Compared to Spotify, Apple Music is one of the better-paying streaming platforms for musicians. In over a decade, the service had only one major controversy when it refused to pay artists royalties during the free period it would offer users. After Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple, the company reversed the decision and paid them even if the user was on a free trial. With that, the streaming platform got 1989, while Spotify had to wait long for Taylor’s discography to land there.
Much has changed over the past decade with how people consume media. Most of us have adopted music streaming services instead of buying physical albums or even songs from iTunes, and with that, payments for a thousand streams have also lowered in the past five years.
In a new report, Duetti (via AppleWorldToday) reveals that among the top music streaming services (Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and Spotify), Amazon pays artists better, followed by Apple Music and YouTube. Although it has the largest user base among those players, Spotify pays less than half of what Apple Music does, pushing the industry to lower payments.
In comparison, Amazon paid $8.8 for every 1,000 streamings in 2024, while Apple Music paid $6.2, YouTube $4.8, and Spotify $3.0. Duetti says Amazon Music continues to pay the highest rates as “services are bundled with Prime memberships.” On the other hand, Spotify continues to have low payout rates due to “high usage, geographical mix, reliance on discounted/free plans, and their Discovery Mode program.”
Not only that, but Spotify has increased the price of its service twice in the past four years while the payout for 1,000 streams has only declined. In 2021, the company charged users $9.99 per month and paid $4.08 for every 1,000 streams, while it now charges users $11.99 and pays artists $3.51 for every 1,000 streams.
The reason for lower payouts has to do with Spotify’s Discovery Mode program. It lets independent artists be more discoverable through the company’s algorithm, but they have to accept a 30% reduction in payouts. Currently, over 26% of artists opt into that program.
The report also reveals that viral TikTok songs usually don’t turn into increases in royalty payouts and that YouTube has seen a growth in users as Spotify loses them due to some genre’s popularity.
Update: After BGR published the article highlighting Duetti’s report, a Spotify spokesperson reached out for a comment:
“These claims are ridiculous and unfounded. No streaming service pays per stream because that approach would incentivize streaming services to minimize streams. It would mean low engagement, fewer artist connections, and lower overall payouts. Instead, we take the opposite approach. We want users to engage more so that they pay more – both by sticking around and choosing premium. We are proud to be the leader in total payouts, but that doesn’t happen by accident; it’s by design. Further, not only do we dispute the numbers and unattributed ‘guesses’ across the board, but we reject the premise of the report because it is out of step with the reality of how the industry works.”
