If you've ever tried to pin down a single per-stream rate, you've probably discovered it slips through your fingers.
That's because virtually all major services payout on revenue share (not a fixed rate).
Rights holders are paid based on their share of streams out of a shared revenue pool split by multiple criteria.
Below we will try to give a clearer, platform-by-platform breakdown of how money flows, the dominant payout models (pro-rata, user/fan-centric, artist-centric), what subscription tiers and territories change, and the newer rules that matter in 2025.
The money flow (a high-level overview)
- Service revenue - from subscriptions (Individual, Duo/Family, Student, HiFi tiers, etc.) and advertising (free tiers).
- Net revenue - service deducts taxes, payment processing, taxes, credit card processing fees, billing costs, sales commissions, etc to get a net pool for music. (Spotify)
- Pools are separated - typically by market/country and by premium/subscriptions vs. ad-supported. Each pool is divided pro-rata by streamshare (your share of streams in that pool). (Loud and Clear)
Two types of royalties payout
- Recording (to labels/distributors/DIY artists).
- Publishing (mechanical + performance via publishers/CMOs/MLC in the US). (Pitchfork)
Payout models you'll hear about
Pro-rata / Streamshare (industry default): Each rightsholder gets the same % of the pool as their % of total plays in that pool. Services emphasize there is no universal per-stream rate - the apparent rate shifts by tier, territory, seasonality, and how much users listen. (Loud and Clear)
User-centric / Fan-powered: Each listener's monthly value is allocated to the artists they listened to, instead of pooling all plays platform-wide. (SoundCloud's implementation is the most straightforward and ongoing.) (SoundCloud Help Center)
Artist-centric (Deezer): A pro-rata backbone with weighting/boosts for professional artists (thresholded), search-driven listening, caps against extreme consumption, and noise exclusions. (Deezer Newsroom)
Spotify
What it means for you: Your effective per-stream varies - premium streams in high-ARPU markets tend to be more valuable than ad-supported plays in low-ARPU markets because the underlying revenue pools differ country by country. (Loud and Clear)
Apple Music
- Model: Apple pays on a streamshare basis, but has historically disclosed headline shares: ~52% to labels (recordings) and a separate publisher share. Apple has also published an average $0.01/play (for individual paid plans in 2020, inclusive of label + publisher), with the crucial caveat that value varies by plan and territory. (artists.apple.com)
- Payment cadence: Apple's provider docs note payments ~45 days after the first Friday of each fiscal month (after banking/tax requirements and thresholds). (itunespartner.apple.com)
What it means for you: Apple's average figures are contextual, not a guaranteed rate. Expect variance across different plans and countries just like elsewhere. (artists.apple.com)
Deezer (Artist-Centric Payment System aka ACPS)
What it means for you: If you meet the professional artist thresholds and drive search-led listening, Deezer can pay more relative to classic pro-rata. Noise/ambient uploads and low-engagement catalogs see less. (Deezer Newsroom)
Amazon Music
- Model: Amazon does not publish a public per-stream numbers, like others, payouts derive from subscription + ad revenue pools and flow to labels/distributors for recordings and to publishers/MLC for mechanicals. Official public docs for artists are sparse, but Amazon operates standard monthly reporting and provider access for statements. (Music Central, The MLC, Amazon Music for Artists)
What it means for you: Treat Amazon like a typical pro-rata DSP: value differs by tier (Prime add-ons, Unlimited, ad-supported) and territory, with publishing handled via societies/MLC. (The MLC)
YouTube & YouTube Music
- Model: Revenue share based on ads (and Premium subscription pools for YouTube Music). Rights are enforced and attributed through Content ID for sound recordings and compositions. Creator Music (for video creators licensing tracks) adjusts the standard 55% creator share to cover music rights, with concrete examples of how the split is reduced based on number of tracks and additional music rights costs.
KVZ Music, being a preferential partner of Google/YouTube, receives significantly higher % from YouTube compared to the standard 55% YouTube partner deals. (YouTube Help, YouTube Help)
What it means for you: Expect different economics between YouTube Music (music subscription/ad pools) and main YouTube (video ad revenue and Creator Music splits), all driven by revenue share rather than fixed CPM per stream. (YouTube Help)
SoundCloud (Fan-Powered Royalties)
- Model: User-centric (fan-powered): each listener's monthly value (ads + subscription) is divided among the artists they personally stream, weighted by time listened. Available to monetizing artists in eligible programs/tiers. (SoundCloud Help Center)
- Evidence point: Portishead reported ~500% higher revenue for a track under SoundCloud's fan-powered model vs. traditional pooling. (Pitchfork)
What it means for you: Smaller but loyal audiences can monetize more efficiently than under a global pro-rata pool.
TIDAL (status of fan-centered / DAP experiments)
- History: TIDAL piloted fan-centered royalties tied to HiFi Plus and a Direct Artist Payouts program (up to 10% of a subscriber fee to top artist) beginning in late 2021, but shut down DAP in 2023, fan-centered messaging later disappeared from public docs. Current official pages focus on artist/songwriter tools rather than a fan-centric payout promise. (Music Ally, Music on TIDAL, support.tidal.com)
What it means for you: In 2025, assume standard revenue-share mechanics unless TIDAL announces otherwise, leverage TIDAL's songwriter tools. (support.tidal.com)
TikTok (UGC licensing pool)
- History: TikTok's separate DSP, TikTok Music, shut down worldwide on Nov 28, 2024, so there's no longer a TikTok-run subscription streaming royalty model. (TikTok Music)
- Model: platform-wide licensing pool: on the main TikTok app, music money flows via platform-wide licensing/royalty pool (not per-stream rates).
- Allocation is based on usage i.e. how many videos use your track and not on the number of video plays or view count. TikTok does not publish a single "per-video rate" or formula publicly. (Songtrust Blog)
- Commercial vs. general use: If content promotes a brand/product, TikTok requires using its Commercial Music Library (CML) - a pre-cleared catalog for business use. Mainstream catalog outside the CML isn't licensed for commercial posts on TikTok. (TikTok Support)
What it means for you: Expect pool-based UGC royalties driven by video count using your sound, not view count.
Meta pays music rights holders via a mix of ad-revenue sharing (on specific videos/reels) and blanket licensing (tracked via Rights Manager). (Facebook)
Model: Per-asset basis / CPM-driven / Ad revenue sharing: Earnings are calculated per video/reel that generates ad revenue. (Facebook, Instagram Help Center)
Meta explicitly says estimates are based on several factors, including impressions and CPM in claimed territories.
Meta doesn't publish fixed CPMs, but third-party market trackers show wide territorial variance (illustrative only). (Facebook, Lebesgue)
Music Revenue Sharing (Facebook videos >60s)
- When a creator uses licensed music in an eligible Facebook video, in-stream ad revenue on that video is split.
- Creator gets 20% of the video's ad revenue, a separate share goes to music rights holders, and a share goes to Meta.
The exact split between Meta and rights holders isn't publicly detailed. (Facebook, Facebook)
Rights Manager - UGC on Facebook / Instagram
- payout are driven by impressions × CPM in your claimed territories - i.e. the territories where you control the rights. (Facebook)
Ads on Reels (with music from the Audio Library)
- Select creators can earn with Ads on Reels when they use music from Meta's Audio Library.
Revenue may be shared with music rights holders on those reels. (Facebook)
What it means for you: Expect significant variance in your payouts from Meta. Meta has a more complex way to calculate royalties, with a lot of variables and dependencies, which might introdice significatn fluctuations.
How tiers, geography, and ads change your payout
- Territorial pricing & currency: Each market has its own revenue pool (local prices, local ad yields). Your streamshare is calculated per market, therefore, a stream in one country can be worth more or less than a stream elsewhere, depending on ARPU and ads. (Loud and Clear,Lebesgue)
- Subscription mix: Individual vs. Family/Student/HiFi plans feed different pools. Apple explicitly notes that per-play value varies by plan and region. (artists.apple.com)
- Ad-supported vs. premium: Premium pools generally generate higher value per play than ad-supported plays due to higher per-user revenue. (YouTube's Creator Music illustrates how music rights reduce creator shares, conceptually similar cost deductions occur before pools are split.) (YouTube Help)
Special rules & recent changes to know
- Spotify minimum for recordings: Tracks need >1,000 streams in the prior 12 months to earn recording royalties, noise is de-weighted and must be >2 min to be royalty-eligible, fraud penalties for distributors. Effective April 1, 2024. (Spotify for Artists)
- Deezer artist-centric: Double boost for professional artists (>1,000 streams & >500 unique listeners/month) and search-led plays, user caps, noise removal, expanded to publishing with SACEM in France (Jan 2025). (Deezer Newsroom)
Some practical math ;)
Here are a couple of simplified formulas for the calculation of the two main royalty payouts.
Pro-rata
$$
\text{Your payout in Market M} \approx \text{Net revenue pool in M} \times \frac{\text{Your streams in M}}{\text{Total streams in M}}
$$
$$
\text{Your total payout} = \sum({\text{Payouts in all Markets M}})
$$
Sum across markets and tiers (premium + ads).
User/Fan-centric
$$
\text{Your payout from Listener L} \approx \text{L's monthly value} \times \frac{\text{Time L spent on you}}{\text{Total music time by L}}
$$
$$
\text{Your total payout} = \sum({\text{Payouts from all your Listeners L}})
$$
Sum across your listeners. (SoundCloud Help Center)
Common misconceptions (and the 'bitter' reality)
- What's the per-stream rate? - There isn't one. It floats with plan mix, geography, and usage; services caution against quoting a single figure. (Loud and Clear)
- All streams pay the same. - Premium ≠ Ad-supported; US ≠ India, Student ≠ HiFi. Different pools, different ARPU. (Loud and Clear, artists.apple.com)
- Publishing is tiny/optional. - Streaming includes mechanical + performance royalties for the composition, ensure your works are registered (e.g., via your publisher/PRO and, in the US, the MLC). (Pitchfork)
Action checklist for artists/labels
- Register everything correctly (recording & composition sides), claim your profiles (Spotify for Artists / Apple Music for Artists / Amazon Music for Artists / YouTube Music / TIDAL), and make sure your splits are accurate - especially if you collaborate often. (support.tidal.com)
- Focus on high-intent listening: search-led, saves, and loyal fans - these behaviors matter even more under Deezer's ACPS and benefit you anywhere. (Deezer Newsroom)
- Diversify geo & tier mix: Growing premium audiences in high-ARPU markets meaningfully changes your realized revenue per play. (Loud and Clear)
Links & References (the official & primary resources we have used for this article)
Glossary
ACPS (Artist-Centric Payment System):
Deezer's modified pro-rata model that boosts professional artists and search-led listening, caps extreme consumption, and excludes "noise.".
Ad-supported:
A payout model funded by advertising. Its revenue forms separate, typically lower-value royalty pools than premium subscriptions.
ARPU - Average Revenue Per User:
Revenue per subscriber in a given market. Higher-ARPU markets usually yield higher effective value per stream.
Content ID (YouTube):
YouTube's system that identifies/claims audio and allocates revenue between recordings and compositions.
CPM - Cost per mille:
Ad revenue per thousand impressions. A driver of Meta/YouTube video earnings and thus music shares there.
Creator Music (YouTube):
A licensing program where video creators can use a pre-cleared music in their videos.
CML - Commercial Music Library (TikTok):
Pre-cleared catalog businesses must use for commercial posts. Mainstream catalog outside CML isn't licensed for such use.
DAP - Direct Artist Payouts (TIDAL):
A past TIDAL program (up to 10% of a subscriber fee) discontinued in 2023.
MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective):
US organization administering digital mechanicals.
Noise (functional audio):
Low-value/background content that may be de-weighted or excluded (e.g., Spotify length minimums, Deezer exclusions).
Pro-rata / Streamshare:
Industry-default payout model. Your share of plays in a pool determines your share of that pool's net revenue. No fixed per-stream rate.
Rights Manager (Meta):
Facebook/Instagram rights-management tool.
UGC - User Generated Content
Creator-uploaded media on platforms like TikTok/Meta/YouTube. Music earnings arise via licenses, claims, and ad-share, not per-stream rates.
Disclaimer
A lot of research went into this article and we've done our best to make sure the information here is accurate and up-to-date.
However, things can change, and we're only human and we may have made a mistake or two along the way.
If you spot something that doesn't look right, we'd be grateful if you'd get in touch so we can fix it at [email protected] !
