60 ms·

Kind of old problem. The world has changed. Newer math now, like how much does Spotify actually pay people. Apparently Lady Gaga got $167 from one million plays

by merinid 14y ago

Kind of old problem. The world has changed. Newer math now, like how much does Spotify actually pay people. Apparently Lady Gaga got $167 from one million plays of 'Poker Face'.

socalnate1 14y ago
Source? There is no way that figure is correct.
- netrus 14y ago
  For example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/13/spotify-songwriters http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/13/spotify-songwrit... But Pokerface is now 4 years old, not sure if the numbers are still representative.
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merinid 14y ago
Total aside, kind of interesting that Spotify is a peer to peer application.
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  It's not in the sense that there is no social interaction between "peers" and can't be. They just reduce Spotify traffic bills for their own money.
vanderZwan 14y ago
New math, but aren't the scumbags shaving off all the profits still the same?
crusso 14y ago
How much did she make from radio stations playing her music for free?
- rhplus 14y ago
  The source of the $167 number seems to be a Guardian article linked below. Assuming it's talking about the UK system, then the artist almost certain does get paid for radio plays (which might not be the case in the American system, I'm not sure). My understanding is that most UK stations play a flat annual fee which is magically divided up among artists based on a formula, but for big stations like BBC Radio 1, the exact number of plays will be monitored and royalties will be paid out accordingly. https://www.prsformusic.com/users/broadcastandonline/Radio/Pages/RadioLicensingFAQs.aspx https://www.prsformusic.com/users/broadcastandonline/Radio/P...
rhplus 14y ago
A million plays sounds like a lot when the payment is only $167, but compared to the old method of listening (radio at its peak) the rate is not massively far off the mark, assuming you can adjust per listener. The article below attempts to compare the UK radio PRS royalty splits with Spotify payments and if I'm reading the numbers correctly the middle estimate comes to around $300 per spin per million listeners (I'm using the estimate of £0.0001870 per spin per listener). http://davidtouve.com/2011/12/13/uk-radio-versus-spotify-a-comparison-of-the-value-of-spins-versus-streams/ http://davidtouve.com/2011/12/13/uk-radio-versus-spotify-a-c...
- merinid 14y ago
  Super interesting. We could stretch the technical arguments though. The play/stream is broadcast exclusively for me, sure. But then again, see my point below about Spotify being peer to peer application. It is, from an interface perspective, provisioned for me. But really songs are broadcast by individuals to other individuals. In the long run, this line of thinking is fun, but not much else. What matters is what it feels like, not how it's accomplished. And you know what, it's a pretty cool optimization from a technical perspective - gets my respect.

by merinid 14y ago

Kind of old problem. The world has changed. Newer math now, like how much does Spotify actually pay people. Apparently Lady Gaga got $167 from one million plays of 'Poker Face'.

socalnate1 14y ago

Source? There is no way that figure is correct.

netrus 14y ago
For example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/13/spotify-songwriters http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/13/spotify-songwrit... But Pokerface is now 4 years old, not sure if the numbers are still representative.
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merinid 14y ago

Total aside, kind of interesting that Spotify is a peer to peer application.

guard-of-terra 14y ago
It's not in the sense that there is no social interaction between "peers" and can't be. They just reduce Spotify traffic bills for their own money.

vanderZwan 14y ago

New math, but aren't the scumbags shaving off all the profits still the same?

crusso 14y ago

How much did she make from radio stations playing her music for free?

rhplus 14y ago
The source of the $167 number seems to be a Guardian article linked below. Assuming it's talking about the UK system, then the artist almost certain does get paid for radio plays (which might not be the case in the American system, I'm not sure). My understanding is that most UK stations play a flat annual fee which is magically divided up among artists based on a formula, but for big stations like BBC Radio 1, the exact number of plays will be monitored and royalties will be paid out accordingly. https://www.prsformusic.com/users/broadcastandonline/Radio/Pages/RadioLicensingFAQs.aspx https://www.prsformusic.com/users/broadcastandonline/Radio/P...

rhplus 14y ago

A million plays sounds like a lot when the payment is only $167, but compared to the old method of listening (radio at its peak) the rate is not massively far off the mark, assuming you can adjust per listener. The article below attempts to compare the UK radio PRS royalty splits with Spotify payments and if I'm reading the numbers correctly the middle estimate comes to around $300 per spin per million listeners (I'm using the estimate of £0.0001870 per spin per listener). http://davidtouve.com/2011/12/13/uk-radio-versus-spotify-a-comparison-of-the-value-of-spins-versus-streams/ http://davidtouve.com/2011/12/13/uk-radio-versus-spotify-a-c...

merinid 14y ago
Super interesting. We could stretch the technical arguments though. The play/stream is broadcast exclusively for me, sure. But then again, see my point below about Spotify being peer to peer application. It is, from an interface perspective, provisioned for me. But really songs are broadcast by individuals to other individuals. In the long run, this line of thinking is fun, but not much else. What matters is what it feels like, not how it's accomplished. And you know what, it's a pretty cool optimization from a technical perspective - gets my respect.