The most common question independent artists ask: "How much does a stream actually pay?"
The honest answer: it depends on the platform, the country, the listener's subscription plan, and how your deals are structured. But we can get you a working number.
2026 industry averages
These are averages across all listener types and countries. Your actual payout will vary.
- Tidal: about $0.0125 per stream (highest of the major DSPs)
- Apple Music: about $0.007 per stream
- Amazon Music: about $0.004 per stream
- Spotify: about $0.003 per stream
- YouTube Music: about $0.002 per stream
Try it yourself
Why the numbers look so small
DSPs pay from a giant pool of subscriber money, split by your share of total streams on the platform. If you have 0.001% of the streams, you get 0.001% of the pool. That is why volume matters more than any single stream.
What is NOT in that number
The per-stream payout above is only the master royalty paid through your distributor. You also earn, separately:
- Mechanical royalties on the composition side, paid through The MLC
- Performance royalties on the composition side, paid through your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC)
- Neighboring rights for the recorded performance, paid through SoundExchange for non-interactive streams
If you have not registered the song with all three, you are leaving 30 to 50% of the total royalty pool on the table.
See our guide on claiming both sides of every royalty.
The independent artist's math
At $0.003 per stream:
- 1,000 streams → $3
- 100,000 streams → $300
- 1,000,000 streams → $3,000
- 10,000,000 streams → $30,000
Volume is the game. Registration is what makes every stream count.