Streaming Platform Royalty Rates Compared (2026)

Per-stream royalties vary significantly across platforms, driven by their subscriber base, business model, and the proportion of paying versus free-tier users. Here is an up-to-date comparison of the major platforms for 2026:

• Tidal — $0.010–$0.013/stream. Tidal restructured its tiers in 2024 (Free, HiFi, HiFi Plus/Max) and operates an artist-centric royalty model, meaning artists whose superfans stream repeatedly earn disproportionately more. Smaller total audience than Spotify but the highest average per-stream payout of any major DSP.
• Apple Music — $0.007–$0.010/stream. Apple Music has no free, ad-supported tier — every stream comes from a paid subscriber, which keeps per-stream rates consistently high. Apple also pays publishing (composition) royalties directly to songwriters in several markets, ahead of Spotify's implementation.
• Amazon Music — $0.004–$0.008/stream. Amazon Music Unlimited (paid tier) pays well; streams via the free Amazon Prime Music or Alexa/Echo radio mode pay significantly less. Growth has been driven by Echo device integration and Prime bundle upgrades.
• Spotify — $0.003–$0.005/stream. The largest platform by monthly active users (over 600 million as of 2026) but a lower average rate due to its large ad-supported free tier. Spotify is piloting a Superfan Club feature and expanding artist promotional tools (Marquee, Showcase, Discovery Mode) to give artists more control over their audience and revenue.
• Deezer — $0.003–$0.005/stream. Comparable to Spotify. Deezer has fully launched its artist-centric royalty model in several markets — artists with a dedicated, repeat listener base earn meaningfully more per stream than under the traditional pro-rata model.
• YouTube Music — $0.002–$0.005/stream. YouTube Music's rate is depressed by its large ad-supported user base. However, artists with music on standard YouTube also earn from Content ID — ad revenue on YouTube video streams is often larger than the music streaming royalty, especially for artists with viral content.
• SoundCloud — $0.002–$0.004/stream. SoundCloud's fan-powered royalty model (now established for SoundCloud for Artists members) distributes a subscriber's payment only to the artists they actually listened to, rewarding artists with dedicated fans over those who simply accumulate passive background streams.
• Pandora — $0.001–$0.002/stream. Pandora's on-demand streams carry the lowest rates among major platforms. Its radio (non-interactive) mode pays mechanical royalties set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) rather than negotiated rates, which are also low by comparison.
• iHeartRadio — ~$0.001/stream or less. iHeartRadio's digital radio model pays CRB-set performance royalties. On-demand streaming rates are limited and audience scale is modest compared to the leading DSPs.

Why Every Independent Artist Should Be on All Platforms

No single platform dominates every market or demographic. Spotify leads in North America and Europe; Apple Music is dominant in Japan and strong in the US; Amazon Music is growing rapidly via Echo and Prime bundles; Deezer has significant market share in France, Africa and Latin America. Distributing to all platforms via a single distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, Amuse, etc.) costs nothing extra and captures streams you would otherwise miss.

Platform diversification also reduces algorithmic risk. An artist whose income is 90% Spotify-dependent is badly exposed to any change in Spotify's algorithm, royalty model or editorial policy. A spread across six platforms means no single change is catastrophic.

Pro-Rata vs Artist-Centric Royalty Models

The traditional pro-rata model (used by Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music) pools all subscriber revenue and distributes it based on each artist's share of total platform streams. An artist with 0.01% of all streams gets 0.01% of the royalty pool — regardless of how many individual users listened to them.

The artist-centric (fan-powered) model used by SoundCloud and Deezer distributes each subscriber's monthly payment only to the artists that subscriber actually listened to. A subscriber who listens to only 5 artists generates higher per-stream payouts for those artists. For artists with a tight, engaged fanbase, this can mean 2–3× higher effective rates. Tidal's model is similar in spirit, though implemented differently.

Independent vs Label Deals — What You Actually Keep

The gross royalty from a streaming platform is split between master recording and publishing (composition) rights:

• Master royalties go to the sound recording rights holder — the label, or an independent artist who owns their masters. Your distributor receives these and passes them on per your agreement.
• Publishing royalties go to the songwriter and publisher via mechanical rights organisations (MLC in the US, MCPS in the UK) and performance rights organisations (ASCAP, BMI, PRS, SOCAN etc.). Songwriters must register proactively — uncollected royalties can be lost.

An independent artist distributing via DistroKid or TuneCore, owning their masters and registered with their PRO, can capture close to 100% of both revenue streams. A signed artist on a major label deal may net only 15–25% of master royalties and may have assigned their publishing rights entirely — set the Your Share field to your actual percentage to model your deal.

If you're building a catalogue to generate streaming royalties but lack the time or production skills to release consistently, exclusive ghost-produced tracks let you release professionally finished music under your own name immediately — you own 100% of the masters and keep every royalty dollar the calculator projects. For a production built exactly to your sound and vision, custom music production services cover everything from original composition to mixing and mastering.

Related Free Music Tools

• Spotify Royalty Calculator — a dedicated Spotify calculator with artist search, granular per-stream rate control, distributor fee and royalty split.
• BPM and Key Finder — detect the tempo and musical key of your tracks for correct metadata tagging before distributing to all platforms.
• Music Copyright Checker — verify your track against hundreds of millions of commercial recordings before releasing, to avoid takedowns on YouTube, Spotify and TikTok.