Up until recently, there have only been studies examining in theory whether or not artists would profit from the user-centric model. However, now that SoundCloud has at least partially switched their system to Fan-Powered Royalties (FPR), we have, for the first time, actual substantiated data. These were analyzed by MIDiA researchers and the result they found can definitely be called a game changer.

Quick refresher: almost all streaming services pay artists based on the pro-rata model, where all revenues end up in one giant pot. In the user-centric/FPR model, however, the money only goes to the artists that the user actually listened to.

Majority of artists benefit

For this study, MIDiA was able to analyze the royalties of 118,000 artists who published their music on SoundCloud. The analysis showed that 56% of these artists received higher pay with the user-centric model. Various artists can profit from it, but in particular those with little or mid-level reach. To put it in more concrete terms, 64% of artists with 100-1,000 fans earn more with the user-centric model, 65% of artists with 1,000-10,000 fans, and 57% of artists with 10,000 to 100,000 fans. When it comes to artists with more than 100,000 fans, only 38% profited more.

Superfans change the game

The real game changer is the influence of superfans. MIDiA distinguishes between passive fans (less than 1 cent goes to the artist per month), active fans (1-10 cents per month), and superfans (more than 10 cent per month). If the number of superfans can reach just 2-3%, the royalties will double when compared to the pro-rata model. Having 4-5% superfans already means tripling royalties. This shows a clear shift from inflated streaming numbers to an engaged fanbase. For the first time, this would be reflected not only in additional revenues, but also in streaming payouts.

The problem for many artists isn’t that they don’t have a fanbase but that the streaming system we’ve had thus far doesn’t enable them to effectively monetize them. They’ve always had to switch to a different platform to do so. While everything is about bulk mass in the pro-rata model, the user-centric model allows artists to generate significant income in their respective niche. For all 118,000 artists that were analyzed, superfans made up 1.5% on average and contributed 29% of the earnings. For those artists who made more with the user-centric model, the share of superfans was 2% and their contribution a whopping 42%.

Those who profit the most from superfan-revenues are artists with 100-1,000 fans (40%), 1,000-10,000 fans (38%) and those with 10,000 to 100,000 (37%). The lowest superfan-revenues can be seen in the superstar league with more than 100,000 fans, where the percentage is only as high as 27%. They also have the lowest share of superfans with just 1.3%. However, the authors of the study argue that due to the popularity of these artists, they also have the biggest opportunity to increase this share and focus more on the fans rather than passive music consumption.

User-Centric fights manipulation

The most significant loss in revenue, by the way, was suffered by artists with pretty clearly manipulated streaming numbers. So, another nice side effect of making the switch is that streaming fraud won’t be profitable anymore in the user-centric model. Additionally, artists will be less dependent on playlist placements and don’t have to cater their music and potentially their release schedule as much to them either. Or, as the authors put it: “FPR rewards quality of fans, not quantity of streams.”

Does the industry prevent the system change?

The benefits are therefore clear as day, but will the industry go with the new model? As we have reported previously, TIDAL is already experimenting with the user-centric model and Deezer has long wanted to make the switch, as well. But the biggest players like Spotify or Apple Music are keeping their cards close to their chest and only want to make the switch when all parties involved are on board. Whether the major labels and other bigwigs want this, however, is questionable, since their artists would currently be the ones who would profit the least from changing the system.

It’s a little paradox at the moment: On the one hand, the NFT hype is still going strong, there are always new projects popping up, and more artists are taking a stab at it with their drops. At the same time, profits from NFTs are dropping rapidly, which, of course, has something to do with the inflation and crypto winter, as well. Whether or not NFTs really are the future is therefore not entirely clear. Nevertheless, many artists will ask themselves if they, too, should give them a try. We’ve put together what you should keep in mind when doing so.

Do I understand NFTs and am I passionate about them?

The search for answers should start with yourself. Do you thoroughly understand NFTs and their whole process? Have you ever purchased an NFT yourself, and if so, would you do it again? Are you only looking at a potential source of income or are you genuinely passionate about the concept? If you aren’t well-versed or aren’t entirely convinced, it’s better to just leave it.

Is there a demand for it from my fans?

Quite a few artists had to take massive criticism from their fanbase following their NFT drops. So, you need to be absolutely certain that there is an actual demand. Maybe your fans would much prefer a new merch collection or a vinyl version of your last album. Even if you think the demand is there, you have to thoroughly explain to your fans why you are doing this and how they can purchase the NFT.

What do I want to offer?

If you’ve checked off the first two points, you’ll be faced with the question of what you want to sell. As a musician, you can use NFTs in various different ways – for instance, by connecting an artwork with the music, offering a share of the royalties, or putting physical products such as merch or concert tickets behind an NFT. Once again, you have to think about what the fans would want and of course, what goes with your image as an artist.

Only one copy or multiple? And at what price?

Once you know what you want to offer, the next question is whether it should be a one-off, which, correspondingly, would be more expensive, or a whole series with different NFTs. Additionally, you can decide whether the NFTs will be offered at a fixed price or whether you prefer an auction.

Especially when it comes to your first NFT drop, you should make sure it is affordable to as many fans as possible.

Which platform should I use?

More and more NFT platforms are springing up like mushrooms, and depending on what you want to sell, some platforms would be more suitable than others. Similarly, the fees and the impact on the environment will also differ.

Promotion

Even though it may have looked like it sometimes, NFTs, like albums or merch, don’t sell themselves. So, you’ll have to use all your channels to announce the drop and, as mentioned, get the idea through to your fans.

Can I offer something from which both sides can profit?

This is a question you don’t have to ask yourself and yet probably should. As previously mentioned, many fans view NFTs critically, even more so when it clearly benefits the artists only. So, instead of just thinking about how to line your crypto wallet, you should also consider what value you are offering the buyers.

Countless articles will tell you that 60,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify everyday; some even go as high 70,000. This enormous number is then also listed as one the main reasons why more than half of all tracks on Spotify reach fewer than 500 streams. But the catch is: It’s probably not even true. This is the conclusion music industry expert Bill Werde made, who clearly showed why this number is exaggerated.

Only 20,000 – 40,000 uploads per day?

He starts with a simple calculation: In April 2022, Spotify stated that they had 82 million tracks (including 3.6 million podcasts) on their platform. 17 months prior, in November 2020, the number they put out was 70 million. So, in that timeframe, the number of tracks grew by 12 million, which means 706,000 per month or around 23,500 per day. Even if you consider that songs may get removed from Spotify from time to time, this number is miles off 60,000.

Other sources put the daily uploads at around 40,000. However, they also put into context that a lot of these are remasters or remixes that may not necessarily pose a threat to new releases. Another thing to keep in mind is that many artists switch their labels or distributors. Everytime this happens, the old label will delete the release from Spotify and the new one will upload it again. This, too, is counted by Spotify as an upload, but it doesn’t have any influence on the total number of songs on the platform, and it also is no competition to new releases.

Competition not quite as big as feared

Now, if you take these 23,500 and consider that 80% of them will never reach more than 5,000 streams, you’re still left with 4,700 tracks per day or 32,900 per week. But this number goes down even further, since you will primarily compete with the tracks within the same genre or the same language. All in all, the competition is still big but not as overwhelming as 60,000 uploads per day will have you believe.

The other competition: catalog releases

Now, of course, as a musician, you won’t just have to compete with new releases but also with songs that have been on the platform longer. In the fight for the listeners’ attention, catalogue releases are actually the much bigger competition. In the past year, the share of catalogue releases in the U.S. was as high as 69.8%, and the trend is going more in more in the direction where less and less new music is being played.

It’s commonly known that you can quickly grow a reach on TikTok. But that doesn’t mean that everyone manages to do that right away, and even those who see solid growth can always optimize it still. In order not to build a strategy based on speculations only, it’s well worth regularly making use of the analytics the platform makes available. It is recommended to find a niche on TikTok, and using analytics, you can see if you’ve managed to do it. We’ll introduce the four categories to you in detail:

Overview

This shows for a selected date range how many views you’ve had on your videos and your profile, how many likes you’ve received, and how many comments and shares there were. Additionally, it shows the number of followers and how many posts you’ve made in the corresponding timeframe.

The profile views are particularly interesting, since they are a sign that the videos were met with interest and that the users visited the profile as a result.

Content

Here, you can see how the videos have performed within the time period you’ve selected. Likes, views, comments, and shares are visible for each post. Additionally, you can see which videos were watched the most during the past 7 days. One important reference point is the “average watch time,” which shows if you were able to keep people’s attention or if users quickly switched to the next video. You should also keep an eye on the “watched full video” tab where you can identify how often a video is watched until the end, which would send positive signals to the algorithms.

The Content tab also lets you know how people came across the videos: the For You feed, your profile, sounds, the search tab, or via hashtags. Through this, you can find out, for instance, if the hashtag strategy works. Additionally, you can see where the people that watch your videos come from. That way, you can determine if the audience really comes from the markets that you had your sights on, or, to put in different terms, which markets you should add to your radar.

Follower

Here, you see how the number of followers develops and get more information about them, specifically their gender and where they come from (although only a max. of 5 countries are listed). What’s interesting are the following three points:

Follower activity: Shows when followers are the most active. This is an important reference point to determine what time you should post.

Videos your followers watched: This shows the videos that are popular with the followers. They can be a source of inspiration when you find yourself without content ideas or potentially help you find people with whom you can collaborate.

Sounds your followers listened to: Here, you can see which tracks are well-loved by your followers. This allows musicians to quickly discern if they are reaching the right people.

LIVE

Here, you get the insights into the live videos of the past 7 or 28 days – how many views there were, how many followers they resulted in, how long the watch time was, and the highest number of simultaneous viewers. Additionally, you can see how many diamonds (virtual tips) you were able to collect.

On TikTok, what matters is not (just) quality, but also quantity. While in the past it was recommended to post 3-5 times a week, now it’s reached 3-5 times per day. So, there is ample material to analyze…

More and more artists are going viral on TikTok, thus putting themselves on the radar of the big labels. But what happens then? A team from Vox and The Pudding wanted to find out and took a closer look at the songs that went viral on TikTok in 2020. Those who still need more evidence for TikTok’s massive influence and who still have doubts on whether TikTok reach can translate into streams will definitely get some answers in this documentary.

TikTok-to-Spotify-Pipeline

In total, they identified 1,500 tracks that went viral on TikTok in 2020, meaning around 4 per day. The majority of the artists were already somewhat established before their songs went through the roof on TikTok. At the end, they singled out 125 artists who were entirely unknown prior to the viral song and focused their data analysis on these artists only. What immediately caught their attention was what they call the TikTok-to-Spotify-Pipeline. As soon as a song hits the ground running on TikTok, the streaming numbers skyrocket, as well.

Artists who previously had essentially no monthly listeners reached an audience of millions in no time. This is not least due to the fact that Spotify adds them to the big playlists. What they also noticed: the songs included in the playlists are not just those that went viral but also other tracks from the same artist.

In 2020, there were 332 artists that made their debut in Spotify’s Top 200 charts – a quarter of them thanks to their TikTok hype. We see here once again the very direct influence TikTok has on the charts.

The majors outbid each other

The major labels are continuously losing market shares, and in order to boost them again, they are paying very close attention to the trends on TikTok to pounce on the rising artists right away. Quite often, majors will even try to outbid each other, since they can see a return on their investment with just one viral track. The artists are baited with a high advance payment of around five or six figures and sometimes even north of a million. But as we know, advances are no gift.

In return, often very inexperienced artists will forever transfer their master rights to the label. On top of that, 85% of the generated revenues will go to the record label, as well. The artist, of course, will only receive the remaining 15% once they have brought in the advance. And with a share of 15%, it naturally takes a really, really long time to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Often, it simply doesn’t happen. But according to the documentary, because so many labels jump on these viral artists, a massive shift has occurred here.

Instead of the 85%-deals that are typical for the industry, there are now contracts being offered in which the master rights are only licensed for 12-15 years and the profits are split 50-50.

Out of the 125 artists they analyzed, around half of them (46%) signed with a major label. They additionally analyzed all new artists who signed with a major label in 2020. No less than a third of them had a viral song on TikTok before they were signed.

Longevity or just a viral moment?

This begs two key questions:

1. If you’ve successfully managed to go viral on TikTok and to turn this into millions of streams, do you even need a label still?

2. Can artists use this viral moment to build something more long-lasting, meaning a fanbase, concerts, merch sales, etc.?

These questions, too, were part of the analysis: Out of the 125 artists, 22 had already gone on tours before the viral moment. 33 played in at least one show afterwards and 13 of them even played at festivals. So, some of these artists are well on their way from a viral sensation to becoming an established artist.

In the article “The dark side of Creator Economy” we already discussed how difficult it is for many artists to be caught in the content spiral. Now this topic has received an additional component, with various artists reporting that their labels do not want to release new songs without a viral moment on TikTok. We’re not talking about newcomers here, but artists with established fanbases and millions of streams. This again raises questions about the role of musicians as content creators, but also about the role of labels.

No deal without reach

Of course, everyone agrees that very few artists can do without social media and its reach. It’s also clear that the days of labels building up artists are mostly over. Nowadays, artists are usually only signed once they have built up their own reach and fanbase. Or when they have gone viral on TikTok. The move to a label happens for different reasons, although two of the main ones are: Money, usually in the form of an advance, and the undisputed marketing power that the majors bring to the table.

The fact that you need viral moments to even get signed is more or less standard. That you can’t put your feet up as soon as you have the deal in your pocket is just as clear. But if the label outsources the marketing to the artist, this is quite questionable and seems to be a refusal to work. Last but not least, this is likely to make even more artists think twice about whether a record deal is really the right thing for them.

Going viral is not a strategy

It’s undisputed that TikTok is enabling more artists than ever before to reach a wide audience, even if they’re starting from virtually zero. However, it is also known that TikTok’s algorithm is unpredictable and viral moments cannot be planned. This is exactly where the experience and also the budget of labels should come into play, which can build a strong marketing campaign that does not rely solely on unpredictable viral moments, but offers some consistency and strategy. Going viral is an event that may or may not happen, but it is not a strategy.

The battle for attention

As mentioned before, it has become much more difficult to get attention compared to the time of lockdowns and other restrictions. People are out more, have less time in general and thus the fight for their valuable attention intensifies. It seems that in this extremely competitive environment, labels don’t want to rely on their marketing power alone anymore and therefore demand additional viral moments from the artists, effectively taking over label work in addition to their already numerous tasks.

It is therefore not surprising that more and more artists are resisting being degraded to content machines by their labels. Especially when artists have to post things that don’t feel right to them and that only serve to increase their reach, the fans, who have a good sense for authenticity, notice this. Thus, this focus on content can even turn out to be a boomerang. Last but not least, you should never underestimate how time-consuming a professional social media presence is, especially when it’s not just text posts, but also videos for TikTok, YouTube, Reels, etc. all of which have to be produced.

Conclusion

Labels can expect artists to market themselves on social media. But they are also required to support the artists, to respond to their needs, and to understand when they feel uncomfortable about something. Preventing musicians from burning out must be just as important as reach. Ultimately, the focus should not be solely on viral moments and the largest possible audience. It is much more important to find the right niches and build small but constantly growing and active fanbases in them.

For many, YouTube is simply the place where they upload their music videos. What they fail to consider is that there is no platform where people listen to as much music as they do on YouTube – around 250 million hours every single day, in fact! YouTube Music is also one of the fastest growing streaming services with about 50 million subscribers currently. In this post, we will show you the different sources of revenue that YouTube offers.

Art Tracks

An Art Track is created when your distributor delivers your music to YouTube Music. It’s a music video with a static image (album cover), the audio file, and the most vital metadata. These art tracks are available to paying customers both of YouTube Music and of YouTube Premium, as well as via the “regular” YouTube for everyone else. On iGroove, you can choose between two delivery options: making your music available for premium users only or for free, as well.

Either way, you will get paid – similar to Spotify: you either receive a portion of the subscription revenues (from the premium listeners) or of the ad revenues (from the listeners who use YouTube for free).

iGroove has recently started offering sales trends for YouTube, as well. These give you the almost daily updated numbers of streams you have generated with your Art Tracks, so you don’t have to wait until the final statement is made available.

YouTube monetization

The second most important source of revenue is the monetization via the Content ID. If you upload your releases onto your Content ID via your distributor, it will regularly scan all the videos YouTube and identify all uploads that contain your music. If it finds any, ads will be added to the videos in question, and the revenues they generate will flow to you. So, you still earn money even when others upload your music to YouTube.

Videos

Of course, you can also generate income with the videos you upload yourself. Provided your channel meets the requirements, you can monetize your uploads yourself. Otherwise monetization is also possible via your distributor and the Content ID (provided the videos contain your music).

Other sources of income

To offer content creators more opportunities to make money, YouTube has introduced various tools over the past few years which may be interesting for musicians, as well. Some of these include channel memberships, merch sales, tickets for virtual events, or the tipping features Super Thanks, Super Chat, and Super Stickers. However, to use these features, you have to fulfill various criteria first.

Conclusion

YouTube has set the goal of becoming the leading revenue generator for the music industry. Even though they have a reputation of paying musicians horribly little, YouTube is already a source of revenue not to be underestimated. If the subscriber numbers and the ad revenues continue to grow this rapidly, they will be indispensable before long.

The last posts showed you how much you get per stream on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. Let’s compare the three streaming services to find out which one pays the most, and again, how this differs between countries. As you would expect, Apple Music pays the most however the gap with Deezer is not huge. Spotify has the significantly lowest PPS of the three providers.

Spotify vs. Apple

Unsurprisingly, Apple Music pays significantly more per stream than Spotify, which is mainly due to the fact that Apple Music does not offer an ad-based service. On average, you get 3.5 times as much for a stream on Apple Music as you do for a Spotify stream. This is significantly more than in the last two evaluations, where the figure was 2.63 (2021) and 2.84 (2020).

However, the difference varies enormously across the 59 countries surveyed. In 44 countries, you get at least twice as much for a stream of Apple Music. In Belarus, the Philippines and Macedonia, it is even more than nine times. Other Balkan countries such as Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia also receive a lot more for Apple Music streams.

The differences are more manageable in Israel, the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany.

Spotify vs. Deezer

Spotify and Deezer, which both offer a premium and an ad-based service, are more comparable. But here, too, Spotify is clearly behind; on average, you get 2.85 times as much for a stream on Deezer as for a Spotify stream. The Spotify PPS is higher in only two countries: Israel and Sweden, Spotify’s home country. In about half of the countries surveyed, you get more than twice as much for a stream on Deezer. The differences are again greatest in Belarus and Macedonia, as well as in Montenegro, where Spotify pays out enormously less.

Apple Music vs. Deezer

Despite the different business models, the differences between Apple Music and Deezer are the smallest. On average, you get 1.45 times more for a stream on Apple Music, or 45% more. It’s also only 12 of the 59 countries where you get more than twice as much for an Apple Music stream. In 16 countries, Deezer actually pays out more than Apple Music, including the US, UK, Austria, Belgium, and Denmark.

The English-speaking countries in comparison

For a concrete comparison, we show here how much you get per million streams at the three providers in the six English-speaking countries.

All figures in USD / Status May 2022

	Spotify	Apple Music	Deezer
Australia	3,792.69	6,682.55	5,543.79
Canada	2,955.36	4,900.70	4,690.36
Ireland	5,218.89	10,017.97	7,359.26
New Zealand	4,234.58	7,735.51	5,521.20
United Kingdom	5,588.34	9,720.12	9,896.46
United States	4,090.58	5,901.64	7,879.45

The following table shows how many streams from each country it takes to earn $4,000:

Status May 2022

	Spotify	Apple Music	Deezer
Australia	1,054,661	598,574	721,528
Canada	1,353,475	816,210	852,812
Ireland	766,447	399,282	543,533
New Zealand	944,604	517,096	724,479
United Kingdom	715,777	411,517	404,185
United States	977,856	677,777	507,650

The PPS of 59 countries in comparison

Finally, now the evaluation of 59 countries and for each country the comparison between the different DSPs.

To explain the factor: Let’s take the comparison between Apple Music and Deezer as an example. If the factor is 3, this means that Apple Music pays three times as much per stream. If the factor is 1, the PPS is identical for both providers. If it is less than 1, it means that Deezer pays more than Apple Music in this country.

All figures in USD / Status Mai 2022

Country	Spotify	Apple Music	Deezer	Apple vs. Spotify	Deezer vs. Spotify	Apple vs. Deezer
Australia	3,792.69	6,682.55	5,543.79	1.76	1.46	1.21
Austria	3,531.03	7,797.81	10,293.4	2.21	2.92	0.76
Azerbaijan	599.22	3,944.23	1,966.27	6.58	3.28	2.01
Belarus	633.16	6,170.27	8,961.19	9.75	14.15	0.69
Belgium	3,300.48	6,588.39	8,075.48	2.00	2.45	0.82
Bosnia and Herzegovina	668.01	5,139.58	1,613.24	7.69	2.41	3.19
Canada	2,955.36	4,900.70	4,690.36	1.66	1.59	1.04
Chile	1,169.71	3,444.51	1,614.66	2.94	1.38	2.13
Colombia	832.95	2,274.17	1,654.35	2.73	1.99	1.37
Czech Republic	2,184.55	5,248.57	3,712.24	2.40	1.70	1.41
Denmark	5,,180.54	10,272.20	10,346.16	1.98	2.00	0.99
Finland	5,602.48	9,046.28	7,801.86	1.61	1.39	1.16
France	3,132.31	5,580.22	5,161.53	1.78	1.65	1.08
Germany	3,581.54	6,783.59	5,733.88	1.89	1.60	1.18
Ghana	693.02	1,431.66	1,708.06	2.07	2.46	0.84
Greece	1,763.31	6,629.98	2,940.82	3.76	1.67	2.25
Hungary	1,981.53	3,879.12	3,758.67	1.96	1.90	1.03
Indonesia	566.54	3,160.77	2,302.75	5.58	4.06	1.37
Ireland	5,218.89	10,017.97	7,359.26	1.92	1.41	1.36
Israel	3,292.33	4,500.79	2,869.47	1.37	0.87	1.57
Italy	2,238.44	6,979.29	3,413.54	3.12	1.52	2.04
Kazakhstan	675.14	1,770.97	3,662.95	2.62	5.43	0.48
Kenya	574.92	2,579.90	1,867.85	4.49	3.25	1.38
Kyrgyzstan	449.93	3,039.65	1,189.27	6.76	2.64	2.56
Luxembourg	4,265.01	9,144.30	5,587.78	2.14	1.31	1.64
Macedonia	717.74	6,746.40	8,534.10	9.40	11.89	0.79
Malaysia	1,078.44	3,867.40	1,926.27	3.59	1.79	2.01
Malta	2,295.67	6,778.15	2,410.91	2.95	1.05	2.81
Mauritius	538.80	3,186.83	3,373.54	5.91	6.26	0.94
Mexico	1,146.06	2,556.59	1,485.38	2.23	1.30	1.72
Montenegro	771.31	6,130.36	5,740.30	7.95	7.44	1.07
Namibia	883.65	2,622.83	2,909.45	2.97	3.29	0.90
Netherlands	3,982.04	8,700.81	6,105.7	2.19	1.53	1.43
New Zealand	4,234.58	7,735.51	5,521.2	1.83	1.30	1.40
Nigeria	398.07	933.5	1,252.78	2.35	3.15	0.75
Norway	5,452.83	15,920.61	9,716.96	2.92	1.78	1.64
Peru	869.57	3,146.11	1,150.45	3.62	1.32	2.73
Philippines	783.39	7,072.07	1,544.38	9.03	1.97	4.58
Poland	1,383.96	3,974.90	2,846.55	2.87	2.06	1.40
Portugal	1,663.01	5,776.82	2,516.67	3.47	1.51	2.30
Romania	1,595.65	4,179.33	3,941.75	2.62	2.47	1.06
Senegal	525.48	2,659.47	1,275.97	5.06	2.43	2.08
Serbia	884.79	4,969.91	4,182.37	5.62	4.73	1.19
Singapore	2,507.54	8,210.76	6,910.42	3.27	2.76	1.19
Slovakia	1,938.91	5,196.64	5,014.36	2.68	2.59	1.04
Slovenia	1,185.98	3,820.56	5,787.52	3.22	4.88	0.66
South Africa	1,638.68	2,845.49	2,996.58	1.74	1.83	0.95
Spain	2,084.66	6,667.66	3,510.52	3.20	1.68	1.90
Sri Lanka	773.58	3,896.28	4,139.11	5.04	5.35	0.94
Sweden	4,927.00	9,472.22	4,770.26	1.92	0.97	1.99
Switzerland	5,659.36	11,587.33	7,262.4	2.05	1.28	1.60
Thailand	1,148.51	4,122.24	3,799.62	3.59	3.31	1.08
Turkey	418.03	1,805.17	1,222.28	4.32	2.92	1.48
Uganda	549.42	2,351.96	1,691.84	4.28	3.08	1.39
Ukraine	863.88	3,755.73	2,656.74	4.35	3.08	1.41
United Kingdom	5,588.34	9,720.12	9,896.46	1.74	1.77	0.98
United States	4,090.58	5,901.64	7,879.45	1.44	1.93	0.75
Vietnam	1,125.68	3,327.87	6,304.49	2.96	5.60	0.53
Zambia	772.00	1,752.58	1,463.46	2.27	1.90	1.20

Spotify regularly emphasizes that it is not possible to give a number that is paid out per stream. This is true in that it changes from month to month, is different for each country and each subscription type. iGroove nevertheless regularly analyzes how high this is per country using the figures available to us to provide guidance. The analysis shows which markets are more lucrative and in which you (still) need more streams to get on a green branch.

As with Apple Music and Deezer, the figures are based on data from iGroove customers over the last 6 months. We calculated an average value for 133 countries; we did not include nearly 50 countries because we did not have enough data. We have the original data in euros, which we have converted into USD (1 euro = 1.054 USD).

If you had exactly the same number of streams from all the countries examined, this would result in 1,686 dollars per million streams. In our last evaluation, this figure was still $2,355, but Spotify has expanded into numerous new markets since then, and many of them are also included in this evaluation. If we only compare the 94 countries that were already included in the last evaluation, the PPS is $2,104. The fact that the PPS is also down here can be explained primarily by the change in the exchange rate.

Only a few countries over $2,000

Of the 133 countries analyzed, 59 receive less than $1,000 per million streams. These include large markets such as India, Argentina, Egypt, the Philippines, Indonesia and Turkey.

Only 33 countries exceed the 2,000 mark, so exactly 100 remain below this threshold, including numerous European and all Latin American and African countries.

Europe dominates the top 10

The top 10 are almost unchanged from last time, but the positions have changed. South Korea, the only non-European country in the top 10, is no longer at the top, but little Iceland is, and with a decent lead. It is followed almost equally by Switzerland, Finland and the UK. These four countries plus Norway, Ireland and Denmark are also the only ones to achieve more than $5,000 per million.

The winners

The PPS grew the most in Kuwait, Brazil, new leader Iceland, Argentina, El Salvador, Jordan, Mongolia and Honduras.

The losers

The PPS fell the most in South Korea, but the figure there was also extremely high at 15,000 in the last evaluation, and it now seems to have settled at a still high $4,960. In contrast, the declines in India (-24%) and Turkey (-20%), whose low PPS falls even further into the bottomless pit due to inflation, are eye-catching.

English-speaking countries in comparison

There were no major shifts among the six English-speaking countries since our last analysis. Australia and New Zealand lost a little, while for the other countries the PPS remained more or less unchanged. The UK and Ireland continue to have by far the highest PPS, while New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia are all roughly in the same range, and Canada is clearly bringing up the rear.

United Kingdom	5,588.34
Ireland	5,218.89
New Zealand	4,234.58
United States	4,090.58
Australia	3,792.69
Canada	2,955.36

The PPS of 133 countries in comparison

Below you can find the complete list with all 133 evaluated countries. For each country, you can see the PPS and the extrapolation of how much you get per million streams. In addition, you can see how high the amount for one million streams was in our last evaluation and how this has changed in percentage terms since then. The table can be sorted in any order.

All figures in USD / Status May 2022

Country	PPS	Per Million Streams	Analysis 2021	Change %
Iceland	0.006720546665	6,720.55	5,461.35	23.06
Switzerland	0.005659355953	5,659.36	5,377.06	5.25
Finland	0.005602475455	5,602.48	5,414.59	3.47
United Kingdom	0.005588334639	5,588.33	5,821.53	-4.01
Norway	0.005452830966	5,452.83	5,459.8	-0.13
Ireland	0.005218885897	5,218.89	5,369.9	-2.81
Denmark	0.005180540406	5,180.54	5,491.26	-5.66
South Korea	0.004960180629	4,960.18	17,860.39	-72.23
Sweden	0.004927994837	4,927.99	4,955.35	-0.55
Liechtenstein	0.004837441922	4,837.44	5,004.60	-3.34
Luxembourg	0.004265006881	4,265.01	4,629.69	-7.88
New Zealand	0.004234577650	4,234.58	4,820.44	-12.15
United States	0.004090580811	4,090.58	3,974.47	2.92
Monaco	0.004007260035	4,007.26	5,436.28	-26.29
Netherlands	0.003982036224	3,982.04	4,357.45	-8.62
Australia	0.003792686423	3,792.69	4,227.9	-10.29
Germany	0.003581544747	3,581.54	3,816.47	-6.16
Austria	0.003531029715	3,531.03	4,114.99	-14.19
Japan	0.003338315903	3,338.32	3,740.73	-10.76
Belgium	0.003300478820	3,300.48	3,486.42	-5.33
Israel	0.003292331384	3,292.33	3,297.39	-0.15
Andorra	0.003261273047	3,261.27	4,431.16	-26.40
France	0.003132308129	3,132.31	3,516.62	-10.93
Canada	0.002955355118	2,955.36	2,998.74	-1.45
Estonia	0.002782821532	2,782.82	3,038.78	-8.42
Hong Kong	0.002692263750	2,692.26	3,247.28	-17.09
Cyprus	0.002537209134	2,537.21	3,304.56	-23.22
Singapore	0.002507536342	2,507.54	2,509.76	-0.09
Malta	0.002295668714	2,295.67	2,836.12	-19.06
Italy	0.002238441777	2,238.44	2,272.50	-1.50
United Arab Emirates	0.002205896726	2,205.90	2,420.19	-8.85
Czech Republic	0.002184549680	2,184.55	2,331.51	-6.30
Spain	0.002084659943	2,084.66	2,396.31	-13.01
Lithuania	0.001984387505	1,984.39	2,173.60	-8.71
Hungary	0.001981528876	1,981.53	2,003.15	-1.08
Slovakia	0.001938906057	1,938.91	1,976.40	-1.90
Kuwait	0.001924362977	1,924.36	1,510.40	27.41
Latvia	0.001866884770	1,866.88	1,,846.18	1.12
Uruguay	0.001866227905	1,866.23	1,893.75	-1.45
Macao	0.001844647994	1,844.65
Qatar	0.001827513637	1,827.51	1,800.29	1.51
Greece	0.001763311528	1,763.31	2,052.02	-14.07
Costa Rica	0.001757243512	1,757.24	1,702.51	3.21
Panama	0.001692497612	1,692.50	1,625.48	4.12
Dominican Republic	0.001684356878	1,684.36	1,635.27	3.00
Portugal	0.001663008286	1,663.01	1,881.23	-11.60
South Africa	0.001638678866	1,638.68	1,702.14	-3.73
Oman	0.001631156122	1,631.16	1,758.74	-7.25
Lebanon	0.001609849698	1,609.85	1,742.74	-7.63
Romania	0.001595650013	1,595.65	1,986.7	-19.68
Taiwan	0.001575541372	1,575.54	1,472.44	7.00
Maldives	0.001566534741	1,566.53
Bulgaria	0.001545696923	1,545.70	1,611.74	-4.10
Bahrain	0.001483755621	1,483.76	1,707.07	-13.08
Brazil	0.001430003996	1,430.00	1,150.22	24.32
Curaçao	0.001393291730	1,393.29
Poland	0.001383955077	1,383.96	1,521.36	-9.03
Ecuador	0.001363108595	1,363.11	1,433.26	-4.89
El Salvador	0.001308846030	1,308.85	1,085.58	20.57
Croatia	0.001304378182	1,304.38	1,431.80	-8.90
Honduras	0.001247742605	1,247.74	1,110.14	12.40
Saudi Arabia	0.001228145074	1,228.15	1,507.44	-18.53
Nicaragua	0.001201279778	1,201.28	1,204.23	-0.24
Slovenia	0.001185979568	1,185.98	1,265.91	-6.31
Mozambique	0.001179230486	1,179.23
Chile	0.001169713713	1,169.71	1,113.74	5.02
Brunei	0.001159864533	1,159.86
Thailand	0.001148506591	1,148.51	1,158.88	-0.90
Mexico	0.001146058119	1,146.06	1,235.81	-7.26
Vietnam	0.001125677326	1,125.68	1,177.86	-4.43
Malaysia	0.001078441228	1,078.44	1,232.39	-12.49
Guatemala	0.001039620732	1,039.62	1,047.8	-0.78
Jordan	0.001001383654	1,001.38	837.29	19.60
Egypt	0.000914291189	914.29	928.25	-1.50
Palestine	0.000910030399	910.03	874.40	4.07
Georgia	0.000901949360	901.95
Serbia	0.000884788175	884.79	973.64	-9.13
Namibia	0.000883649587	883.65
Mauritania	0.000870295864	870.30
Peru	0.000869565713	869.57	1,120.54	-22.40
Ukraine	0.000863877374	863.88	838.78	2.99
Argentina	0.000860761663	860.76	702.84	22.47
Bolivia	0.000845283772	845.28	831.14	1.70
India	0.000841795884	841.80	1,254.88	-32.91
Colombia	0.000832950598	832.95	943.89	-11.75
Guyana	0.000813055349	813.055
Trinidad and Tobago	0.000791404025	791.40
Philippines	0.000783388995	783.39	802.70	-2.41
Sri Lanka	0.000773574944	773.57
Zambia	0.000771994787	771.99
Montenegro	0.000771305589	771.31	795.94	-3.10
Moldova	0.000731437933	731.44	962.34	-23.99
Venezuela	0.000724084099	724.08
Paraguay	0.000723420086	723.42	743.66	-2.72
Mongolia	0.000720960105	720.96	621.69	15.97
Jamaica	0.000719531445	719.53
Macedonia	0.000717735973	717.74	706.00	1.66
Bahamas	0.000708508636	708.51
Ghana	0.000693016102	693.02
Kazakhstan	0.000675139988	675.14	621.29	8.67
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.000668011299	668.01	639.88	4.40
Morocco	0.000657849204	657.85	759.19	-13.35
Russia	0.000652625318	652.63	642.06	1.65
Armenia	0.000641179820	641.18
Belarus	0.000633163964	633.16	668.33	-5.26
Barbados	0.000630279359	630.28
Tunisia	0.000628968978	628.97	662.12	-5.01
Algeria	0.000628723125	628.72	661.77	-4.99
Fiji	0.000600090786	600.09
Azerbaijan	0.000599217679	599.22	621.91	-3.65
Albania	0.000582277898	582.28	611.09	-4.71
Belize	0.000575759634	575.76
Kenya	0.000574922730	574.92
Tanzania	0.000574851409	574.85
Indonesia	0.000566541816	566.54	728.43	-22.22
Uganda	0.000549421411	549.42
Pakistan	0.000544101766	544.10
Cambodia	0.000540556464	540.56
Mauritius	0.000538797513	538.80
Botswana	0.000537324839	537.32
Senegal	0.000525482416	525.48
Kyrgyzstan	0.000449929675	449.93
Côte d'Ivoire	0.000439394037	439.39
Turkey	0.000418031834	418.032	594.28	-29.66
Uzbekistan	0.000417325344	417.33
Zimbabwe	0.000404133895	404.13
Nigeria	0.000398074205	398.07
Bangladesh	0.000355267410	355.27
Swaziland	0.000299050086	299.05
Bhutan	0.000287683527	287.68
Rwanda	0.000286348660	286.35
Nepal	0.000269796298	269.80
Iraq	0.000184539397	184.54

As we recently did with Deezer, we have now analyzed Pay Per Stream (PPS) again for Apple Music. The updated numbers are based on iGroove customer data from the last 6 months. In total, we analyzed 84 countries; we had to omit some states due to insufficient available data. The original data is available in Euro, we converted it to USD (1 Euro = 1.054 USD). 

If we had exactly the same number of streams from all countries examined, this would result in $5,461.88 per million streams. The PPS has thus dropped slightly compared to the last evaluation, when it was $5,992.65. If you only take into account the countries that were already evaluated last time, it is $5,278.87. Part of the difference can be explained by the change in the exchange rate. 

Iceland at the top

The clear frontrunner is Iceland, where you get almost $25,000 for a million streams. However, it must be taken into account that only very few streams from this small country were included in the evaluation, which means that falsifications are possible.

Otherwise, the top 10 includes many of the usual suspects, such as the Scandinavian countries Norway, Denmark and Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Ireland. The various European countries are joined by Kuwait and Oman.

Winners and losers

Significant increases in the PPS occurred primarily in African countries such as Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda. The sharpest increase in PPS occurred in the Philippines, where it more than doubled. Countries such as Lebanon, Azerbaijan and Peru also saw strong growth.

The PPS fell most sharply in Armenia, Indonesia and Jordan. It also fell sharply in the major markets of India and Turkey.

English-speaking countries in comparison

PPS fell for all six English-speaking countries, least for the U.S. and Canada, which nevertheless remain at the bottom. While Ireland and the UK managed to stay in the top 10 despite quite a drop, the U.S. and Canada are not found in the top 30.

Ireland	10,017.97
United Kingdom	9,720.12
New Zealand	7,735.50
Australia	6,682.55
United States	5,901.64
Canada	4,900.69

PPS significantly below 0.01

Finally, we wanted to know if Apple Music was paying out the announced $0.01 per stream. Since Apple includes Publishing Rights payouts in this, we factored those in as well. On average, this results in a PPS of $0.0070, which is far from the $0.01. In total, only 15 countries reach this one cent according to our evaluation.

The PPS of 84 countries in comparison

Below you will find the complete list with all 84 evaluated countries. For each country you can see the PPS as well as the extrapolation of how much you get per million streams. In addition, you can see how high the amount for one million streams was in our last evaluation and how this has changed in percentage terms since then. The table can be sorted in any order.

All figures in USD / Status May 2022

Country	PPS	Per Million Streams	Analysis 2021	Change in %
Iceland	0.024618616813	24,618.62
Norway	0.015920607085	15,920.61	16,405.43	-2.96
Kuwait	0.012191319422	12,191.32	12,267.25	-0.62
Switzerland	0.011587334698	11,587.33	10,778.58	7.50
Denmark	0.010272202904	10,272.20	12,220.66	-15.94
Ireland	0.010017974439	10,017.97	12,278.36	-18.41
United Kingdom	0.009720115716	9,720.12	11,302.16	-14.00
Oman	0.009586468673	9,586.47	96,65.01	-0.81
Sweden	0.009472218340	9,472.22	10,888.19	-13.00
Luxembourg	0.009144299640	9,144.30	10,109.95	-9.55
Finland	0.009046274827	9,046.27	11,092.6	-18.45
Netherlands	0.008700806147	8,700.81	12,332.7	-29.45
Singapore	0.008210754737	8,210.75	7,411.34	10.79
Austria	0.007797812896	7,797.81	9,139.21	-14.68
New Zealand	0.007735504956	7,735.50	9,837.48	-21.37
Lebanon	0.007183699028	7,183.70	5,604.31	28.18
Cyprus	0.007095360104	7,095.36	10,363.88	-31.54
Philippines	0.007072073640	7,072.07	3,253.1	117.39
Italy	0.006979291533	6,979.29	9,397.36	-25.73
Germany	0.006783587307	6,783.59	7,013.45	-3.28
Malta	0.006778151935	6,778.15	9,789.3	-30.76
Macedonia	0.006746395882	6,746.40	7,363.64	-8.38
Australia	0.006682546147	6,682.55	8,049.19	-16.98
Spain	0.006667660235	6,667.66	8,175.53	-18.44
Greece	0.006629978972	6,629.98	8,635.16	-23.22
Belgium	0.006588394014	6,588.39	8,079.84	-18.46
Belarus	0.006170273825	6,170.27	5,889.57	4.77
Montenegro	0.006130355629	6,130.36	5,690.94	7.72
Japan	0.005972492733	5,972.49	7,564.4	-21.04
Estonia	0.005924489249	5,924.49	6,931.01	-14.52
United States	0.005901643126	5,901.64	6,113.3	-3.46
Bahrain	0.005778729518	5,778.73	8,171.85	-29.28
Portugal	0.005776818842	5,776.82	7,104.27	-18.69
Lithuania	0.005771625234	5,771.63	8,276.72	-30.27
France	0.005580220060	5,580.22	6,960.26	-19.83
Macao	0.005564550288	5,564.55	5,155.64	7.93
Czech Republic	0.005248569632	5,248.57	5,939.46	-11.63
Georgia	0.005215931816	5,215.93	4,471.43	16.65
Slovakia	0.005196644410	5,196.64	6,572.99	-20.94
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.005139581664	5,139.58	5,521.8	-6.92
Jordan	0.005025439149	5,025.44	8,558.06	-41.28
Serbia	0.004969906744	4,969.91	6,177.64	-19.55
Canada	0.004900694872	4,900.69	5,410.78	-9.43
Hong Kong	0.004686819712	4,686.82	6,055.07	-22.60
Latvia	0.004641018631	4,641.02	5,740.69	-19.16
Uzbekistan	0.004628117033	4,628.12
Israel	0.004500788025	4,500.79	4,882.73	-7.82
Romania	0.004179333568	4,179.33	4,370.6	-4.38
Mongolia	0.004135325163	4,135.33	3,726.01	10.99
Thailand	0.004122243002	4,122.24	4,409.31	-6.51
Poland	0.003974901791	3,974.90	4,639.03	-14.32
Azerbaijan	0.003944231956	3,944.23	3,137.05	25.73
Sri Lanka	0.003896283590	3,896.28	3,980.62	-2.12
Taiwan	0.003895771451	3,895.77	3,994.49	-2.47
Hungary	0.003879118248	3,879.12	4,637.21	-16.35
Malaysia	0.003867401849	3,867.40	4,858.86	-20.41
Slovenia	0.003820555457	3,820.56	4,576.56	-16.52
Ukraine	0.003755734121	3,755.73	3,556.06	5.62
China	0.003461522110	3,461.52	4,345.12	-20.34
Chile	0.003444510734	3,444.51	3,293.08	4.60
Vietnam	0.003327864492	3,327.86	3,139.81	5.99
Mauritius	0.003186827234	3,186.83	3,633.87	-12.30
Indonesia	0.003160771797	3,160.77	6,260.04	-49.51
Peru	0.003146111075	3,146.11	2,555.4	23.12
Moldova	0.003104374378	3,104.37	3,490.84	-11.07
Kyrgyzstan	0.003039650703	3,039.65	2,752.39	10.44
Botswana	0.002867101112	2,867.10	2,068.28	38.62
South Africa	0.002845491296	2,845.49	3,111.81	-8.56
Cambodia	0.002795098784	2,795.10	2,461.16	13.57
Senegal	0.002659472460	2,659.47
Namibia	0.002622834565	2,622.83	3,335.54	-21.37
Mozambique	0.002581599507	2,581.60	4,301.26	-39.98
Kenya	0.002579898536	2,579.90	2,193.06	17.64
Mexico	0.002556586071	2,556.59	2,927.11	-12.66
Uganda	0.002351963254	2,351.96	1,925.88	22.12
Colombia	0.002274165648	2,274.17	2,481.97	-8.37
Turkey	0.001805170440	1,805.17	2,774.49	-34.94
Kazakhstan	0.001770967266	1,770.97	1,724.41	2.70
Zambia	0.001752576445	1,752.58	1,400.17	25.17
Zimbabwe	0.001493261715	1,493.26
Ghana	0.001431657184	1,431.66	1,119.09	27.93
India	0.001195980455	1,195.98	1,893.84	-36.85
Armenia	0.000984316921	984.32	4,646.48	-78.82
Nigeria	0.000933495496	933.50	863.62	8.09

Less than a year ago, we analyzed Deezer’s Pay Per Stream (PPS) for the first time. Now we have the updated numbers based on iGroove customer data from the last 6 months. In total we analyzed 93 countries, some states we had to leave out due to not enough available data. We have the original data in Euros, we converted it to USD (1 Euro = 1.054 USD). 

If we had exactly the same number of streams from all the countries analyzed, this would result in 3,787.74 USD per million streams. In the last evaluation, this value was still 4,776 USD, but at that time there were significantly fewer countries. Comparing only these 66 countries, the PPS has decreased slightly less and results in 4,309.45 USD extrapolated to one million streams. Part of the difference can be explained by the change in the exchange rate. 

Bulgaria remains front runner

In our first evaluation, we were extremely surprised to find that Bulgaria has by far the highest PPS. This is now confirmed by the latest figures, with the Eastern European country remaining at the top by far. As last time, three Arab countries – Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia – are in the top 10. As usual, Scandinavian countries, specifically Denmark and Norway, are at the top and the big climbers are Austria and the UK. Rather surprisingly, Belarus and Macedonia are both in the top 10.

The winners

Macedonia is then the biggest winner, with its PPS increasing by 300% compared to the first evaluation. Other Eastern European countries such as Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia also made significant gains. Other winners are Israel, Italy, Belgium, Turkey and as already mentioned Austria and UK.

The losers

The biggest losers come mostly from South America, namely Ecuador, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Ivory Coast, Greece, Egypt and Hungary also went down.

English-speaking countries in comparison

In our last evaluation, the USA was still at the top of the list of English-speaking countries. Now, however, with the UK up 26% and the US down 24%, the UK now has the clear highest PPS. While Ireland has remained more or less stable, Australia and New Zealand’s numbers have dropped by around 30% and Canada has also lost 15%. Again, some of this can be explained by exchange rate fluctuations.

United Kingdom	9,896.46
United States	7,879.45
Ireland	7,359.26
Australia	5,543.79
New Zealand	5,521.20
Canada	4,690.36

The PPS of 93 countries in comparison

Below you will find the complete list with all 93 evaluated countries. For each country you can see the PPS as well as the extrapolation of how much you get per million streams. In addition, you can see how high the amount for one million streams was in our last evaluation and how this has changed in percentage terms since then. The table can be sorted in any order.

All figures in USD / Status May 2022

Country	PPS	Per Million Streams	Analysis 2021	Change in %
Bulgaria	0.012133741894	12,133.74	14,876.68	-18.44
Denmark	0.010346159120	10,346.16	10,958.15	-5.58
Austria	0.010293399756	10,293.40	8,104.17	27.01
Qatar	0.009900422669	9,900.42	10,645.95	-7.00
United Kingdom	0.009896464137	9,896.46	7,838.33	26.26
Norway	0.009716957791	9,716.96	10,013.43	-2.96
United Arab Emirates	0.009288545890	9,288.55	10,176.23	-8.72
Belarus	0.008961192386	8,961.19
Macedonia	0.008534099840	8,534.10	2,139.11	298.96
Saudi Arabia	0.008169040727	8,169.04	9,983.56	-18.18
Belgium	0.008075479135	8,075.48	6,661.31	21.23
United States	0.007879452219	7,879.45	7,838.33	0.52
Finland	0.007801856299	7,801.86	9,576.10	-18.53
Ireland	0.007359255199	7,359.26	7,954.48	-7.48
Switzerland	0.007262399672	7,262.40	7,117.00	2.043
Singapore	0.006910418292	6,910.42
Vietnam	0.006304494907	6,304.49
Netherlands	0.006105700604	6,105.70	7,019.47	-13.02
Slovenia	0.0057875218661	5,787.52	3,898.85	48.44
Montenegro	0.005740302321	5,740.30	5,957.46	-3.65
Germany	0.005733877410	5,733.88	5,766.49	-0.57
Luxembourg	0.005587777120	5,587.78	7,033.16	-20.55
Australia	0.005543788489	5,543.79	7,986.27	-30.58
New Zealand	0.005521201548	5,521.20	7,853.64	-29.70
Mali	0.005270661546	5,270.66
France	0.005161529351	5,161.53	5,661.92	-8.84
Slovakia	0.005014355615	5,014.36	3,770.36	32.99
Croatia	0.004869978297	4,869.98	3,673.79	32.56
Sweden	0.004770256687	4,770.26	6,978.38	-31.64
Canada	0.004690361461	4,690.36	5,555.39	-15.57
Serbia	0.004182370332	4,182.37	4,092.71	2.19
Sri Lanka	0.004139105726	4,139.11
Romania	0.003941745194	3,941.75	4,136.48	-4.71
Thailand	0.003799623305	3,799.62	4,911.32	-22.64
Hungary	0.003758666397	3,758.67	6,166.10	-39.04
Czech Republic	0.003712243369	3,712.24	4,263.88	-12.94
Kazakhstan	0.003662954069	3,662.95	4,321.11	-15.23
Côte d'Ivoire	0.003512939178	3,512.94	7,281.32	-51.75
Spain	0.003510517542	3,510.52	3,795.09	-7.50
Italy	0.003413542301	3,413.54	2,336.81	46.08
Mauritius	0.003373535945	3,373.54	4,335.62	-22.19
South Africa	0.002996579446	2,996.58	3,423.17	-12.46
Greece	0.002940823571	2,940.82	5,166.14	-43.08
Namibia	0.002909446300	2,909.45
Israel	0.002869473643	2,869.47	1,507.97	90.29
Poland	0.002846547135	2,846.55	3,632.63	-21.64
Egypt	0.002732062966	2,732.06	4,545.20	-39.89
Ukraine	0.002656737196	2,656.74	3,332.50	-20.28
Guatemala	0.002639559620	2,639.56	3,618.87	-27.06
Portugal	0.002516673088	2,516.67	3,634.32	-30.75
Malta	0.002410905975	2,410.91
Honduras	0.002363890146	2,363.89
Indonesia	0.002302747236	2,302.75
Gabon	0.002126085476	2,126.09
Bolivia	0.002080045924	2,080.05	2,260.41	-7.98
Albania	0.002076579012	2,076.58	1,978.48	4.96
Panama	0.002002039686	2,002.04
Azerbaijan	0.001966266332	1,966.27	1,229.65	59.90
Malaysia	0.001926267374	1,926.27
Kenya	0.001867849364	1,867.85	2,677.08	-30.23
Argentina	0.001796293067	1,796.29	1,582.33	13.52
Paraguay	0.001774159224	1,774.16	3,689.32	-51.91
Russia	0.001761244846	1,761.24	1,880.37	-6.34
Ghana	0.001708063746	1,708.06
Costa Rica	0.001703794724	1,703.79	1,891.45	-9.92
Uganda	0.001691844325	1,691.84
Colombia	0.001654349825	1,654.35	2,813.89	-41.20
Brunei	0.001646220398	1,646.22
Chile	0.001614656340	1,614.66	3,038.73	-46.86
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.001613237631	1,613.24	1,652.58	-2.38
Tunisia	0.001598869825	1,598.87
Malawi	0.001558152445	1,558.15
Philippines	0.001544380441	1,544.38	1,472.99	4.85
Mexico	0.001485384039	1,485.38	2,332.8	-36.32
Zambia	0.001463458263	1,463.46
El Salvador	0.001403153302	1,403.15	1,332.13	5.33
Cameroon	0.001391399141	1,391.40
Morocco	0.001383854232	1,383.85	1,799.54	-23.10
Madagascar	0.001343437566	1,343.44
Senegal	0.001275966264	1,275.97
Iraq	0.001252880478	1,252.88
Nigeria	0.001252782339	1,252.78	1,709.09	-26.70
Turkey	0.001222281978	1,222.28	1,036.29	17.95
Ecuador	0.001199781414	1,199.78	2,985.89	-59.82
Kyrgyzstan	0.001189269121	1,189.27
Peru	0.001150452960	1,150.45	1,875.19	-38.65
Congo	0.001149127948	1,149.13
Brazil	0.001144679792	1,144.68	1,197.47	-4.41
Benin	0.001132781273	1,132.78
Togo	0.001113864624	1,113.86
Venezuela	0.001082273828	1,082.27
Nicaragua	0.001076901710	1,076.90
Algeria	0.001012545172	1,012.55	1,170	-13.46

When Spotify reported in their Loud & Clear update that only 200,000 artists on their platform are professionals, it certainly raised s eyebrows and drew to criticism. Of course, Spotify didn’t base this on people’s vocals, rap skills, how well they can play their instrument, or the quality of the songwriting. What they mean is artists who make good music and/or know how to market it properly and who can thus reach a certain audience. This is how Spotify seeks to justify why only 52,600 artists were able to generate more than 10,000 USD.

Spotify pointed out that out of the 8 million artists who release music on their platform, 5.4 million uploaded fewer than 10 tracks. Additionally, before the pandemic, there were reportedly 199,000 artists who performed in live shows. These are both arguments that certainly give us some pointers, but they are also a little flawed. There are many artists, for instance, who don’t list their gigs on Spotify or who don’t go on tours even if they got plenty of listeners. The Beatles or Amy Winehouse certainly aren’t going on tour despite their number of fans.

Only half a million artists with more than 1,000 listeners

What’s more convincing are the monthly listeners which indicate whether an artist is marketing their music well. The Loud & Clear page shows us that there are 1.731 million artists with more than 50 monthly listeners. Or, to put it different terms, around 6.27 million artists reached fewer than 50 million listeners every month. 558,000 artists reached more than 1,000 listeners, while 214,000 artists were ablet to cross the 10,000-listener threshold, which is right about where Spotify sets the benchmark for professional artists.

If you have more than 100,000 monthly listeners, you’ve made it into a club of 53,000 artists, which would be congruent with the 52,600 artists who generated more than 10,000 dollars.

Here are the exact numbers:

Monthly listeners	Number of artists
Under 50	6,269,000
50-100	389,000
100-500	609,000
500-1,000	175,000
1,000-5,000	264,000
5,000-10,000	80,000
10,000-50,000	131,000
50,000-100,000	30,000
100,000-500,000	38,000
500,000-1,000,000	6,000
1,000,000-5,000,000	7,000
More than 5,000,000	2,000

More than half of all songs have less than 500 streams

Let’s now take a look at the individual songs. According to Spotify, there are 78.4 million songs on the platform (82 million including podcasts). Out of these, 22.37% or 17.54 million tracks were streamed fewer than 100 times. 38.69 million songs reached 500 streams since their upload, which in turn means that more than half of all the songs on Spotify have fewer than 500 streams to show. Only a little more than 20% of songs generated more than 5,000 streams and 4.36% of songs broke the 100,000 stream-mark.

All-time Streams	Number of songs
Under 100	17,540,000
100-500	22,170,000
500-1,000	7,950,000
1,000-5,000	14,330,000
5,000-10,000	4,400,000
10,000-50,000	6,860,000
50,000-100,000	1,730,000
100,000-500,000	2,220,000
500,000-1,000,000	481,000
1,000,000-5,000,000	525,000
More than 5,000,000	194,000

Whether or not you should set the number of professional artists at 200,000 remains a matter of contention. But the number is not entirely absurd, since there really are only a limited number of artists and songs that can find an audience. In summary, one could say that there are countless tracks coming from a multitude of artists that are rarely or never played and that are essentially just taking up space on the server (and incurring costs).