Last month, Kanye West opted to release his latest album Donda 2 on his own device, rather than streaming services, because of how artists have been “hurt” by the platforms, he said. Prime Minister Borris Johnson last year urging reforms in the streaming industry, including increased payouts. Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and Sting were among the musicians who signed a letter to U.K. In 2014, three years after Spotify launched in the U.S., Taylor Swift removed her music from the platform because of how it paid artists, though she later returned and still remains on it. Several mainstream and big-name artists have spoken out against low payments. Last year, a group of independent artists held a series of protests in front of Spotify artists demanding 1 cent per stream be doled out to rights holders, according to the Los Angeles Times. Despite its popularity with listeners, Spotify has long been criticized by artists who believe they should earn more from streams on it.

Spotify has 406 million active monthly users and is one of the most popular streaming platforms. The company believes “artists care more about a larger paycheck than a higher per-stream rate.” Spotify noted that it does not pay artists per stream, instead paying them based on share of overall streams on the platform, and doesn’t believe rate per stream is “is a meaningful number to analyze.” The streaming service said there are a number of factors that play into why it’s rate per stream ratio seems low, including a high number of streams per listener and its ad-supported subscription free offering. Competitor Apple Music paid an average of one cent per stream in 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal. Singer and producer T-Pain shared a chart on Twitter in December that showed artists need 315 streams on Spotify to make $1, though it’s not clear what the source of this information is.

That means it would take roughly 250 streams for an artist to earn $1. That’s how much money Spotify paid artists (through their rights holders) per stream in 2021, according to Insider. As of 2021, Spotify said it had paid $30 billion in royalties to the music industry, and the $7 billion paid out last year was more than double the amount paid out in 2017.

Apple music vs spotify paying artists