Streaming services all have different payouts for their artists, and WordPlay T. Jay recently got curious about exactly how many streams an artist would need per month to make a living.
Nationally, the living wage hovers at about $55,000 average. In some states, it’s as low as $45,000, and in others, it’s above $60,000.
For the sake of simplicity, T. Jay used the $55,000 number, which does not include tax withholdings or any businesses expenses. That comes out to about $4,500 per month. At each service, it would take the following to hit that amount:
• Spotify: 1,133,501 streams per month, 40,482 per day
• Apple Music/iTunes: 612,245 streams per month, 21,866 per day
• Amazon: 1,119,403 streams per month, 39,979 per day
• Pandora: 3,348,209 streams per month, 119,936 per day
• Google Play: 750,000 streams per month, 26,786 per day
• YouTube Channel: 4,500,000 streams per month, 160,714 per day
• YouTube Music: 562,500 streams per month, 20,089 per day
• Deezer: 703,125 streams per month, 25,112 per day
• Tidal: 360,000 streams per month, 12,857 per day
• Napster/Rhapsody: 236,842 streams per month, XX per day
• Mechanical Royalty: 7,500,000 streams per month, 267,857 per day
• Performance Royalty: 900,000 streams per month, 32,143 per day
That all averages out to 718,276 streams per month, or 25,653 plays per day.
Spotify is the most popular streaming service domestically, with Apple Music and Pandora not far behind.
While it may seem bleak to have to get more than 1 million streams per month to make $4,500, there are many things artists can do to help boost that number. Not all the money has to come from one service, and many times, if you are getting plays on one, you are likely getting plays on another.
First and foremost, be consistent and persistent in creating and releasing good, new music. Don’t rely on just one hit. Release good music on a regular basis. Musicians succeed when their music is good and gets people hooked so they want to share it.
Secondly, use tools at your disposal to promote music in a cost-effective way, like through Facebook ads and social media posts. You also cannot be shy. You have to share your process and your story so people are involved in what you are doing.
It’s also harder to get people to go to streaming services that require subscriptions, so focus advertising on driving people to free services where they can easily find and listen to your music.
For more about this, and more about how many streams you need to make $55,00 per year, check out the video below!