There's a lot of confusion in the marketplace about how much a music stream is worth. To say that it's a complicated issue is an understatement.
- It depends upon all of the following factors:
- What type of service (interactive like Spotify, or non-interactive like Pandora)
- Which tier (free or paid subscription)
- Which territory it's played in (they all pay different royalty rates)
- Your marketshare (on Spotify you get paid more if you get played more)
As you can see, it's impossible to say exactly what each stream is really worth, and the best we can do is get an average.
Billboard has done just that with a great infographic that gives you an approximate worth of a stream coming from Spotify and Pandora.
