Royalties on online streaming services

BUDFORCE · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:05

Like Spotify or Netflix.

As it's online streaming I guess unlike with traditional television, they can tell exactly how many times something is viewed/listened to.

Are the royalties to the artist then paid out accordingly?

Or in a much simpler way, every time I listen to a track by my favourite band on Spotify, do they make a tiny little bit more money from me doing this?

Basher · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:06

Yes, they do. It's TINY, though.

Yaayuh! · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:08

BUDFORCE said:
Or in a much simpler way, every time I listen to a track by my favourite band on Spotify, do they make a tiny little bit more money from me doing this?

Yes.
What little they make per hit/play is split between the artist and those involved in whatever the contract/s specify.

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:14

Yea, it's why artists backed Tidal at the time, because it was giving more to the artists. Moby had like the most listened to track on spotify with hundreds of millions of plays but only got a tiny amount for it.

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:15

Just found this from another artist:

Total number of streams: 1,023,501

Total revenue: $4,955.90

Specific time period accounted: 10/15/2013 – 2/15/2013

(March, April, May periods not yet reported; estimated)

Average per-stream payout: $0.004891

BUDFORCE · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:17

randomshenans said:
Just found this from another artist:

Total number of streams: 1,023,501

Total revenue: $4,955.90

Specific time period accounted: 10/15/2013 – 2/15/2013

(March, April, May periods not yet reported; estimated)

Average per-stream payout: $0.004891

Very cool, so roughly how many times would you need to listen to an artist to make them a penny?

(Sorry my maths are so trash)

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:39

BUDFORCE said:
Very cool, so roughly how many times would you need to listen to an artist to make them a penny?

Just over 200 times for 1c

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:44

Thing is you get more for youtube views now days. You see YouTube pushing their paid sub a lot more and I know people who have moved from spotify to youtube for this reason. Artists have huge channels there. Take Ed Sheeran for example, his is one of the most viewed UK based channels. In fact according to social blade there are 2 channels and his earnings per year are combined, between $1m - 12m for the year. Large band, sure, but if it's anywhere in that range you're actually making some decent wedge from your music, compared to on spotify.

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:51

OK, looking at that example, you have Ed on spotify, who in 2018 got roughly 5b streams, which based on the above pay per stream would still net him $24,455,000 :O

That being said, he's on about 500m views for the year on YouTube, so if he gets a middle estimate of $6m for those, which would be about $0.012 per watch.

BUDFORCE · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:54

But I guess there isn't any exclusivity, so unless an artist is concerned they will loose record sales to online streaming, there is no harm in whacking your stuff across as many of these services as possible provided they are legitimate and pay royalties.

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 09:17

You'd be crazy not to. I bet they make more from streaming now than they do album sales.

touch · 7 Nov 2019 at 09:51

randomshenans said:
Just over 200 times for 1c

I disagree with your maths.
I say it's 2 times for 1c, 200 times for $1

randomshenans · 7 Nov 2019 at 11:21

touch said:
I disagree with your maths.
I say it's 2 times for 1c, 200 times for $1

Sorry you're 100%... It was early

MissChief · 7 Nov 2019 at 12:45

randomshenans said:
You'd be crazy not to. I bet they make more from streaming now than they do album sales.

Who listens to whole albums anymore on streaming services? Very few people I bet.

SexyGreyFox · 7 Nov 2019 at 13:10

I think Megan Traynor got around $6,700 for her song about her bottom and that had millions of plays.
Pretty sure Neil Young has started up a campaign about royalties and streaming.

andicole0 · 7 Nov 2019 at 13:28

PRS is the organisation that collects and pays out royalties. Best to contact them and possibly sign up.
Andi.

SpeedFreak · 7 Nov 2019 at 13:41

Assuming I bought a cd for £5 with 10 tracks and listened to it 100 times in my life, with the artist receiving 20% of the sale, what would they earn? 0.1p per listen? Considering many now get to "sell" their songs to people who would have never bought their album in the fist place I can't imagine they are particularly worse off.

andicole0 · 7 Nov 2019 at 13:47

SpeedFreak said:
Assuming I bought a cd for £5 with 10 tracks and listened to it 100 times in my life, with the artist receiving 20% of the sale, what would they earn? 0.1p per listen? Considering many now get to "sell" their songs to people who would have never bought their album in the fist place I can't imagine they are particularly worse off.

From a CD the artist gets the fixed fee like the 20% you suggest, once. Regardless of how many times you listen to a CD the artist gets the single payment of 20%. When streamed online the artist gets a fixed fee per play where each play earns an extremely small amount, PRS agree this small fee with the streaming bodies.
Andi.

BUDFORCE · 7 Nov 2019 at 14:52

randomshenans said:
Sorry you're 100%... It was early

At least you gave it a go! I didn't even attempt it!

SpeedFreak · 7 Nov 2019 at 17:22

andicole0 said:
From a CD the artist gets the fixed fee like the 20% you suggest, once. Regardless of how many times you listen to a CD the artist gets the single payment of 20%. When streamed online the artist gets a fixed fee per play where each play earns an extremely small amount, PRS agree this small fee with the streaming bodies.
Andi.

So does that make it good, bad or just different?