How does artist, like Madonna, get paid by Apple Music or Spotify when they play her music? Does she get paid every time we listen to one of her songs?

Question

How does artist, like Madonna, get paid by Apple Music or Spotify when they play her music? Does she get paid every time we listen to one of her songs?

In: 6

Answer 1

Streaming services pay out roughly 70% of their revenue to rights holders.

Rights holders are those that control the master (specific recordings) and those that control the publishing (the underlying composition). The master is usually controlled by labels (for major label acts like you’re asking about) and the publishing is controlled by songwriters and publishers.

There is no fixed per stream rate but it averages out to about $.003-$.004 per stream for on-demand plays. (There’s more nuance to this regarding different publishing side royalties but it’s not really ELI5).

BUT…major labels also get guaranteed minimum payouts as a licensing fee. So to answer your question…what major label artists get paid from streaming really depends on 1) how much they write their own music, 2) what their royalty rate with the label is, and 3) what their contract says regarding catalogue licensing fees. The latter was a big fat zero until a few years ago when Lady GaGa and then Taylor Swift made it publicly clear that that was fucked up.