Ever wondered just how much you can make for a thousand streams on Spotify?
Spotify a great platform for finding new music and getting discovered, but how much money can you actually make from streams on Spotify?
How much will 1,000 steams on Spotify make you?
You can expect to make between $3 and $5 per 1,000 streams on Spotify. The average pay-out per stream on Spotify is $0.003. How much you get paid depends on what percentage of the total stream pie per month you own, which means your payout can fluctuate anywhere between $0.0033 - $0.0054 per stream.
Obviously, you need to get A LOT of streams in order to make any kind of decent income from Spotify.
How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream In 2022?
To arrive at our $3 - $5 earnings per thousand streams, we first have to look at what Spotify pays per stream.
On average, Spotify pays out $0.003 - $0.005 per stream. Exactly how much Spotify pays you per stream depends on factors such as the country of the stream, time spent listening, and what percentage of streams you bring in to Spotify.
In my research for this article, I found a lot of different sources giving a lot of different numbers for how much Spotify pays per stream.
This is because this number isn't fixed. Like I outlined above, how much you earn depends on what percentage of the total streams you earn.
So the more streams you get, the more you'll get paid per stream
That said, after looking at my own streams and how much I was paid, I'm earning at a rate of about $0.003 per stream.
My fanbase is still very small at the writing of this article though, so I'm a little on the low end of the spectrum.
But how exactly does Spotify calculate who makes what?
Get Your Songs On Spotify Playlists
Click below to download my free guide covering a simple formula you can follow to get your songs on Spotify playlists and explode your streams without spending a dime!
How Do Artists Make Money From Streaming On Spotify?
Spotify pays out according to what they call “stream share”.
Stream share works by looking at the total streams on Spotify in a month in a country, and figuring out what proportion of those streams were yours.
Stream share determines your cut of the revenue. It’s like divvying up a pie.
Let’s say there were 1,000,00 streams last month, and you had 100,000 of those streams. If that was the case, then you would get 10% of the revenue pool/pie.
How much you get paid will also vary if you are signed to a label or there are people who have writing or recording rights to your music.
Below is a video from Spotify explaining this in more detail.
By the way, if you want to know what Spotify actually counts as a stream...
For example, do streams count when on repeat, mute, or downloaded, then check out my article here.
How Many Spotify Streams Equal $1
Let’s split the difference and say that your average per stream is $0.004. If that’s the case, then...
You need to get 250 streams on Spotify in order to make a dollar.
That means for every 250 streams you get on Spotify, you can get a McDonalds coffee, or you can buy a song on iTunes.
How Many Spotify Streams Equal $1,000?
If that's the case, then how many streams on Spotify do you need to make your first $1,000 from streaming?
Well, if we do some simple math:
1000 / $0.004 = 250,000
You need to get 250,000 streams on Spotify in order to make a $1000.
In other words, you need several football stadiums full of people to listen to your music at least once.
How Many Spotify Streams Do You Need To Earn Minimum Wage?
Wouldn't it be amazing to actually earn minimum wage passively from your Spotify streams?
It might not be enough to quit your day job, but an extra $15 G's a year would certainly help!
In 2020, the Federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour in the United States.
And 2,080 annual hours worked is considered a full-time job, so after doing some simple math, an annual income on minimum wage is $15,080.
Or $1,257 a month.
It would take roughly 314,250 streams a month on Spotify to earn minimum wage in the U.S.
To help us visualize some other income milestones, here is a handy table.
Desired Income/Month | Streams Needed Per Month |
|---|---|
$100 | 25,000 |
$1,000 | 250,000 |
$1,257 (Minimum Wage) | 314,250 |
$2,000 | 500,000 |
$4,917 (U.S. Median Income) | 1,229,250 |
$8,333 (6-Figure Income) | 2,083,250 |
$10,000 | 2,500,000 |
Wow, that's a lot!
If you're feeling discouraged, don't be.
There are actually independent artists making great part time, and even full-time, incomes from Spotify streams alone.
If you want to learn how they're doing it, then check out my article here.
But if you want to know THE BEST way to grow your streams for free...
That strategy involves getting your songs on to Spotify playlists.
Grab me free guide below which will walk you through how you can get your songs on Spotify playlists, and explode your streams!
Get Your Songs On Spotify Playlists
Click below to download my free guide covering a simple formula you can follow to get your songs on Spotify playlists and explode your streams without spending a dime!
Spotify Income Calculator
Instead of me just giving you random milestones for income from Spotify streams, why don't you just check out my Spotify Stream calculator above.
This will enable you to see a couple of cool things.
In the top row, you can just input how much income you want to make per month from Spotify streams.
Then, in the second row, you can input how many songs you have on Spotify.
Finally, you can adjust the "revenue per stream" slider so that it more closely matches your reality right now.
Like I said, the average is about $0.004 per stream, so I would just leave it there.
Once you've inputed all of that data, out spits:
- How many total streams you need per month to hit your income goal
- How many total streams you need a day
- And how many streams you need, per song, per day
Discover How to Generate $1,000 A Month From Spotify
Just click the button to learn a strategy you can follow for generating your first $1,000 a month from Spotify, without wasting money on ads.
How Does Spotify Compare To Other Streaming Platforms In Terms Of Pay
Now, you may be curious as to how Spotify stacks up against other streaming platforms in terms of pay.
The answer is right about in the middle. Other platforms will pay more per stream, but they just don't have the same listening numbers that Spotify has.
So with that in mind, I still think I would say Spotify is one of the best platforms to focus on growing listenership on.
Here are a couple of helpful graphics from Visualcapitalist.com comparing the different streaming platforms.
Which Streaming Platform Is The Best?
Spotify is about middle-of-the-road when it comes to the number of streams one must have in order to earn one dollar.
While there may be other platforms that pay more, they don't have the audience, and the discoverability factors like Spotify has.
According to businessofapps.com, as of May 2020, Spotify now has...
What these stats show are two things...
- Lots of people listen to Spotify, and
- People are finding new artists on Spotify
These two factors are why I say Spotify is the best streaming platform to be on in 2022.
And if you want my complete guide for growing your Spotify streams for free...
But, probably the ultimate way to explode your streams, overnight, is to get your music on to Editorial playlists.
You can check out my article here on how to get your music onto Spotify editorial playlists.
Conclusion
As you've probably deduced, it takes A LOT of streams every month to earn any kind of real sustainable income from Spotify.
But it's certainly possible if you can get your songs on enough Spotify Playlists.
In fact, I've discovered a system that has helped me to get my songs on quite a few Spotify Playlists without having to spend a dime.
By getting your music on user-created playlists on Spotify, you can start to rapidly grow your streams, and even trigger the Spotify algorithm so that Spotify itself starts to show your music to more people.
If you want to learn my simple approach to getting your music on Spotify playlists for free...
Then just grab my simple guide below!
Get Your Songs On Spotify Playlists
Click below to download my free guide covering a simple formula you can follow to get your songs on Spotify playlists and explode your streams without spending a dime!
This will be especially beneficial if you're wanting to grow your streams to the point where you're earning a little extra income every month from your music!
I hope you enjoyed this post on, How Much Does Spotify Pay Per 1,000 streams!
If you found it valuable, then feel free to share it!
Otherwise, let me know...
Please share your technique to get on Spotify’s playlist
Hi Anna!
I actually have a free formula on how to get your music on Spotify playlists. You can download it by going here: https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/spotifyplaylists/
Let me know if you have any questions!
– Reagan
Good
This is an interesting topic and I’m curious to know more about the earnings for artists on Spotify per 1,000 streams in 2023 using this free calculator tool. It would be helpful to have a breakdown of how much revenue each stream generates for both the artist and Spotify, as well as any additional factors that could affect an artist’s earnings from streaming platforms like Spotify.