Streaming Royalty Calculator

Spotify pays between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream on average, depending on the listener's country, subscription type, and how royalties are split between distributor, label, and artist. Most independent artists on a standard distributor deal receive around $0.003 to $0.004 per stream after the distributor takes its cut.

Apple Music pays around $0.007 to $0.01 per stream, making it one of the higher-paying major platforms. The exact rate varies by country and deal structure, but Apple Music consistently pays roughly twice the per-stream rate of Spotify.

Tidal pays around $0.007 to $0.013 per stream, among the highest rates of any major streaming platform. Tidal has historically positioned itself as a higher-payout option for artists, partly due to its subscriber base paying higher subscription fees.

SoundCloud pays around $0.003 to $0.005 per stream through its monetization program. Rates vary depending on whether the listener is a SoundCloud Go subscriber or a free user, and not all plays on SoundCloud are monetized by default.

YouTube Music pays around $0.002 to $0.008 per stream. Rates vary significantly depending on whether the play comes from a Premium subscriber or a free ad-supported listener, with Premium streams paying considerably more.

Amazon Music pays around $0.004 per stream on average, placing it in a similar range to Spotify. Rates can vary depending on the listener's subscription tier, with Amazon Music Unlimited streams typically paying more than Prime Music streams.

To earn $1,000 per month on Spotify at an average rate of $0.004 per stream, you would need approximately 250,000 streams per month. At $0.003 per stream the figure rises to around 333,000. These are estimates based on average rates and your actual earnings will depend on your distributor deal and listener geography.

A streaming royalty calculator estimates your earnings from music streaming platforms based on your stream count. You enter a number of streams and the calculator applies each platform's average per-stream rate to give you a payout estimate across Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music.

Streaming royalty rates are not fixed. They depend on the platform's revenue in a given period, the listener's country, whether they are a free or paid subscriber, and how royalties are divided between the platform, distributor, label, and rights holders. The figures shown here are industry averages and your actual payout may differ.