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T-Pain Sends Internet Into a Frenzy with Post About How Many Song Streams It Takes an Artist to Earn $1

Posted byBy Jasmine Alyce | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

T-Pain has blown fans’ minds after sharing statistics for the number of streams from various platforms that it takes for an artist to earn $1.

The “I’m Sprung” singer dropped a little industry knowledge on his social media pages that broke down the average number of streams that artists have to receive to earn a buck from major streaming platforms including Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Tidal, and more.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 21: Musician T-Pain attends a screening of “Untitled Dave Chappelle Documentary” at State Farm Arena on November 21, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

“Just so you know……,” he captioned the post with the graphic he reshared from a Reddit user.

Some fans were shocked to learn the range of plays that it takes to put money into musicians‘ pockets, especially when taking into consideration how much money comes out of their pockets to pay fund their careers.

“How much does the record company take? The manager? How much does the songwriter take vs royalties for other artists? Eye opening.”

“How the f**k is that legal”

“This just goes to show you how much work an independent artist has to put in.”

Others, however, were less sympathetic to how much larger artists profited based on the various streaming models once they did a little math.

“This is short change? By these numbers, TPAIN has made over $1mil from Buy U a Drank streams on Spotify alone lol Not great for small artists though.”

“Hard to feel sorry for y’all artist flashing money, Jewelry and cars on social media”

“Should be noted that these aren’t fixed rates, but averages,” pointed out a Twitter user. “The rate of revenue from streams is negotiated between a platform and a publisher (labels). Bigger artists with larger teams have more leverage, so they have higher rates, while solo artists… well, you know.”

According to a 2019 SoundCharts.com breakdown, there are multiple kinds of streaming service payouts that can vary based on a number of factors, including whether the streams are from free or paid accounts. Based on their data at the time, Tidal paid an average of $0.0099 per stream, Spotify paid artists $0.0032, Apple Music paid an average rate of $0.0056, and Deezer had a payout rate of $0.00436 per stream.

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