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You're missing the point. This is the absolute ceiling of success that can be reached in Spotify. If the payout of that is 90k, what do you thing the payout of

by paol 8y ago

You're missing the point. This is the absolute ceiling of success that can be reached in Spotify. If the payout of that is 90k, what do you thing the payout of the typical artist is on Spotify?

pjc50 8y ago
So if the price is $15 and there are N users playing M streams of songs ... how much is really available to each artist? Note that they don't make any claim about spotify's margins or profits here. It's a submarine article to demand they raise prices (and pass the increase on to the labels).
maxxxxx 8y ago
Instead of worrying about superstars making only 92k/day maybe you should worry about how much the typical artists makes. In today's winner-takes-it-all world there is a good chance that if Carey made much more the average guy still would make nothing.
jlarocco 8y ago
I love music, strongly support musicians, and buy tons of music, but you're not going to make me feel bad that artists can "only" make $92k a day on Spotify.
- webdood90 8y ago
  I think the point is an elite artist tops out at 92k, meaning unknown artists will be making peanuts for their contributions. You're not supposed to pity that top tier artist, only realize that the ceiling is relatively low for everyone.
  - ashelmire 8y ago
    It’s for a single day on a single platform for a single song. That’s a large amount of money even for the biggest stars to make in a day.
  - dgzl 8y ago
    The artist isn't making that money, the rights holder is. Who knows how many hands see that money before the artist does.
    - jjeaff 8y ago
      Well, at least due to the effect of technology on music, many unknown artists are able to produce their own music and go directly to Spotify and other services. And they do that quite often now though I don't know that many making a living on streaming royalties.
  - jlarocco 8y ago
    That's nonsense, and the given evidence doesn't support the conclusion. $92k in a day is ton of money by almost any measure. Even more so because the song was recorded 24 years ago. It's possible most artists are getting screwed, but the example given doesn't show that at all. The real takeaway from this example should be how broken the copyright system is. It's disgusting that somebody can still milk out $92k a day for work they did 24 years ago.
ben_jones 8y ago
In a vacuum where Spotify is the only income for a musician sure, but it is easier than ever to publish on many massive platforms tying in with revenue from live performances, merchandise, advertising, etc. Sure its not as safe a a 9-5 job but that is a conscious decision in order to do what one loves, what one is good at, or what one can get rich doing - unlike most 9 to 5s...
ashelmire 8y ago
This song was written and released 24 years ago and earned its creators probably a million dollars on just this single streaming platform this year. That seems pretty damn good. Remember that streaming platforms are just one small piece of the pie.
- jjeaff 8y ago
  Hmm, and Google makes many billions of dollars on their search engine every year. So all the little indy startup search engines must be making an ok living, right? The music industry is very, very top heavy when it comes to income distribution.
  - ashelmire 8y ago
    I think a reasonable amount for a musician to earn is comparable to the average income. So let’s say what... 200$ / day? If they get $50/day total for their entire catalogue from just Spotify that’s pretty damn good and probably puts them at more than $200/day between streaming, song and album sales, and live performances and licensing. And that only takes 6000 total plays. Let’s say double that for dilution amongst other copyright holders or label or whatever. That’s not that much in terms of plays. Everybody wants to be a millionaire artist, but the economics don’t support that.
_asummers 8y ago
I'm not sure how it works for people in the Mariah Carey echelon, but small acts make most of their money from touring and merch sales. My understanding is that CD sales don't really got back to the artist anyway, in an appreciable way, even before Spotify, so Spotify seems to be a continuation of that idea.
ryandrake 8y ago
If the point was how little Spotify pays, they should have highlighted how little typical artists get rather than the example that’s 100-1000X what most people earn in a day.

by paol 8y ago

You're missing the point. This is the absolute ceiling of success that can be reached in Spotify. If the payout of that is 90k, what do you thing the payout of the typical artist is on Spotify?

pjc50 8y ago

So if the price is $15 and there are N users playing M streams of songs ... how much is really available to each artist? Note that they don't make any claim about spotify's margins or profits here. It's a submarine article to demand they raise prices (and pass the increase on to the labels).

maxxxxx 8y ago

Instead of worrying about superstars making only 92k/day maybe you should worry about how much the typical artists makes. In today's winner-takes-it-all world there is a good chance that if Carey made much more the average guy still would make nothing.

jlarocco 8y ago

I love music, strongly support musicians, and buy tons of music, but you're not going to make me feel bad that artists can "only" make $92k a day on Spotify.

webdood90 8y ago
I think the point is an elite artist tops out at 92k, meaning unknown artists will be making peanuts for their contributions. You're not supposed to pity that top tier artist, only realize that the ceiling is relatively low for everyone.
- ashelmire 8y ago
  It’s for a single day on a single platform for a single song. That’s a large amount of money even for the biggest stars to make in a day.
- dgzl 8y ago
  The artist isn't making that money, the rights holder is. Who knows how many hands see that money before the artist does.
  - jjeaff 8y ago
    Well, at least due to the effect of technology on music, many unknown artists are able to produce their own music and go directly to Spotify and other services. And they do that quite often now though I don't know that many making a living on streaming royalties.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  That's nonsense, and the given evidence doesn't support the conclusion. $92k in a day is ton of money by almost any measure. Even more so because the song was recorded 24 years ago. It's possible most artists are getting screwed, but the example given doesn't show that at all. The real takeaway from this example should be how broken the copyright system is. It's disgusting that somebody can still milk out $92k a day for work they did 24 years ago.

ben_jones 8y ago

In a vacuum where Spotify is the only income for a musician sure, but it is easier than ever to publish on many massive platforms tying in with revenue from live performances, merchandise, advertising, etc. Sure its not as safe a a 9-5 job but that is a conscious decision in order to do what one loves, what one is good at, or what one can get rich doing - unlike most 9 to 5s...

ashelmire 8y ago

This song was written and released 24 years ago and earned its creators probably a million dollars on just this single streaming platform this year. That seems pretty damn good. Remember that streaming platforms are just one small piece of the pie.

jjeaff 8y ago
Hmm, and Google makes many billions of dollars on their search engine every year. So all the little indy startup search engines must be making an ok living, right? The music industry is very, very top heavy when it comes to income distribution.
- ashelmire 8y ago
  I think a reasonable amount for a musician to earn is comparable to the average income. So let’s say what... 200$ / day? If they get $50/day total for their entire catalogue from just Spotify that’s pretty damn good and probably puts them at more than $200/day between streaming, song and album sales, and live performances and licensing. And that only takes 6000 total plays. Let’s say double that for dilution amongst other copyright holders or label or whatever. That’s not that much in terms of plays. Everybody wants to be a millionaire artist, but the economics don’t support that.

_asummers 8y ago

I'm not sure how it works for people in the Mariah Carey echelon, but small acts make most of their money from touring and merch sales. My understanding is that CD sales don't really got back to the artist anyway, in an appreciable way, even before Spotify, so Spotify seems to be a continuation of that idea.

ryandrake 8y ago

If the point was how little Spotify pays, they should have highlighted how little typical artists get rather than the example that’s 100-1000X what most people earn in a day.