Not all music streaming platforms offer the same compensation to artists, and a recent study reveals the significant differences between services, notably that Apple Music compensates artists at over twice the rate of Spotify.
Spotify’s payouts lag significantly behind Apple Music and have not improved in light of price increases
Duetti has released a fresh economic analysis detailing artist payouts across various music streaming platforms (source: Apple World Today).
This analysis centers on payouts for 2024, providing insights into how major platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and others stack up against one another and their trends.
A key measurement tracked is the payout per 1,000 streams. Here are the 2024 payouts per 1,000 streams according to the report:
- Amazon: $8.80
- Apple Music: $6.20
- YouTube: $4.80
- Spotify: $3.00
The figures indicate that Apple Music is paying its artists more than double what Spotify paid last year, a situation influenced partially by Spotify’s free tier.
Despite the frequency of advertisements on Spotify’s free plan, the income generated from these streams contributes minimally to artists’ earnings.
However, Spotify cannot solely attribute its lower payouts to its ad-supported plan, as YouTube, another ad-reliant service, compensates artists on average over 50% more.
With its exclusively subscription-based model, Apple Music is evidently able to provide higher payouts to artists.
The analysis also highlights that Spotify has consistently increased its subscription prices in recent years while artist payouts have concurrently diminished—a concerning trend. Although investments in podcasts and audiobooks appear to be yielding some positive outcomes for the platform, this might be at the cost of music artists.
What insights do you draw from this report? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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