Spotify royalties... the ugly truth.
- Thread starter Iron Keys
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Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
I thought this was already posted here?
But yeah, the streaming payouts are ridiculous and the same goes for ads like on Google. At the beginning they paid out more but now it's a fraction of a penny and not worth it.
As for Snoop, if that's all he's getting then there's no hope for the little guy to make any real money like that. Nowadays you have to be a beatmaker, producer, videographer, social media expert, audio engineer, plus a boatload of other crap and there's no guarantee anyone will actually like your music.
But yeah, the streaming payouts are ridiculous and the same goes for ads like on Google. At the beginning they paid out more but now it's a fraction of a penny and not worth it.
As for Snoop, if that's all he's getting then there's no hope for the little guy to make any real money like that. Nowadays you have to be a beatmaker, producer, videographer, social media expert, audio engineer, plus a boatload of other crap and there's no guarantee anyone will actually like your music.
It's the under 45k for over a billion streams. That's ridiculous. On radio that would be serioussss money if that was the equivalent in plays.
Streaming, with such a broad reach, and so much opportunity for ad revenue and whatnot, and how in fact it's also paid and subscription, it should be paying out way more than radio. Should be far more lucrative.
It's actually shocking that it's allowed to perpetuate.
It's a loss to make music.
Even if you obtained your software and instruments and equipment illegitimately. The cost of time you lose still would not weigh up. From streaming revenue. Absolutely crazy.
Music and art should be even more lucrative now due to the reach. Reach always equalled more moolah.
Even with more "creators" it should still be viable.
You would just have hoped that the oversaturation would have led people to be more aware of quality, but it's actually made them less discerning.
Streaming, with such a broad reach, and so much opportunity for ad revenue and whatnot, and how in fact it's also paid and subscription, it should be paying out way more than radio. Should be far more lucrative.
It's actually shocking that it's allowed to perpetuate.
It's a loss to make music.
Even if you obtained your software and instruments and equipment illegitimately. The cost of time you lose still would not weigh up. From streaming revenue. Absolutely crazy.
Music and art should be even more lucrative now due to the reach. Reach always equalled more moolah.
Even with more "creators" it should still be viable.
You would just have hoped that the oversaturation would have led people to be more aware of quality, but it's actually made them less discerning.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
It's crazy because look at how some guys did it way back - pressed up their tapes or CDs and sold it on the street. Let's say $10 a pop x 1000 sold = $10,000 in your pocket minus a small amount for the pressing. This is why the streaming subscription model never made sense to me. You signup for $10/month and can access almost all of the world's music. How can any artist make money from that? Out of that $10, it's probably 99.9998% going to Spotify and the website basically just needs to be maintained. It's not like they're actively creating a new website from scratch every day. So the subscription money is all in their pockets.
A quick Google search:
Spotify Technology gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2024 was $4.307B, a 33% increase year-over-year.
Yeah ridiculous.
Which genuinely, I think the best revenue would be direct-to-fan.
I have an idea of how I would do that --- but first would require you having a fan base.
I could turn the idea into an app. Would work great if artists turned away future work from the streaming platforms and opted into my system.
Then sell it to Spoti for 2 billion and let it go to shit.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Well the thing is - artists that have a loyal following (could be 10 people or 1000) can sell directly with sites like Bandcamp but that's a crapshoot since that means the artist is relying on fans to support them out of loyalty/kindness. In theory, Spotify should be the ideal place for artists to have their music because it will reach a huge audience, it's just that the payouts are insanely low.
The same with Youtube. You put up videos and you have to pray that Youtube's algorithm pushes your videos out there to a wider audience, then you have to hope those people click on the ads and then hope they buy something.
Lots of hope and prayers is not a good business model. Our best days are behind us.
Look at this about Master P's early success:
yeah thing about my concept is a little different from merely sale of the file/album. Quite a cool idea but I don't want to say too much about in case it is a reaaally cool idea and someone executes it first ha.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Just as long as it's not:
- Sign in to download app.
- Agree to terms to download app.
- Download app.
- Register.
- Confirm not a bot @OGBama
- Confirm email.
- Sign up for updates.
- Sign in with Google instead.
- Confirm Google access.
- Confirm Google's email that someone signed in on your device.
- Update app.
- Upload files.
- Confirm the samples in the beats are cleared.
- Link your Paypal to the app.
- etc
- etc
- etc
That's why artists and producers need to make their own website and have their music stream on that. Grind it out and get your real dollar amount. While it's cool to have your music on these platform to reach other city/town/countries you're never get what you're worth especially on Spotify because they're not trying to pay the unsigned artist. Make your website go worldwide. @Fade is a great example of that. Its people on this website from almost everywhere
Earsblower
Listen closely... Closer...
Just curious how can you get paid by getting streams on your own website ? Traffic/ads ?
Ain't that a very small amount tho ?
An aspect of it would require part of this, yes.
But it would make a return to being more like buying albums or singles. And the money thus going directly to artist. Not collected and distributed.
Or it could just be a solo thing I do myself for my own fans (once I get them)
I don't have the answer on how to get your own streaming dollars on your own website. I actually been trying to figure that out. everybody is being sort of secretive about it. They want the artist to be depending on youtube, spotify etc for the under a penny money. Maybe if your website is monetize threw google adsense or another company that could be one way to get steaming dollars but I'm unsure
@Earsblower
I'm not entirely sure how things work anymore but based on my old knowledge...
Streaming platforms should be having to pay a fee to collection agencies, and the agencies then pay the royalties to the artist.
So if you were streaming your own music I don't believe you would make money, because you would essentially have to pay fee to broadcast the music , so that the collection agencies can play it back to you. So it wouldn't make sense.
This should help give you a little understanding...
Music Royalties Explained: The Ultimate Guide for 2024
How do music royalties work? How do I collect music royalties? We cover the biggest topic of the music industry and explain how musicians get what they are owed.
www.indiemusicacademy.com
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
There's no way of getting "streaming fees" on your own website because like @Iron Keys said you'd have to be setup to have rights and fees with that, etc. Or maybe one of these streaming sites has an API you can use on your own website that allows you to embed your beats on your own site, then the streams get counted. But you would have to know how to code.
On your own website you can either use it as just a way to promote your beats and have a bio and all that, but then adding ads or affiliate links to bring in some sort of money. But you would have to have a good amount of traffic to make money from that.
From my experience, between sites like Spotify and Youtube, you're better off working a minimum wage job instead of trying to make any serious money from music. It's a hard cold truth. You have to also factor in the countless hours of making beats, learning new software/plugins, making content, social media, etc. Add all that up and you're basically working for pennies on the dollar.
On your own website you can either use it as just a way to promote your beats and have a bio and all that, but then adding ads or affiliate links to bring in some sort of money. But you would have to have a good amount of traffic to make money from that.
From my experience, between sites like Spotify and Youtube, you're better off working a minimum wage job instead of trying to make any serious money from music. It's a hard cold truth. You have to also factor in the countless hours of making beats, learning new software/plugins, making content, social media, etc. Add all that up and you're basically working for pennies on the dollar.