Do Musicians Really Benefit From Digital Streaming Services?

By Natalie Mantovani

Artists spend a lot of time producing their music, often devoting years to just one album. Yet when these albums are released, the fans only see the final picture – amazing songs that they love listening to over and over. One benefit of today’s quickly evolving technology is that it’s easier than ever to listen to your favorite music online, with music streaming sites taking over the way we listen to music. Seems like a win-win for both artists and fans, right?

Maybe not. Although an underlying issue for years, artist payout is becoming a bigger problem for many disgruntled musicians. At its highest, Spotify offers just $0.005 for each play, meaning that over the course listening to one thousand songs, an artist has the potential to earn between just $1 and $5. Months and years of hard work to earn less than $5 when people are listening to your songs countless times in a row just doesn’t cut it. With a breakdown of several different popular music streaming sites, this infographic shows Arena as having the highest payout, at $210 earned for every 1,000 songs listened to. Now that seems a little more like it. Though as a fan you might not think there’s much you can do to help out your favorite musicians, perhaps the method you choose to stream your music could make all the difference.