There is always a debate between Apple Music and Spotify in what streaming platform is better for users. However, despite the users, the more important factor that should be considered is the artists. How much are the artists earning from these streaming platforms, and which streaming platform is better for the artist? Spotify is a much user friendly and popular option amongst music lovers, while Apple Music is not the favored out of the two. However, if we think about it from the artists’ point of view, Apple Music could be the superior option when it comes to artists’ pay.
Streaming platforms, especially Spotify and Apple Music, are known to not pay the artists a massive amount for the streams of each of their songs. As users, we assume that having thousands of streams means the artist is earning loads of money, but in reality, artists are actually receiving a lot of their revenue from live events. Out of streaming and merchandise, live performance “accounts for 28% of an average musician’s income.” (Wiebe). Despite artists earning most of their revenue from live events, the breakdown of the royalties from streaming services is a bit different. Artists are not receiving the money from their streams on these platforms directly, instead, a little more than half is given directly to the sound recording owners, which in this case is mostly record labels. Between the two streaming platforms, Spotify pays 58.5¢ directly to the record labels, while Apple Music pays 58¢. Although Spotify is paying a little more than Apple Music, Spotify keeps 29.38¢ to themselves, while Apple Music keeps 28.5¢ to themselves (Manatt). Although there is not much of a difference in price, the small differences can benefit or hurt the artist.
Between Apple Music and Spotify, there are more users who use Spotify, leading to more streams for the artists on Spotify. However, Apple Music is a superior choice when it comes to paying the artists fairly. Apple Music claims that they pay the same 52% headline rate to all the labels, meaning that artists “can distribute music however they like, knowing Apple Music will pay the same rate.” (Apple). Typically, streaming services are calculated on a stream share basis, where Apple Music pays $0.01 for streams. Compared to Spotify that pays $0.0033 a stream. If you calculate it, that means you are going to play a song 236 times in order for the artist to make one dollar. (Carapellotti). 236 times of playing the same song does not seem like much, especially for a very popular artist. Artists like Drake and Taylor Swift, who are the most streamed artists on Spotify, are earning revenue due to the number of streams they are receiving. In comparison, these artists are still earning more on Apple Music due to the difference in pay. This only causes independent and self-releasing artists on Spotify because they need those 236 streams in order to even earn a dollar.
Spotify has been called out by multiple artists to pay these artists more than a cent. Multiple petitions have been signed, showing how unfair this is for smaller artists. For us users, Spotify is a superior option, however, if we think about the artists before ourselves, it makes sense to support Apple Music. Hopefully, Spotify pays artists more money for their streams and these smaller artists are able to earn what they deserve.
Citations
Music, Ditto. “How Much Does Spotify Pay per Stream in 2023.” Ditto Music Distribution, 18 Apr. 2023, https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per-stream/.
Wiebe, D.A. (2020) How do musicians make money? we breakdown their income streams so you know how to earn too, Music Industry How To. Available at: https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/music-artists-income-breakdown-how-do-musicians-really-make-their-money/ (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
Carapellotti, Hannah. “There’s a Clear Winner in the Apple Music vs Spotify Debate.” The Michigan Daily. 02 May 2023. Web. 2 May 2023.