What Do You Get Paid For 1,000,000,000 Streams?

[@ZachWirchak]

As an independent artist and songwriter for my solo music, I've consistently made about $0.003 per stream on Spotify for the past 4 years or so. $3000 per 1,000,000 streams (Apple Music pays more than double Spotify). Being the only writer for my music, I'm able to support my family with that streaming income. But if I had to split it multiple ways, it would make that mountain so much harder to climb. I feel like being a truly 100% independent is becoming the only real way to make a living off stream as a mid level artist.

[@Rem_NL]

Tom MacDonald does it very successfully. From A to Z only him and a hand full of family members made him very successful

[@steveb6718]

Where can we listen??

[@ZachWirchak]

@@steveb6718 If you search my name on any streaming platform, it should pop up.

[@jamesd7678]

@@steveb6718you’re kidding, right?

[@roberthart4224]

Hey, I just went through your website and into spotify, etc... Great music, by the way :) Just curious though... Your top song has like 4 million plays, a couple of other ones have like just under 1 million. I'm just wondering how only 12-15 thousand dollars supports your whole family like you suggest it does? (If it's 3K per 1 million) Or is it that Apple music is the one paying the bills? Just trying to work out your maths to help me know what I need to reach to. I ask as a fellow composer with a family haha. (I write for films and games mostly)

[@AskAScreenwriter]

Sounds like a classic “Confuseopoly.” Keep things so confusing, that no-one can figure out how they're being shafted.

[@clemclemson9259]

like the government

[@adamkozakiewicz6766]

You mean airline ticket pricing?

[@jurajchobot]

No, it's the audience. For example if 90% of your Spotify streams come from India, where only 10% of people bought Premium and remaining 90% is ad generated, while ads in India pay 10x less than anywhere in the world, you might get paid like $70 thousand per billion streams while if most of your listeners are from rich countries such as US or Scandinavia, you might easily see $3 million per billion streams. Also different platforms such as KZbin, Apple music and Spotify have different average wealth of a user, so they will pay different amounts even if you get audience from same countries.

[@sixmillionaccountssilenced6721]

So basically FED/IMF...

[@ericanderson9706]

Like the American private healthcare+private insurance system.

[@AdeleMcAlear]

Here's why you can't get a straight answer (simplified version) - Looking at Spotify - Each stream is paid at a different rate. Free tier listener payout is lower than the paid tier. Live in a country where the paid tier is super low, like India? Then your free/paid rates are lower on streams generated in that market. Now, in each market, the streaming revenue is a pool of money. The major labels have negotiated payout rates with Spotify for master recordings. These rates are not public knowledge and they are likely higher than everyone else (because the majors were investors in Spotify and had closed-door meetings in the early days). Those 3 majors get their slice of the pie first at whatever their negotiated rate is. When the label gets theirs, they do the split with each recording artist according to the terms of their contract. Artist hasn't recouped the cost of their record yet? They get nothing. If the artist has recouped and they're on a typical 80/20 deal, then they'll get 20% and the label keeps 80%. After the majors are paid, Spotify takes whatever is left over in the streaming pool and divides by % of streams an artist had on the platform and pays out to the master rights holders through their distributor - from medium labels down to independents on Distrokid. The total size of the pool changes every month depending on how many people stream around the world and how often. That's Spotify. But Apple, Tidal, Amazon Music... well they each have their own rates. Now... that was **JUST** for master rights holders (who own the recording). Songwriters & Publishing is a whole separate thing and flows through a combination of PRO (ASCAP etc.), the MLC ( or other mechanical rights org.) Songwriters do not typically get a % on master revenue. If you wrote the song, own your publishing, performed it, and own the master, then you get all the revenue, but only if you've registered everything properly and know where to collect it from. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

[@shamusenright5387]

Great post. Rick should interview you next!

[@wetawatcher]

Nice work dude.😎

[@dsa513]

Can you tell me where you have to register your stuff? What organizations? I would be infinitely grateful for information from a gentleman like yourself. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@owens4534]

People with the mentality of @wordsSHIFTminds is why they think music doesn't pay. Here's a nugget of information. Every time a song is played, money is generated.

[@AdeleMcAlear]

@@dsa513 I’m a woman. It depends on which country you’re in. You’ll have to do your own research.

[@Ceddy_192]

I can tell from my own experience (roughly 27 million streams on spotify with my band over the past 7 years) that after all cuts for label, management etc. we probably have enough money to pay some stuff like small video productions, a touring van for a weekend, merch etc. We are talking about less then 10.000$ gross earnings per year through streaming, split on 5 people in the band.

[@mattebaloo]

Don't you have to pay income tax on it as well?

[@1chiTheKiller]

Yeah that is absolutely inexcusable. Everyone is enjoying your music, and you aren't being paid for the art. This is just another way the industry is working to lessen the value of the artist. No one pays for music anymore so people think it has no value. Oh I paid 10 bucks to Spotify (or however much it is) so that's enough. I don't need to pay anything more. Meanwhile MILLIONS of people are listening to this stuff and the creators of the content are getting shafted completely.

[@allenk7296]

@@1chiTheKillerhonest question - how is that the industry’s doing? Where we are currently was a direct result of Napster and its clones > most everyone stealing all of their music > the establishment of legit streaming services > pulling teeth just to convince people to pay $10/month, all of which the industry fought against the entire time.

[@Howdytoons]

Rick most of the money does not get split between the publishers and writers. Only a small portion goes there. Most of the money goes to the owner of the master recording which is not always the writers and publishers. This is paying the people who put up the money to make the recording not the writers.

[@kkeiros]

For sure. I was surprised Rick got that mixed up (even flat out wrong)

[@criskos2224]

Totally agree. The streaming platforms are mostly working for the big record labels and (sadly) not for the writers. Universal Music even owns a percentage of Spotify. Most of the streaming money is made by the labels and looking at the history of the music-industry, there is no reason to be transparent because it might jeopardize the business. The fact that even people high up in the chain have different answers for a very simple question is saying a lot.

[@Malakawaka]

I'd guess label, producer(s), agents(s), writers, interpreter(s). And if it's a collab between artists that have exclusivity with different labels, then some kind of royalty for each. If your band's name or concept is Simon Cowell's then he earns more than any writer just for the name.

[@ChrisTondreau]

The people who own the master recording get paid when someone wants to use a sample. Mechanicals and performance royalties are writer and publisher.

[@ChrisTondreau]

The owners of the master also get paid for synchronization - use in a film, for instance.

[@toneman501]

People often say that the music industry is corrupt ,.... it's actually the whole publishing industry... Not just the music industry

[@Mico-Xiyeas]

Any industry if you wanna get into it, entertainment industries wrongs are just more well known simply because entertainment is meant to be popular so its well known and personal so we care. Even then, tons of dirt Is hidden or brushed away. Imagine the rest of the world industries that has no interest in popularity while also obscuring and hiding dirt. Very scary world

[@blueeyedsoulman]

Most people don't realize how evil they really are until it's shown to them. For example "Did you ever tell a lie?" (Yes, I guess) Did you know that's deception and manipulation and is basically pretending to be God? (Hmmmn, never thought of it that way.) How would you like it if someone did that to you? (Well, I guess not.) That's just one lie. Ever steal something? etc etc. There is no such thing as a good person. Only evil people, some of whom are desperately trying to be good. And therein lies humanity's biggest problem. PRIDE. Anyone who calls themselves good is simply lying to themselves. It's deception to oneself. All this boils down to "Do unto others as you would have them do to YOU." But no one does it all the time. They simply can't. It's not human nature.

[@brucetowell3432]

@@blueeyedsoulman Well, human nature is the "sin "nature. That's why Jesus had to come and be the perfect sacrifice that those who put their faith and trust in him shall not perish. All who have ever lived have sinned. Only Jesus was perfect.

[@AdiHazan26]

and beyond

[@grantwalkersound]

Zoom out even further... It's all of entertainment that is corrupt.

[@FourRulesRacing]

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

[@acousticpsychosis]

"Yaarrgggargagha" Also Hunter S. Thompson

[@tonylewis1803]

Awesome…..HST was the bomb!

[@katielowen]

I think you meant to say “-Steve Albini” 😏💯

[@brianwood7237]

"SWINE!"

[@tranceemerson8325]

it's because its a marketplace where the customers do not get to decide the value of your work, instead there are a group of gatekeepers you have to work through, and they get to decide if they think your art is good, and not the customer.

[@sirtogii5216]

The fact that even the people working in the industry have no clue is telling. Looking forward to hearing more.

[@krusher74]

its not, since record deals began people have got different payments. its not like everybody used to get the same money for each record, cassette or cd they sold.

[@williestyle35]

As the other commenter noted - it is hard to even estimate because every payment arrangement is different for each writer, producer, and publisher. Then personal agents, managers, publishing agents, the "record labels", and distributers all get a cut of the artists money. It is ridiculous.

[@MrSaltybloke]

Rick doesn't have a clue about why he didn't get paid any royalties for a song he co-wrote. SMH.

[@ericponce8740]

Mr. Beato, your videos are informative, to say the least. I am always learning when viewing them.

[@theChrisSligh]

Hey Rick - pro songwriter & producer here, signed on the Row. The master recording pays roughly $4000 / million streams (different per streamer but that’s the average). Typically writers do not get a piece of the master. The publishing - different than the master - was worth about $450 / million streams … with MMA (music modernization act) it’s about doubled. But it’s not completely intact. So a billion streams is worth roughly $4m for the master. The publishing is worth roughly $850-900k in total.

[@gordonmills2748]

Crazy how much things have changed. Back in the very late 90s, I was talking to country artist/songwriter Radney Foster and he said that his mid-level solo hit "Nobody Wins" (one of the most-played recurrent records on country radio) "will put my kids through college." But he also co-wrote an album track on The (Dixie) Chicks' "Fly" record, and that? "Honestly, I never have to work another day in my life if I don't want." The money was in the songwriting.

[@kinseymilkbone]

Back in the day there used to be these big houses built around the Nashville area that were referred to as Elvis houses. They were built by people who managed to get a track on an Elvis Presley album. It didn't even have to be a single - it just had to be a piece of filler that he used to pad out an album.

[@mistermac56]

@@kinseymilkbone yep.

[@GungaLaGunga]

Chris Stapleton i think said one song bought his house.

[@rfichokeofdestiny]

There’s also that famous Michael Caine quote about Jaws 4: “I have never seen it but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific.”

[@williestyle35]

The songwriter does make good money *if they retain the publishing rights* . The real big money is in the publishing side, that is why you have seen artists like Bob Dylan sell their "back catalog" of songs for millions in recent years. Just recently Motley Crue sold their entire "catalog" including songs, albums, books, and even "live" performances for a large chunk of change.

[@Gracchusmusic]

What I can tell you is that 1 million streams on Spotify is about $3200 for us. The problematic thing with the calculation and why it‘s difficult to give an exact answer is that the money you get paid depends on the territory. There are countries that generate more money per stream than others. It’s indicated by the price of the relative subscription. We publish through CD Baby. I‘ll keep you updated once we hit a billion. Only got to 100x our numbers 😅

[@sonicclang]

I go through CD Baby as well. My revenge each month from Spotify is fairly predictable. I get 10,000 monthly listeners, 20,000 streams, and make about $75. Sometimes more.

[@hard2c488]

Did you have to create an LLC for your band in order to sell merch online?

[@Gracchusmusic]

@@moonstruckmates We have around 10 million streams on Spotify right now

[@Gracchusmusic]

@@hard2c488 No. Although there are clear benefits to it. We are in the process of creating one

[@sonicclang]

@@hard2c488 you can handle the taxes however you want. Talk with a CPA.

[@malcocreative]

My band had one of the big songs of the mid-80's. I won't say the title. We get around 1.5 million streams a month, 38 years after it was released. I'm the only writer and we own the publishing. Our publishing admin company takes 15%. This adds up to somewhere between 150 and 200 thousand dollars a year. Hope that helps.

[@solaris70]

the 15 % for the publisher ? is 150k - 200 k per year ?

[@dsa513]

What publidhing admin do you use if you don't mind me asking?

[@GucciButNotGuilty]

Say the song title so you can get more streams!

[@julianklietz6558]

​@@solaris70no, His take is 150-200

[@music4life80s2]

@@GucciButNotGuilty It's I can't wait by Nu Shooz

[@tremolux]

Rick is overlooking a main factor! The biggest share goes to the label! UMG, Sony, BMG etc.. they earn the most from streaming! The CEO of Universal Music earned more in 2021 than all the sales and streams of UK songwriters combined!

[@bigbaddms]

how about CEOs and other execs that still get paid huge money and bonuses, even when their companies do terrible, lose money, layoff people, and even go bankrupt. "Golden Parachutes" pay out ungodly sums. Remember when Michael Eisner (Disney) hired mega-agent Mike Ovitz, and he was a disaster? I think they paid him something like $200MM in a Golden Parachute for 6 months work.

[@scottmctaggart8171]

Ok, so why are Major record labels still makeing this kind of money with so many able to be indipendent artists? Do the tech companies manipulate exposure with algorythms. Do they suppress some artists but promote major label artists and dies radio air play still have a mojor effect on the internet? This leads to the question that is posed when it comes to money. Is there still payola going on? 2. Why are the same artists always getting the big exposure? Sick of hearing the same bands and artist all the time. Thats why I go internet to find new artists in the Independent arena.

[@piloadami_]

Catalogue music, thats how record labels make most of the money and then invest back into artists who might never break it even. @@scottmctaggart8171 Most people/passive listeners are happy to listen to the same old songs!

[@danaejer]

Lance Bass from *NSYNC said that they get almost nothing from the song's streams and most of the money goes to Sony, who bought Jive back in the day.

[@tremolux]

@@danaejer exactly! there is money from streaming...but it doesnt reach the artists/musicians. Its not just a Spotify problem...its more about the major record labels and their "special contracts" with Spotify.

[@killergrooves2438]

It seems like the best thing to do is to simultaneously build a fanbase on a platform like KZbin or maybe TikTok and then use that to drive album sales instead of streams. Because even only selling 1,000 digital albums at $10 each if it’s self-published is probably going to pay out way more than Spotify will for a million streams. Plus you’d get revenue from the KZbin channel you built.

[@robertpolnicky7702]

It would accelerate. Isn't that the only way for unknowns.

[@gregmann5687]

A million sounds like a lot but it takes a billion streams to make it. A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years. THAT paints an incredible picture.

[@aussieguru01]

Just in time for retirement 🎉

[@gregmann5687]

@@aussieguru01 lol right!

[@reginaldperiwinkle]

And if a song is say, 3 minutes and 10 seconds long, that is 3,100 years of listening.

[@gregmann5687]

@@reginaldperiwinkle A GREAT song is great forever!

[@DavidDicksRFR]

A stream is 30 seconds right?

[@harrycrab8725]

For all of the people asking about playing on a hit but no writing/publishing credit, you get nothing unless you’re a pro studio cat who is able to include royalties as part of your deal. Even many studio players just make scale and don’t receive royalties even if the song goes big. If you’re in a band concept with a group of friends, make sure you’re all listed as writers.

[@markfey-head8208]

That is one of the reasons I still buy CDs. From what I have heard, the artest gets paid more from CD purchases than from the streaming services, and I want the people who enrich my life to be paid well.

[@Martin-fb3ic]

❤

[@cuebj]

So do I. Goes back to 1970s when Brinsley Schwartz were popular but made no money as most people taped their records. I did tape records I owned for use away from the record player

[@klinkklankradio]

I will buy CDs within reasonable prices. If a physical copy is more than $15, I'll still purchase the artist's music, but either used or digitally (iTunes). Purchasing music is a big help to musicians, however all of my favorites will tell you to support by going to live ahows and buying their merchandise. Those are the 2 biggests supporters over buying their music and/or streaming.

[@overtonesnteatime198]

cd's might make a big comeback! They got new tech that can apparently hold petabytes on one disc....

[@deadpoetlive]

@@overtonesnteatime198 That would be one long album

[@dxlphdayana8360]

Rick great video as always! To clear somethings up in what you said, most of the money made doesn't go the songwriters and publishers. There are 2 copyrights in music itself, one for the Musical Composition (Publishers/Songwriters), and one for the Master Recording (Record Label/Performing Artist). As a general rule of thumb, 80% of the money goes to the master recording copyright holder (Record Label/Performing Artist), and 20% to the copyright holders of the musical composition (Publishers/Songwriters). So that $4000 per million you gave, about $3000 goes to the master recording copyright holder and $1000 goes to the musical composition copyright holder. So let's make a scenario, so let's say I'm an independent DIY performing artist, I had 4 people help me write a song (I didn't write any of it), I record the song they helped me write. The writers had no part in the sound recording, and I didn't have any part of songwriting. I release the song and used Distrokid (which collects the master recording royalties), the song gets 1 million streams, I would get (as the Master recording copyright holder) $3000. The songwriters would get $1000 (as the Musical Composition copyright holder) from the PROs and MLC (if your in the US). The songwriters split it evenly at 25% each, so that means the songwriters got $250 each while me the recording artist (the sound recording copyright holder) got $3000. This is just an over simplified explanation The second thing, about the not knowing what the streaming platforms pay and why it's so complicated to know exactly is because it's all negotiated. ASCAP, BMI, MLC, Distrokid, Tunecore, UMG, Sony, Warner Bros, Kobalt, United Masters etc... all have their own agreements negotiated with Spotify, Apple Music, KZbin etc. So when you sign up with ASCAP/BMI, you are agreeing to accept whatever they negotiated with the DSPs, same thing with Distrokid/CD Baby/Tunecore whatever they negotiated is what you get. So that's why no one can say exactly what the DSPs pay because it's all different! It's like asking how much rent is? It all depends on the property, location, and what you negotiated with the owner of the property! There is no universal price for renting out an apartment. Hopefully this clears things up a bit, I'm not even scratching the surface with this stuff

[@Williestyle-RobotechxMacross-x]

This does clear things up and the direct from DSPs' to the various royalties "collectors" side of things! There are of course several more fingers in the pie, from ; record labels, producers - to ; managers, promoters, lawyers, and rights management types, and so many more.

[@williamsmith9561]

This, it is an issue that needs to be made transparent and straightforward for everybody. Creating music is a talent that brings so much to so many and deserves remuneration.

[@tomatopie34]

My biggest takeaway is that I’m really old and out of touch because Tate McRae has almost 900 million streams and I’ve never heard of her or that song. Now, get off my lawn.

[@sovereignbrehon]

😅😅😅

[@bobleglob162]

I haven't heard her song but I would bet you aint missin' anything.

[@Firedog-ny3cq]

Cue the pump shotgun sounds.

[@muziklvr7776]

Mid 40's never heard a Taylor Swift song in my life, at least, that I know of. Never once watched an episode of the Kardashians or Survivor.

[@nolongerblocked6210]

Never heard her music either, I'd bet a lot of money we're better off not hearing it

[@Joeschmoe8930]

More videos about the business of music is great!

[@nobot87]

I would rather more What Makes this Song Great

[@karleyyork9001]

Yes.

[@kevinknight470]

All of the Pro Band Musicians that I know today generally say the same things. "There is no work for Bands and the Music industry is a cut throat business." Thanx Rick for the curious info and You are correct about somebody knows about the money side. It is always "The big secret." 😃

[@hakankursunmusic]

Thank you for raising this interesting topic. I would say the minimum is around 1800USD for 1mil. streams for all music services annual gross income of the phonogram rights divided by streams, excluding composers and text writers copyrights. The composers and text writers income is extremely country specific. Much more complicated than the phonogram income because of collecting societies lobby power. The phonogram income is also county specific and refers also to the locations where the stream was made and uploaded. We can say that the location based revenue share business model is a partly systematic business model for the phonogram and partly lobby driven business model for the composers and text writers.

[@JackMacready88]

It also depends whether your streams are coming from premium or free users and from which country. I get paid more from a premium user's stream from UK than US and the rest of the world on Spotify and Amazon Music.

[@chrisyounce1815]

Love your channel Rick and another great post. Congratulation's on getting to 4 million subs.

[@ruffnek]

Thank you for "Getting down to Brass Tax". This was quick and informative. So many times people over-explain and loose the audience

[@TheDesertwalker]

"Brass Tacks" to "Brass TAx"...very good!

[@almightyantichrist]

Gotta love a loose audience.

[@bristevenson]

Snoop Dogg popped up on a short yesterday saying he got a billion streams on spotify and it was less than $45,000.

[@DickNasty480]

Anyone who would listen to that garbage needs a full cognitive review.

[@Gramercy_Stiffs]

I think this was contentious as he may have sold the rights to that song, so the 45 was what is left over after that process.

[@toocat2000000]

That still too much .

[@GoranBackmanMusic]

Song writers take a bigger cut than the artists for streaming but that sounds like a really low number. It doesn't say much without knowing his contract etc though.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey Rick, very interesting topic and one I think about a lot as well. I think it's even more complicated than you suggest. For instance, writers don't see much of the streaming royalties at all. I've written songs with millions of streams and I barely see a cent. Instead, it's the master recordings rights holders. For example, for my own productions, I own the masters, and even though I have co-writers, the streaming royalties that are paid from my distributor, go 100% to me. Not my co-writers (unless I decide to split master royalties with them). My assumption was there is a small % of publishing royalties that gets paid out to a PRO... which the writers collect. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong...

[@wreckim]

I never miss a Beato post, and 1/2 the time, when he's speaking of a b-minor changed into a c, with a riff like that in a Beethoven sonata etc...I of course agree...to what, I have no clue, but I feel like I'm in the room, and he cares not if I actually know this stuff...he just makes it so damn consumable. Like a great tune!

[@Marvidsen1973]

As always great stuff from Rick. The topic made me think of all the Apple iTunes 🍏 music - both albums and tracks - I bought for 10+ years ago which kind of vanished the day we all converted to Streaming 🤷🏼‍♂️ I hate the idea of a possesion just disappearing… don’t they owe me something?! 🤔

[@JohnB-nq4js]

I still buy cds and merch. Spotify is fine for podcasts but the low-end compression is garbage. Sincerely, a bassist.

[@trance9158]

Yep... Bassist here too... I agree

[@lynskeyti9940]

Another Major rager on the 4 string MF and I agree

[@inediblenut]

The best way to take advantage of someone is to make your financial relationship with them so complicated they can't figure out what they should receive. What a racket.

[@Mi_Mono]

And smaller artists don't actually get that %. Stream royalties from smaller artists actually contribute to big artists actually getting paid more for their "hit" songs. Racket.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

"A racket" is a perfectly succinct way to describe it.

[@gilldavidmour4199]

@@OMGWTFLOLSMH Yes! A green tennis racket swatting at dollar bills.

[@arthurdanu1809]

That's the way the U.S. Federal Income Tax works, too!

[@diatonicdelirium1743]

@@arthurdanu1809 At least you know how much you pay, just not what for.

[@CentrifugalSatzClock]

Its absurd to think that this system is built to last. For streams sometimes you get 100th of a penny to a 10th of a penny. I just look at the number of streams and calculate the amount of money that produces. The kicker is that inflation is running VERY VERY hot and will continue to run very very hot. Most people don't understand that government and politicians print money to fund their many wars and contributions to themselves and their donors. This is NEVER going to stop until the country is crushed by these practices. So these tiny increments of pennies are going to be even tinier pieces of pennies. Some day you'll do a video and say that a billion streams will buy a potato. It's not built to last and it most certainly won't last unless they increase prices and that will create other unsustainable problems too. Musicians will have to go back to selling physical media which can be priced higher and higher to keep up with the kleptocracy and its ways. Not a good looking future for musicians, especially ones not already famous.

[@jamesdownham]

Hey, Rick! Streams on Spotify, and Video streams on KZbin primarily pay the rights holder of the work. That is, the person who paid for and owns the sound recording/music video. For major label artists, that's usually their record label (there may be an agreement for the label to pay out a share of that to the artist). For an independent artist who owns their sound recordings/videos (like myself), they will receive all of that income. There is a miniscule share of streaming revenues that writers/publishers recieve via ASCAP/BMI (or SOCAN for us in Canada). For a recent release of mine (Wine & Whiskey) I received about $1000 in streaming royalties as the rights owner across all streaming platforms. But as a songwriter/publisher (with a 1/3 share) I've only received only a couple dollars for the performance royalties.

[@zitherzon2121]

"What do you call a professional musician without a girlfriend?" "Homeless."

[@romererunamerika9437]

lol I like that one.

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

Overheard at an aged woman's funeral: "Hey maaan, sorry about your Mom. So DUDE!, what's your new address?"

[@catherine6653]

I am grateful for being born in the era of radio and buying vinyl records before the internet.

[@joeshoe6184]

If I had a vinyl copy of all the music I listen to, there wouldn't be enough room left in my apartment to sit down.

[@catherine6653]

@joeshoe6184 I would need a warehouse to store records if I bought all my favorite songs.

[@joeshoe6184]

@@catherine6653 for real! I never really got into vinyl, but I had pretty substantial tape and CD collections back in the days before digital.

[@mikeonfreeserve2926]

​@@joeshoe6184 Not true. You would find your vinyl would fit into a 4 x 4 IKEA Kallax. HTH

[@kingdomthings9887]

I was born in the early 60's . I hate vinyl, always have.

[@kencarlmusic]

This what Im currious about because the next question is how many are "bot" streams and if the streaming services only pay out "authentic" streams and how they differintiate. Playlists stream music 24/7 and how do they pay out royalties for radio play verse streams?

[@sovereignbrehon]

Great question

[@mistermac56]

My take on this is that attorneys are heavily involved and the legal language is so convoluted for a reason. It is for obfuscation so that the publishers rake in more money than is paid to the writers/artists and the writers/artists don't have any clue they are getting screwed over. I dare say that this obfuscation also goes on in the motion picture industry. This is why attorneys that specialize in royalties , whether they focus on the music business or motion pictures, make a LOT of money.

[@CarRamrod-uf2ub]

Anyone here remember an article in guitar world from the 90s or early 2000s that had a graphic that broke down how much a band would make off of a gold record? It was quite illuminating then, and showed a 4 piece band would only walk away with under 30k. It considered a CD sold at $15 and the 500,000 units sold that made $7.5million. It was and still is unbelievable.

[@holygoat]

Steve Albini has a great video on YT that breaks this down, too.

[@bigbaddms]

I remember it! Pretty obvious why playing live/concerts became the main way to make money

[@luigivincenz3843]

@@bigbaddms One of my ex-neighbors here in L.A. used to represent the US legal stuff for the Who. Told me technically, Roger Daltrey does not need to work because every time CSI gets played, esp. with the intro, he makes money. Not much, but the amount of TV markets in the US is huge so multiplied, it's good to just slack around.

[@Uatu-the-Watcher]

“This would be a great business if it wasn’t for the artists.” -David Geffin. The powers in the industry is pricing bands out of the business. This needs to change.

[@Barb.....]

The fact that no one knows for sure is insane. Someone's making out on it, and it's probably not the artists.

[@carstenmoss5025]

it never is

[@PBL19999]

Different platforms, different ads rates.

[@joecolaninno4195]

It is DEFINITELY not the artist.....

[@MisterManuva]

It has never been the artists. Just like most business models, really. The people actually making stuff that generates money (be it a physical product, artistry or a service) don't get to share the biggest slice of the cake

[@Barb.....]

@@MisterManuva Yes, that's why I said that.

[@carlov.3017]

Leads me to believe that its convoluted for a reason.

[@PepperWilliams_songcovers]

I made a 'whopping' $28.00 from BMI last year. It's no wonder that I transitioned into owning a fire protection company! My Pops told me years ago when I was studying music composition at CSUH, "Boy, don't just do music". Wise words from my loving Pops RIP

[@airship9637]

Just a suggestion for an interview -- Justin Hayward/Moody Blues. And I still love CDs -- maybe it's the whole package experience that I grew up with LPs.

[@JeanLoupRSmith]

I'm listening to that book right now called "All you need to know about the music business" by Donald Passman and besides the fact that most of the info in there is so complicated and convoluted it makes you want to run away screaming from even trying to write music for a living, the thing he says about streaming, and spotify in particular is that it pays a lot less than you would think because the vast majority of the streams on there are actually coming from free users which means it's paid by ads which is a pittance really. Other service which are premium only may pay better but they're probably having far fewer streams. As it turns out, KZbin is the worst in terms of revenue as very few people pay for youtube and there's a lot of music on here.

[@bylund77]

And still: the Most important question is ”Do you own the master?”. That’s the big confusion for Rick, and this whole commentary section. If you own the master (= you uploaded the song via an aggregator, or uploaded your song on KZbin) then you’re the master owner = there is money to make. If you’re a writer of a song where a label owns the recording/master = the writers gets to SPLIT a FIFTH of the ”per stream amounts” mentioned in this video. (Via BMI/Ascap). That’s the whole confusion.

[@Durmomo0]

I love these videos about the behind the scenes stuff on the industry.

[@papaho]

Streaming Royalties Split: 1 billion x $0.004 is $4,000,000 Collection agency will take 20% - 800,000 This is split between the Master Copy or “The Lable” and the artists. Typically 80:20 to 50:50 depending on artists pull. Let use 50:50 $1,6000,000 to Master and Artists. The final 1.6 mil is then divided based on the legal contract and “split sheets”. There are also Synch royalties (TV video movies etc) and performance royalties. In your example, an artists with 25% owner ship, would get $400,000 in the best case senario. Due to collection and multiple platforms, might miss a chunk.

[@Magicalfluidprocess]

Hey Rick, money is created from nothing when someone applies for a loan , the loan application is monetised ( as a literal book keeping entry) and is then lent to the alleged borrower , this is how the monetary system is kept topped up with extra money , I think this is much more important than profit share in any industry, unfortunately most folks won’t understand what I have said and do will not get the info

[@newwave80skid]

I think more money can be made in so many ways these days between social media, KZbin, merch and touring? The outreach is insane. Great time!!! Especially without labels grabbing a bag

[@tonekilltech]

How much are you making from those?

[@freddiwilkins9985]

All good sources of cash flow minus costs. How much to print 1K t-shirts, mugs, CD?? Revenue from each show? What does it take for each band member including sound,light road crew maybe a driver to get paid $70K with healthcare??? How big and popular? STATE WIDE, tri-state, national. Just what is a reasonable income for a band these days to stay out 250 dates?? If you can even book that many? AND I'm only talking about a cover or tribute band whose music people know and want at their wedding anniversary party??? No original new band I see out doing things

[@tonekilltech]

@freddiwilkins9985 don't forget, how much is the venue taking? Probably 25% of your gross merch sales and an even higher percentage of ticket sales.

[@freddiwilkins9985]

Yep, the venues and their extortionary take. Band is paying security/cleaning for the venue upfront or thru ticket/merch sales. No way any average big city band makes a living ever and probably never. Without benefactors gotta have a day job live with bandmates or parents, or others. That cuts down on rehearsal time. Ain't no bands doing it today like Lynerd Skynard. Read their story bout making it. I play in bands with all the headaches and egos and crapp for the love of makin music with my friends and erstwhile enemies to make a bar crowd,wedding,promotion, birthday, bat/barmitzvah, divorce, babyshower,dance sing and have a great time and fun memories 🎶 Now those events and others do pay a band better than a bar. My best was $1K for a Moto Cross event. That one almost paid my rent!!! 6 piece band $1K each!

[@johnhoslett6732]

You talked about the publishers and writers. Where do the artists come into the equation?

[@strandedinparadise8202]

I run a community radio station in New Zealand and we pay royalties to 2 different entities, one is for the use of the recording and one is for the use of the composition (the publishing rights). If the performer hasn't been stiffed by their manager or the record company they'll get some cash from the recording rights. There's no guarantee that they do it the same anywhere else though

[@stevenponte6655]

artist has to be a writer to get a mechanical royalty payment. It’s why every artist insists on having a writing credit. Although in the old days artists like Sinatra never wrote songs but songwriters would have to hand over 50% of publishing if he recorded their song. Still a good deal

[@alexanderpetrenko79]

@@strandedinparadise8202how much do you pay? How far is it from .001 - 0.004 per stream?

[@BJMauck]

Good question! I was wondering the same thing.

[@joeshmoe7967]

If the Artist is NOT a writer, they don't get paid for airplay. In the 'old' days. A non writing Artist would make money from mechanicals, the sale of the record/cd/tape. The publishing would got to the writers. The Artist also made decent money on the road. Now records don't sell much, so no mechanicals. It pays to be a writer, but even now with out hard sales the pay is not as good. For album sales, you as a writer, could have the most mundane 'filler' track, on a record and still make very good money. It is a tough business, and everyone is willing to sell you short for that extra nickel.

[@madbug1965]

I still buy CDs 😊

[@bennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Nice, would you like 2 CDs?

[@findinggspots6441]

Yep same here!

[@gilldavidmour4199]

That's right. And you 'own' it. Big difference.

[@imjustherefortheks]

I have never bought so many CDs in my life as I'm doing now... Both new and used...

[@gilldavidmour4199]

@@imjustherefortheks A wise move on your part!

[@ZvonimirDusper]

Rick, I am a music producer / IT developer / music biz manager from Croatia, Europe. What I know is that streaming rates depend on the real income that the company locally gets. For example youtube gets money from ads / clicks. In Croatia, the money collected from local clicks is WAY lower than in the US. So a 1.000.000 views in Croatia or in the region is worth 1000$ at most cause ad clicks from this area make a lot less money for youtube. So what is imporant to get any kind of a dependable "formula" is to take into account that those streams are a composite of local streams globally. I guess that a good way of finding out more would be to intentionally select artists that are mainly local and still big, so in US that would be I guess country music. If you could find a friend in the country music biz and ask him about the real worth of 1.000.000 streams / plays (spotify / youtube) and then pick some that has an international career and ask the same question my educated guess is that the figure from the country guy would be 3-4 times bigger since most of the streams / plays would be US streams.

[@robertwright1084]

All I have to go off of is what I actually get paid from Spotify directly through my distributer which is CD Baby. Last time I checked, I get paid around $.0029 cents per play for non-subscriber plays and I get paid $.0044 cents per play for subscriber plays. Spotify pays the artists more money if the listener pays the monthly subscription for Spotify. For most artists, 1 Billion listens is an impossible amount of traffic and unrealistic for most of the people that would be reading in these comments. 1 million on the other hand is a little closer to the realm of possibility for most mid-level artists. Most independent artists would be lucky to see 100,000 plays a month, so let's look at the independent artist payout for 100,000 plays in a month. That would be a whopping $290 - $440 for a month of plays depending on who's listening. $400 wouldn't even pay for half my monthly electric bill here in the summertime in the Los Angeles area (yeah I know LA is a piece of crap!). If you get 1 MILLION listens, you will be rewarded with just a little more than a minimum wage job for that month! Keep in mind these payouts have to be split if there is more than 1 writer. Kinda makes you want to spend several months writing an album worth of songs and then spend a ton of money recording it if you don't have a studio, doesn't it???

[@googo151]

Wow dude! you did it, 4M! Congrats Rick.

[@groovefunkel]

This reminds me of the VH1 Behind the Music episode with the group TLC. They asked, how does a group who sells millions of records go bankrupt?

[@stevenponte6655]

That’s because they didn’t write any of their songs. Babyface who wrote a lot of their stuff made millions

[@robnhood1416]

I heard that artist even needs to pay RIAA to get gold/platinum certification.

[@andre.bouchard]

@stevenponte6655 ​ Exactly. For reference, i watched a french documentary about a tour of old has-been french musicians and singers and in it two artists were very candid about the money they made. One was a guy i have never heard of who was a one hit wonder, he had a disco hit in the late seventies and his song is in english so it was a worldwide hit (Born to be alive). Since he wrote the music, the lyric and he produced it himself, this one song made him rich and he's spending his old days living in a mansion. He does the tour just for the love of performing in front of an audience again. On the other hand, a very popular singer who had several french hit in the 80s, didn't write any of her music nor lyrics and she basically now live just a bit above poverty level. The has-been tour is an opportunity for her to make good money after the success faded away decades ago

[@damon_aaron]

In a word: Pebbles. She signed them to a shady deal that kept them in debt. An artist herself, and married to Babyface’s production partner LA Reid, she knew how to take advantage of 3 clueless teenagers.

[@freddiwilkins9985]

TLC didn't even own their name. It's as bad a deal as the one the Robinson family done on the original creators and members or the Sugarhill gang to this very day!

[@BillDyszel]

What makes a song #1 anymore? It used to be either record sales or radio airplay. I don't know what it is now.

[@alexjenner1108]

In the US it's a mix of sales, streams and airplay, and they change the formula all the time, so no-one really knows.

[@JosephWalker-ip7pd]

​@alexjenner1108 whatever they can manipulate most is what they prefer. Pay per play is alive better then ever today.

[@jrbergsten]

I cannot speak to the music business but can speak about tech startups having started three. Basically the only way developers make any money beyond salary (if the company actually pays this), is if the investors make so much that some of it spills off the table and they don’t notice. Human nature being what it is, one expects the same in pretty much any industry. And, before you ask, we never missed a payroll, and everyone made out OK if the company was successful.

[@shawnmiller9763]

We all need to listen to Rick’s number one song over and over and over and get his money rolling in….. let’s go people!

[@musilat]

All of a sudden the.term Music Industrial Complex just came to mind. Never heard it said before but it seems appropriate.

[@Music--ng8cd]

The MICrophone

[@anthonyglaser929]

Rick, this was a truly excellent video on the this topic. I have no idea how any of that works and like yourself I've tried to find it out from people to no avail, and they find it even more confusing than you or I do. Please do follow ups on this topic and let us know what you find.

[@SeemoreDunkan]

Reminds me of that line in There Will Be Blood - ''What would you give us for it?'' - ''I don't know'' - ''Something you don't know?'' - ''That's right.''

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Reminds me more of the line in terms of the publishers of "I drink your milkshake"

[@SeemoreDunkan]

@@Alex-cw3rz That's a good one!

[@DavidChoiniere]

Streaming is like radio play. It pays little but it gets you the fans who will pay big bucks to go to your concert. This is where the real money is and the artists know it

[@TedWoodYourMentor]

Thank you. "To those that have, more shall be given." Perhaps you should research and interview people associated with Playing for Change.- Tedeschi and Trucks both contributed to "When the Leve Breaks." What was that worth? Roberto Luti is part of Playing for Change House Band and gets a lot of work. Is he living happily ever after?

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

I made over a million plays on Spotify with my catalog and that payed a little over 4.000 dollars, so that checks out, now I just have to do the same every month 😅

[@ast4127]

Congratulations anyway!

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

@@ast4127 thank you friend!

[@stevenwalker2926]

As an independent artist, Spotify pays me roughly $0.0024 per stream. That fluctuates a bit, but that is roughly it. Almost all of my streams come from Spotify, so I can't really say much about other services.

[@tomwright7418]

That would be $2.4m for 1bn streams.

[@pnwtn]

@@tomwright7418 2.4m cents, not dollars I think?

[@GregManningVideos]

.0024 $, not cents.

[@stevenwalker2926]

@@GregManningVideos right: $0.0024.

[@wrekkingcru]

Rick - I would love it if you could bring on Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel's long-time drummer and collaborator during the height of his career) for an interview. He was such a great and consistently excellent contributer of great rhythms and drumming on some of the best and most beloved songs of the 20th Century. I'm sure you two would have a very colorful and musical conversation :)

[@David.Garfield]

Thank you for your videos Rick.... You've interviewed many of my colleagues and long term friends & collaborators.... you do a fantastic job & please keep 'em coming! Regarding this video...my understanding is that the performers get the bulk of the royalties generated ...not the songwriters. If an artist like say Elvis has a billion streams he gets the artist performance royalties for those from the DSP's (through his record co or distributer) and then the songwriters like Leiber & Stoller get the Mechanicals for the streams from the MLC which are usually a lot less as you point out so the performer and songwriters are not getting the same royalties however if they are the same person(s) they get it all! My only problem is I am not close to a billion streams yet.... my hats are off to those that can stream that much!!

[@CaptHiltz]

The fact that we're even having these discussions should tell us all that most of the money is going to a small amount of people and most Indie artists are struggling financially.

[@matejajezdic]

I just know that as an independent musician that owns all the rights to my two original albums, I’ve earned 30$ in two years 🤣

[@matejajezdic]

But I DO have around 20 monthly listeners, so… 😭

[@jokoolone]

😮

[@matejajezdic]

@@jokoolone Yup… Good thing it’s technically my hobby and not my future career. That doesn’t lessen my love for it, though 😁

[@papalaz4444244]

Do you have a publishing deal? You could get $30 by selling 3 CDs mate lol

[@matejajezdic]

@@papalaz4444244 Right 🤣 I don’t have a publishing deal. All I’ve done so far has been independent. I’ve sold some CDs and made more money that way than with streaming for sure…

[@JSTONEMUSIK]

its .004 across the board for everyone on Spotify, goes directly to the person or company who uploads it. After that who knows

[@alexjenner1108]

Someone should ask Mitski who has a song in the Top 10 of the Spotify global 50, where she is the sole writer, sole performer and signed to independent label "Dead Oceans". She currently has more than 700 million streams on Spotify, and almost certain to pass 1 billion before too long.

[@michael4591]

We need an internaional standard for this streaming stuff! I hope music making will pay off for artists again in the future. I just hate how the quality of new music goes downhill because there is no budget anymore for big productions

[@CharlesHarrisonMusic]

What I've learnt from years with the PRS (UK's PRO) is that these royalty streaming rates seemingly differ between countries, which may be one of the contributing factors as to why it's so unclear and uncertain. An artist with a higher majority audience in US, for example, will make more per thousand streams than an artist with a majority audience from a country that pays less in royalties.

[@jimwalshonline9346]

The Nashville arrangement is particularly interesting; I think of Jerry Wexler, who got a songwriting cred for Goffin-King's "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman," just for suggesting the title. In Music City, he'd get a full third of the action!

[@urbangorilla33]

The title is pretty important actually.

[@jimwalshonline9346]

@@urbangorilla33 Absolutely

[@heythere6983]

I would reject any song title suggestions, save myself a third of the pie

[@michaelpolakowski7301]

This feels like some sort of mystery-thriller movie. I can see some record company exec: "Beato's asking questions again... getting too close to the truth." Good luck, Rick; maybe play some Lalo Schifrin soundtracks while you suss it out.

[@onethousandtwonortheast8848]

Great topic!!! I was wondering why so many hits today have a million songwriters in the credits. PLEASE INTERVIEW MAX MARTIN!!!

[@KYLETISZAI]

yes

[@alexjenner1108]

Mitski currently has a song in the Top 10 of the Spotify global 50, where she is sole writer, sole performer and signed to an independent label. There are still a few that don't have 20 writers per song.

[@kinseymilkbone]

Some of it has to do with sampled material - after a certain threshold, you have to credit the writers who created the music that was sampled.

[@StevieBoyesmusic]

By my maths ~3 to 8 Million$ for an independent solo artist depending on streaming service and country streams come from. If you don't own the masters or are splitting with bandmates/songwriters it gets a lot more complicated.

[@SIRONEDRAGON]

A broader industry average calculates the pay-per-stream rate as $0.003 to $0.005. Using this range, 1 billion streams could yield anywhere from $3 million to $5 million 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

[@jeffhall4207]

Everyone needs to go back to the Chuck Berry system and get the cash up front. Great video Rick.

[@stevenponte6655]

In India writers get an upfront fee. The big ones get huuuuge amounts. Then anyone can use the song, don’t have to worry about tracking plays and payments.

[@bluegoose555]

I once heard CB say he got 1/2 a cent for ever 50c 45rpm sold (1%) and apparently Albert King wanted (and received) $10,000 cash upfront for his session with Gary Moore

[@MichaelMaurice]

Snoop Dogg announced in an interview he got paid 45k for a 1B streams song. I don't know any further details though..

[@pauljansen1137]

I'm thinking about Sting laughing while telling about being able to buy a huge mansion just from the money he got from Puff Daddy's "I'll be missing you"!!!😀

[@dvdaudiogleno6540]

Rick, you are only talking about the 'SONGS" and writers. The missing part is on the 'SOUND RECORDINGS" which pays to the featured artist, their label, and a small 5% of the Artist's split goes to the AFM musicians fund for quote "backing players," who typically are "Work for Hire" and receive no royalties on anything much. How much "PANDORA" PAYS (in total) 18¢ per 100 streams. Note, when you check with streaming companies, they will say similarly how much the service "PAYS." This is split up between writers, publishers, labels, artists, and the AFM fund. Pandora pays the "statutory" rate, collected by the Sound Exchange. The Sound Exchange collected over $1 Billion last year - BUT THAT'S ONLY ON THE SOUND RECORDING part, not the SONGS, which are collected by ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. These are PERFORMANCE royalties to songwriters & Publishers, similar to regular FCC licensed radio stations. The Sound Exchange does NOT collect from Spotify, as they do not have the Congressional blanket license like Pandora, and have negotiated deals and pricing tiers directly from Sound Recording Copyright Owners, typically labels. The SOUND RECORDING PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES were created by the DPRA Congressional Law in 1995. It established a NEW right in "Digital Audio Transmissions." There is MORE to this conversation. Glen OHara, Professor of Music Business, at CRAS (Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences)

[@bigsong]

During the pandemic, I got 20,000 people to listen to my songs, primarily by posting snippets of the lyrics and the KZbin link on popular posts on the old Twitter with different owners and rules. I earned $20.00 - so divide the streams by 1000, which is what I earn. (at least it was for me) a virtual unknown who owns all of my own songwriting and publishing. (I use the MLC now to collect all of it)

[@Descriptor_]

I don’t want to brag but my Tunecore account has $104 dollars in it.

[@jokoolone]

You’re turning into a real music industry typhoon!

[@bryanwilliams3665]

Golly, almost enough to re string the guitar ?

[@marceloleitejr]

In Brazil the musicians get a cut as well from the songs they played. I’m not sure if other countries are like that.

[@romanhollow2985]

direct downloads from your OWN website, straight to your fans, is the way to go. Who needs to get ripped off by spotify and their cronies.

[@dougb3854]

I don’t understand why people throw there music on there and don’t get paid. Maybe one song for notoriety.

[@ahogg5960]

That might have worked 15 years ago when Radiohead did it. In this day and age, where social media platforms take up the lion's share of Internet traffic...good luck getting enough search engine optimisation and movement in the various algorithms to drive the same number of people towards your website. And then actually getting people to pay for it!

[@LinkRocks]

@@dougb3854 Because it's the best chance to get the most people to listen/discover your music. The OP is correct, doing it yourself is the way to go, but most artists even today don't know how to do it nor want to maintain their own site.

[@zucchinigreen]

Prince did it as well cause he was sick of the record industry.

[@thesoj]

There's plenty of interviews with Steve Vai where talks about publishing his own music, and how Frank Zappa gave him advice about publishing that he still uses today.

[@pats5375]

Thank you for being honest, Rick, about the industry and even your own finances, which you are not obligated to divulge to anyone and i applaud your revealing this shady industry! Someone should get enough VCs going into a new platform that presents new music to hear and view and the writers get fair compensation with no bewildering payment schemes.

[@pedrazarecords]

And you should know that Spotify pays different fees depending on where the plays in the world, plays in Argentina pays less than a half of the USA plays, best regards from Argentina, RICK YOU ARE THE BEST!

[@michaelmay9059]

Don Henley and Glen Frey used to purposely add a line or change the arrangement of the other Eagles songs so they could "write a word and gain a third"

[@stevenponte6655]

It’s actually: Change a word claim a third.

[@hysterics8011]

​@@stevenponte6655he changed a word 😊

[@rhondalyn100]

@@hysterics8011 Hahahahaha

[@stevenponte6655]

@@hysterics8011 gimme a third!! ;)

[@shadowselfCA]

Jeez, never thought I would hear about Don Henley being a slimeball. /s

[@winston_smith311]

I believe most artists, disregarding if you are an 'icon' like taylor swift or something who can make huge sums just to endorse certain brands, etc,. , make the vast majority of their money off of touring. I think it was that way even back before the internet when people had to buy the artist's cd....the artists then still made the bulk of their money from touring and merchandise.

[@williamhiles7404]

Why do you think Led Zeppelin toured the way they did? Almost non stop for the first 8 tours, playing with the flu, broken finger, etc. , especially when you're getting 90% of your gates and every place sells out. It's only gonna last so long. LedHed Pb 207.20 🎶 🎸 🎹

[@manchesterunitedno7]

@@williamhiles7404 YEah, playing with the flue, broken fingers are nothing when thousands of screaming crowd so hyped during the show. The majority of them wouldn't notice a slightly off key during guitar solo or Robert Plant sounds a bit coarse.

[@freddiwilkins9985]

And no fan will say you suck Only some musicians who think they play without mistakes just like the records live every show.

[@williamhiles7404]

Heh heh heh. They were still better than all the rest, even when they weren't at their best. I seen 'em 176 times. How many did you see 'em? Oh, by the way, Wolverhampton!!! LedHed Pb 207.20 🎶 🎸 🎹

[@grantwalkersound]

For us artists... This kind of stuff is really important. Thank you for covering it and I would say continue talking about the business side more.

[@timerdmann]

I would love to see an in-depth comparison of how musicians, bands, artists, & song writers got paid, & how much, between the old era- CDs/Cassettes/LPs vs the new Streaming service world.On a basic level at least. Artists used to get points on sales of a record - labels obviously made the lion's share, the bulk of earrings came from those sales - then there were the licensing & performance royalties for radio & terrestrial plays. ASCAP, BMI, etc. How does that compare to earnings sources today with the vast majority coming from streaming services? How much - if anything do artists make from physical ales any more? And how does recoup ability factor in today?

[@timerdmann]

When someone bought a physical copy of your record in the past, that person would pay $14.99 (as an example) they would go home and play that record - how many times? Once? 100, 1000 times? Doesn't matter. they paid $15 - how was that split between Label, manufacturing, writers, Recouping advances & marketing costs, then finally paying out the artists? So 1 million physical records sold generated some dollar value. Add to that the royalties from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC (how was radio & bar/restaurant play ever accurately tracked?). Now - earnings are almost exclusively from 'listens'. Which, in this age are totally trackable down to number of times played, how much of a track was played (:30, 2:00, 4:00?), and where in the work that play was delivered.

[@stuartjameswright]

To start with it would depend on which service the song was streamed on and who was listening. If the majority of the streams skewed towards Spotify it would come to a lot less than if the majority was on Apple or Tidal.

[@annalisagentile6028]

Strange how musicians don’t know how they’re getting paid. Having a number one song should surely bring in more than $3k a year.

[@Williestyle-RobotechxMacross-x]

Not if it is one hit song, played "exclusively" on one platform, and released by a "record label" in physical media (because the record label could have "advanced" payment(s) for the song that covered recording, production, and distribution). The music "industry" is shady, and lots of people around music artists get a "cut" - not just the labels ; publishing rights management, the publishers themselves, artist managers and promoters, producers, and even the lawyers can be paid a percentage in place of a flat fee...

[@IggyB-Music]

Love the videos Rick!

[@iangray7410]

I just shared this with my wife, Claire Lynch. She's a well-known Bluegrass artist with 3 Grammy noms. Her voice is on recordings by Dolly (3 albums), Linda Ronstadt..and a bunch of others. Claire is in her twilight years and is looking at how her revenues arrive. This is a wonderful review, Rick. Thank you.

[@brucemacmillan9581]

Re: multiple co-writers. I've never found anyone I could collaborate or co-write with where I felt it was a good creative fit. And I have high standards, so I just write my own stuff. But I'm always open to collaboration. You never know when you might connect with someone who's on a similar musical wavelength and can bring something creatively valuable to the table that enhances what you do. Not holding my breath on that one tho.

[@MarkPeotter]

@brucemacmillan9581 I heard from a successful sync songwriter that one of the big reasons for multiple co-writers is because each of the co-writers also has business connections that can get the song recorded and published. They agree to be co-writers in order to get the song into the money maker machine.

[@leeroyholloway4277]

I had half-writer share on a song that got a cut in Australia back in the 80's. I think I saw 2 checks for $1.36 and then nothing for the past 40 years. Meanwhile the AFM (haven't been a member for decades) hits me up for money all the time.