on a recurring basis. Most charge affordable annual or per release fees with unlimited uploads.
They handle necessary administration like ISRC codes, rights management workflows, metadata formatting, and royalty payment calculations. This simplifies getting music online by offloading the complex processes so artists focus strictly on creating.
Label Connections
For artists collaborating with labels or other rights holders, Spotify will also ingest your music throug that partner. Based on your record or distribution deal terms, contributing creators can still secure appropriate streaming royalties forwarded by the primary rights admin.
But solo independent artists retain full flexibility and payments by directly owning rights. Distribution services scale your entire catalog making music readily discoverable to the billions of global Spotify streams.
So both direct Spotify For Artists access or reputable distribution partners offer viable paths to not just hosting your music, but collecting tangible returns from one of the largest pools of streaming music fans worldwide.
Gaining clarity on precise Spotify per stream payouts then motivates artists to continually expand their audiences, attract engaged subscribers, and provide compelling incentives for loyal followers to keep playing and sharing their work.