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I'm not familiar with the structure of stream payouts on Spotify, but if 80 million streams gives 12 dollars, that means Taylor Swift's 26.1B streams give ~4k?

by xavxav 3y ago

I'm not familiar with the structure of stream payouts on Spotify, but if 80 million streams gives 12 dollars, that means Taylor Swift's 26.1B streams give ~4k? I knew the rates were bad but damn...

erellsworth 3y ago
I'm pretty sure it was hyperbole.
- nkozyra 3y ago
  Wait, hold on, you're telling me Weird Al was doing some sort of joke here?
randomdata 3y ago
An artist with clout no doubt negotiates a much higher rate.
boldslogan 3y ago
I guess if spotify sues him for libel, then it will be documented the actual payout... which is probably higher than 12$ but lower than 80M$...
- nkozyra 3y ago
  > I guess if spotify sues him for libel Obviously this would be a terrible case against a known humorist making an obvious joke, but can you imagine how horribly that would backfire?
matsemann 3y ago
Trying different calculators online, 80 million streams estimates to about $200k in royalties paid out. Probably wildly inaccurate based on different deals etc., but probably in that order of magnitude instead of nickels. How that is distributed to the artist I guess is up to the label.
- ikt 3y ago
  it's not possible to calculate exact payout because the payout is 70% of every dollar spotify generates so that obviously fluctuates day to day, then you have ad tier vs premium tier and then i read that the payout goes through another calculation based on what total percentage of streams you have out of the total and then depending on the label how much they pass on
ikt 3y ago
From a different article: Not 3 cents, a third of one penny per stream. By that metric, Weird Al would have earned a little more than $12, more like $350,000 but his point stands. https://gizmodo.com/weird-al-spotify-wrapped-artist-pay-1851059636 https://gizmodo.com/weird-al-spotify-wrapped-artist-pay-1851...
- jkubicek 3y ago
  If that's how much he earns, I'm not sure his point does stand. If he's making $350k from Spotify, I'm guessing he makes about that much from all the other streaming services combined. $700k in income from what is essentially an advertisement for your tours and merch feels like a pretty good deal.
  - jjulius 3y ago
    $700k regardless is a good chunk of cash, but can you blame an artist for asking, "Whoa what the fuck?" if that's still a lot less than they would've made in a time before Spotify existed?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - steve1977 3y ago
      Is it though? Someone might listen to your tracks on Spotify because it’s included in the flat rate, but would have never bought a CD or record of you. And then those records had production costs and needed to be put in stores etc. Yes, at the peak of CDs, there was more money to be made. But I’m not sure if the difference is really that big.
      - jjulius 3y ago
        >Is it though? >But I’m not sure if the difference is really that big. I'm struggling to understand why so many musicians - countless numbers, from nearly every genre, with all different sizes of fan bases - have been complaining about Spotify reducing their income if the difference wasn't "really that big".
kredd 3y ago
Taylor Swift is also a fun example as she refused to be on Spotify for some time because of “artists get paid pennies” reason. But then she signed some deal eventually to increase payouts basically for everyone. Now it’s been a while, and Spotify is way more used nowadays, so I’m not sure where the power balance is anymore.
- rchaud 3y ago
  Artists of TS' popularity can cut side deals with Spotify, same way Spotify cuts deals with Google Play to play less than what other app developers pay. Also, I think TS owns her record label and the master tapes, so royalties would accrue directly to her company. https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969690/google-spotify-android-billing-commission-secret-deal https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969690/google-spotify-...
madeofpalk 3y ago
Weird Al is something of a commedian, so when $12 was probably an exaggeration for commedic affect. Like a joke.
occz 3y ago
The numbers are obviously not accurate.
cwsx 3y ago
I'm a completely unknown artist with 4 songs on Spotify, mostly released during 2020. In total I'm at 54388 plays, which has earned $42.41. This is across all platforms, though Spotify is 95% of the plays. I'm not sure if Spotify has dropped their payout per play since 2020 but I'm likely at the lowest payout rate and I'd say it's not terrible (although it's not great). You also get paid more for Spotify premium streams, which afaik was the majority of my streams.

by xavxav 3y ago

I'm not familiar with the structure of stream payouts on Spotify, but if 80 million streams gives 12 dollars, that means Taylor Swift's 26.1B streams give ~4k? I knew the rates were bad but damn...

erellsworth 3y ago

I'm pretty sure it was hyperbole.

nkozyra 3y ago
Wait, hold on, you're telling me Weird Al was doing some sort of joke here?

randomdata 3y ago

An artist with clout no doubt negotiates a much higher rate.

boldslogan 3y ago

I guess if spotify sues him for libel, then it will be documented the actual payout... which is probably higher than 12$ but lower than 80M$...

nkozyra 3y ago
> I guess if spotify sues him for libel Obviously this would be a terrible case against a known humorist making an obvious joke, but can you imagine how horribly that would backfire?

matsemann 3y ago

Trying different calculators online, 80 million streams estimates to about $200k in royalties paid out. Probably wildly inaccurate based on different deals etc., but probably in that order of magnitude instead of nickels. How that is distributed to the artist I guess is up to the label.

ikt 3y ago
it's not possible to calculate exact payout because the payout is 70% of every dollar spotify generates so that obviously fluctuates day to day, then you have ad tier vs premium tier and then i read that the payout goes through another calculation based on what total percentage of streams you have out of the total and then depending on the label how much they pass on

ikt 3y ago

From a different article: Not 3 cents, a third of one penny per stream. By that metric, Weird Al would have earned a little more than $12, more like $350,000 but his point stands. https://gizmodo.com/weird-al-spotify-wrapped-artist-pay-1851059636 https://gizmodo.com/weird-al-spotify-wrapped-artist-pay-1851...

jkubicek 3y ago
If that's how much he earns, I'm not sure his point does stand. If he's making $350k from Spotify, I'm guessing he makes about that much from all the other streaming services combined. $700k in income from what is essentially an advertisement for your tours and merch feels like a pretty good deal.
- jjulius 3y ago
  $700k regardless is a good chunk of cash, but can you blame an artist for asking, "Whoa what the fuck?" if that's still a lot less than they would've made in a time before Spotify existed?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - steve1977 3y ago
    Is it though? Someone might listen to your tracks on Spotify because it’s included in the flat rate, but would have never bought a CD or record of you. And then those records had production costs and needed to be put in stores etc. Yes, at the peak of CDs, there was more money to be made. But I’m not sure if the difference is really that big.
    - jjulius 3y ago
      >Is it though? >But I’m not sure if the difference is really that big. I'm struggling to understand why so many musicians - countless numbers, from nearly every genre, with all different sizes of fan bases - have been complaining about Spotify reducing their income if the difference wasn't "really that big".

kredd 3y ago

Taylor Swift is also a fun example as she refused to be on Spotify for some time because of “artists get paid pennies” reason. But then she signed some deal eventually to increase payouts basically for everyone. Now it’s been a while, and Spotify is way more used nowadays, so I’m not sure where the power balance is anymore.

rchaud 3y ago
Artists of TS' popularity can cut side deals with Spotify, same way Spotify cuts deals with Google Play to play less than what other app developers pay. Also, I think TS owns her record label and the master tapes, so royalties would accrue directly to her company. https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969690/google-spotify-android-billing-commission-secret-deal https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969690/google-spotify-...

madeofpalk 3y ago

Weird Al is something of a commedian, so when $12 was probably an exaggeration for commedic affect. Like a joke.

occz 3y ago

The numbers are obviously not accurate.

cwsx 3y ago

I'm a completely unknown artist with 4 songs on Spotify, mostly released during 2020. In total I'm at 54388 plays, which has earned $42.41. This is across all platforms, though Spotify is 95% of the plays. I'm not sure if Spotify has dropped their payout per play since 2020 but I'm likely at the lowest payout rate and I'd say it's not terrible (although it's not great). You also get paid more for Spotify premium streams, which afaik was the majority of my streams.