The music business has always been a bit different in the way artists and creators are compensated. Screen and stage actors have union rates that must be paid. Screenwriters usually earn a writer’s fee. Production costs are usually paid by the studio making the film or TV show. Actors, writers and directors don’t pay for the production costs of making a movie.
Musical artists and songwriters, however, aren’t so lucky. In the “old days” of recording contracts, signed artists were given advances by the labels for the cost of producing recordings and music videos — and these advances had to be paid back by record sales before the artists ever saw any income themselves.
If a songwriter had a cut on an album that sold a lot of copies, then the songwriter had a chance to earn some money. And if the song became a hit single, record sales and radio airplay also helped the songwriter earn a living.
Now that music streaming has taken the place of physical record sales, things are different. The average play on a streaming service pays the “creator” $0.004 — 4/10 of one cent. If a song is played one million times, that’s $4,000 that’s owed. But who is the “creator” who gets this money? The writer? The artist? The label?
A new study titled “Songwriters Take the Stage” analyzes just how much money songwriters earn when their songs are streamed. The study shows that the amount is severely lacking.
A London-based marketing intelligence firm called MIDIA Research conducted the study. That whopping $0.004 per stream is split up among all those responsible for the song. In my particular case, because I am the artist, the songwriter, the producer, the publisher and the record label, I get to keep most of that money. When an artist releases a song they didn’t write under the auspices of a record label, that paltry amount has to be split up even more.
On average, songwriters get 9.5% of that $0.004. Performers usually receive double that. As stated in the study, “A stream is split into so many different percentages based on labels, artists, distributors, publishing, performing rights organizations and, finally, songwriters. From there, anywhere from 2 to 12 songwriters then split that single percentage (68% of 14% of $0.004).”
Using that formula, let’s say a songwriter without any co-writers writes a song that generates 1 million plays. That songwriter then earns $380.80. Let’s contrast that with what just one streaming platform — Spotify — earns. Spotify Technology revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2024 was $15.02 billion, an 18.88% increase from the preceding year. They also finally showed a profit of $179 million.
The study, as reported in American Songwriter magazine, revealed a sad reality: “There’s one universal truth of it that doesn’t need a calculator — songwriters make almost nothing from streaming.”
When one had to purchase a physical record or CD, there was a bit more income to split up between the robber baron record labels and the actual content creators. Now, the robber barons are the streaming services that offer virtually every song ever recorded for a low monthly subscription fee. Too bad the writers and artists can’t earn a fair share.
I wish I knew what the answer was. Some artists have gone so far as to only release music available on a physical product like a CD or vinyl record, or for purchase as downloads from their website. Whatever the solution may be, it’s getting harder and harder to actually make a living writing and recording music.
I’ll close with my usual request — please support your favorite musicians, either local or well-known — by actually buying their music.
– Catch John live Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing, this Friday at Isla Bella, Saturday at the Boardwalk in Big Pine, and Sunday afternoons at Skipjack Tiki. Find his music anywhere you download or stream your music. www.johnbartus.com • johnbartus.hearnow.com
