How Much Do Artists Make on Spotify in 2023?

With the world becoming more digital each day, streaming is one of the primary revenue incomes for artists.

As the industry is heavily dependent on digital service providers like Spotify, you as an artist need to work together with these third-party Digital Service Providers (DSPs) to become a success in the modern industry.

You might be wondering – “how much do artists make on Spotify?”

In this article, you will learn how Spotify’s pay-per-stream system works, how much artists make on Spotify, and get some insights into your potential earnings in different situations.

Go to the sections you would like to learn about first:

• How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream?
• The Basics of Spotify’s Payment System
• Factors That Affect an Artist’s Earnings on Spotify
• How Much Do Artists Actually Make on Spotify (Examples)
• Who Is the Highest-Paid Spotify Artist?
• How To Maximize Earnings on Spotify?
• Alternative Revenue Streams for Artists

How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream?

Every Digital Service Provider (DSP) pays a different amount per stream, depending on their business model and how it splits the income with the artist.

In the perfect world, as an artist, you want to keep all 100% of the income and not share it with everyone. But you must share the profits unless you develop your own streaming services platform.

In the case of Spotify, the artist can expect to receive between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.

There is no specific number of how much Spotify will pay for each stream, as many aspects impact the end amount.

Which we will touch upon in a bit…

The Basics of Spotify’s Payment System

Spotify pays artists royalties once a month. However, when and how much artists get paid depends on their agreements with their label or distributor.

If you use Distorkid or TuneCore, you keep 100% of the royalties that Spotify pays out.

Spotify royalty split with the artist is 70% (artist) and 30 % (Spotify).

Spotify does not know about any deals artists sign with their labels. Therefore, they cannot answer why the rightsholder’s payment is a particular amount for a specific month.

Factors That Affect an Artist’s Earnings on Spotify

Spotify distributes the net revenue from Premium subscription fees and ads to rightsholders.

To calculate net income, they subtract the money they collect but do not get to keep, which includes:

• Tax payments
• Credit card processing fees
• Billing fees
• Sales commissions

After the business expenses have been covered, the rightsholder’s net revenue share is calculated by stream share. 

Spotify calculates the streaming share by:

1. Tallying the total number of streams in a given month
2. Determining what proportion of those streams were people listening to music owned or controlled by a particular rightsholder

Spotify does not pay artists royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate.

The royalty payments they receive might vary according to differences in how their music is streamed or their agreements with labels or distributors.

Learn more about Spotify royalties in their help article.

How Much Do Artists Actually Make on Spotify (Examples)

As of now, you understand that many factors impact the amount of money Spotify artists will receive for their streams.

Also, you can approximately expect to get between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.

But, don’t quote me on that, as the amount can change with time.

How Much Do Spotify Artists Make per 1,000 Plays?

In comparison to other music streaming platforms, Spotify is in the number 4 position regarding how much they pay for each stream, right after Amazon Music.

It is evident that to make a decent living from your music stream, you need to get more than just 1 000.

If you get 1 000 streams on Spotify, you will receive approximately 3 to 5 dollars.

It is not that much…

Therefore, you need to aim higher!

How Much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Million Streams?

When you have reached the first 1 million streams on Spotify – it becomes real.

At this point, you can finally expect some real return, as long as you can keep up the good work every month.

If we still assume that an artist gets between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, then when you reach 1 000 000 streams, Spotify will pay you around $3 000 to $5 000. 

How Much Does Spotify Pay for 1 Billion Streams?

God gracious, you made it!

At 1 billion streams, you are already a legend 🔥🔥🔥

This is not a hobby anymore, and things are getting out of hand.

At this point, you will probably not care how much Spotify will pay you for your streams, but I have done the math of curiosity.

Only around 380+ songs on Spotify have cleared the 1 billion stream goal, and perhaps one day, you or your artist will be part of this legendary club.

When you reach 1 billion streams, Spotify will pay around $3 000 000 to $5 000 000, assuming the same rate of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.

But of course, these numbers are just pure guessing, as it depends on the situation at Spotify and how well they are doing.

Who Is the Highest-Paid Spotify Artist?

At this point, everybody already knows who is the highest-paid artist on Spotify.

But for the sake of this blog article, let’s imagine you don’t.

Currently, in 2023 the highest-paid artist on Spotify is the one and only Drizzy, or as most of you know him, Drake.

This Canadian rapper has a massive following on Spotify, and so far, Drake has cleared over 50 billion streams. Drake’s songs like “One Dance,” “God’s Plan,” and “In My Feelings” have all been streamed billion of times, which earns him the title of The most streamed artist on Spotify.  

But how much did he get paid for these 50 billion streams? 

We do not know what his deal is with labels or distributors, but if we imagine that all the royalties go into Drizzy’s pocket – then considering the rate of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, Drake and his team received around $150 000 000 to $250 000 000 for just his streams from Spotify.

It is a huge deal because it shows that if you approach this industry right, you can build an empire, keeping in mind that these streams will keep growing every month and turn into a never-ending revenue source.

Of course, getting billions of streams every month is difficult.

Still, a million per month is doable, which means if you can get 1 million, why wouldn’t you be able to get 10 million, right?

By the way, here is how Drake’s earnings from Spotify streams compare to other artists:

How To Maximize Earnings on Spotify?

To maximize your earning from Spotify, you need to get more streams.

That is a straightforward way to put it.

But are there any other ways you can gain more from this music streaming platform? Thankfully, yes!  

But first, let’s start with getting more streams and followers.

To get more streams, you need more listeners, which is pretty obvious. It is achieved by commercializing your music with social media or getting included in popular playlists.

Many websites offer placement on their playlists that will shed light on your piece that it deserves. Still, you can always use Spotify for Artists to pitch your music to an official Spotify playlist. Feel free to use my Spotify playlist pitch email template to write a perfect pitch email.

If you get there, it is the best option, as that means they will keep placing your song in other playlists.

It is essential to be consistent and active, coming out with new music almost every week, if you want Spotify to start noticing you.

Also, you must ensure the stuff you put out is high quality, as Spotify will only pick your song if it aligns with their loudness preferences, which is -14 LUFS.

Now that you consistently release new music and get playlist placements, it’s time to monetize your Spotify profile by releasing merch.

“With your sound, you make people feel good and provide a vibe to their daily life, but with clothes, you can go even more profound.”

Spotify for Artists lets you place your Shopify or any other merch store on your profile. The intelligent way is to find a producer that can provide you with merch on demand, so you will only need a few resources to start. You will be ready to sell as soon as you have the website and the clothes designs.

This is a great way to have a deeper connection with your listeners, which will lead to gaining new fans, as long as you are selling high-quality merch and releasing high-quality music. 

You can learn more about how to create a Spotify for Artists account in the full guide.

Alternative Revenue Streams for Artists

By now, you already understand that Spotify is an excellent way to get your music to be heard by millions of people, but what about other streaming platforms?

The highest-paying platform is actually Tidal.

This streaming service delivers around $0.01284 per stream, which is substantially more than Spotify.

After that goes Apple Music with $0.008 per stream, and in third place is Amazone Music with $0.00402 per stream.

Knowing these numbers, you might wonder – why you waste time with Spotify when Tidal is paying so much more?!

There is a reason for that, Spotify has 489 million active users, while Tidal has only 6.7 million. That is an enormous difference… unfortunately.

Spotify is still the platform you want to be the most active on. Regardless, artists should still pay attention to other streaming platforms by adding Tidal, Apply Music, and Amazone music links with your Spotify link when doing promotions and ads for your music.

Extra income, extra listeners – why not?

Another great way to gain new revenue streams is by being consistent and active on social media. When you have great music and high-quality merch, you need to start putting your name out there.

Use the biggest social media platforms to commercialize your music, merch, and upcoming live events. With each new live event, you can get fresh content for your social media.

With your social media content, you can get more followers, which equals more listeners and merch sales. It would be best to create this unlimited content cycle to take advantage of this industry fully

“One thing leads to another, and the sky is the limit as long as you stay consistent.”

Here’s a simple checklist to start your career the right way: 

• One new song every week
• One live performance every two weeks
• One recent post (video or picture) every day on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok, Facebook
• Recent merch drop with every big project

Final Thoughts

To compete with the best, you have to play like the best.

The more you do and add to your brand, the more streams and fans you will get.

The music industry is very competitive. Therefore, to be in the 1 % will take more than just having good music skills.

As they say – “this game is 80% business and 20% skill.”

As long as the Artist creates the entire content cycle, where every part of the brand promotes a different position, you can start earning more from your music streams.

And if you want to avoid spending time doing the business part of the music life, feel free to contact us. HighMoves is here to help independent artists like you have the time to create, and we will make sure your business arrangements are in place.