With the days of physical music sales (mostly) behind us, streaming platforms are the primary place where fans go to listen to their favorite artists. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the payouts from streaming services like Spotify are extremely low. Take Aloe Blacc, a co-writer on Avicii’s song Wake Me Up (which at one point was the most streamed song EVER) – he only made $4,000 in Spotify royalties for his songwriting contribution.
Yes, it’s hard to make money on Spotify, but many artists do make part of their living through the streaming platform. Who are the types of people that Spotify pays? How do they actually get paid? How much does Spotify pay them, and how often?
In this article, I’m breaking down exactly how artists make money on Spotify. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how payments work, and how much you can expect to get paid for your music. And guess what…
What is a Master? What is Publishing?
Master is “the official original recording of a song, sound or performance.” When you sign a “record deal”, you typically sell the ownership of this Master Recording to the record label. Later, we’ll talk about Master Recording Royalties — these are the royalties paid out to the owners of the Master. That owner is usually a record label or the original artist (if they don’t have a record deal).
Publishing refers to “the business of promotion and monetization of musical compositions.” Publishing is all about the songwriters and producers who created the musical idea performed in the Master Recording, and there is a whole industry built around collecting these Publishing Royalties for creators. Spotify (and other streaming platforms) pay out a second set of royalties to the creators of the musical composition underlying the songs that get streams.
