According to Business Insider, artists earn between $.0033 and $.0050 per stream on Spotify. What’s more, USA Today reported that Apple Music gives $0.01 per play, but that doesn’t all go to the artists. Record labels and distributors also get their piece.
Like Spotify, Apple’s streaming service also doesn’t pay artists per stream, but uses a system that pays based on “streamshare,” according Business Insider. The payout comes from the percentage of total streams an individual song has and varies based on agreements with licensors.
Snoop Dogg compared the streaming ordeal to the current TV writers’ strike and how they’re fighting for better pay that measures up to their work and efforts.
“I know I’m going off the script right now but f-ck it, this is business,” he said. “This is a room full of business people, and somebody may hear this and be able to do something about it so that the next artists don’t have to struggle or cry or try to figure out how to get to his money.”
