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Seriously, what do they make? Per song, and in aggregate over time?

I looked it up, and found this:

https://www.33rdsquare.com/how-much-money-do-artists-really-earn-from-1-million-spotify-streams/

According to current industry estimates, 1 million Spotify streams earns artists between $3,000 and $5,000 in royalties.

However, based on industry reports and artist payout data, analysts estimate Spotify currently pays $0.003 to $0.005 per stream on average.

According to Midia Research, the global average streaming rate in 2021 was $0.004 per stream across major platforms like Spotify.

How Many Streams Does It Take to Earn Minimum Wage on Spotify?
To put Spotify‘s per-stream rates into perspective, let‘s see how many streams an artist would need to earn the U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour:

• At $0.003 per stream, it would take 2,417 streams per hour – over 57,600 streams per day.
• At $0.004 per stream, it would take 1,813 streams per hour – over 43,500 streams per day.
• At $0.005 per stream, it would take 1,450 streams per hour – over 34,800 streams per day.

For context, Spotify says their top 0.2% of artists reach over 100,000 streams per day.

So based on these rates, it‘s clear that even top artists on Spotify would likely not be able to live solely off streaming royalties – ancillary income like sales revenue, touring, merchandising and more remains crucial.

“There are layers of income needed to make a living in music in 2024,” says Mike Hartmann of the musician financial platform Sound Royalties. “Streaming should be seen as powerful exposure that boosts an artist‘s overall brand, not its sole revenue engine.”

Now let‘s look at estimated Spotify earnings for artists at different stream counts:

Earnings from 100,000 Spotify Streams
• At a $0.003 per stream rate, 100,000 streams pays $300.
• At a $0.004 per stream rate, 100,000 streams pays $400.
• At a $0.005 per stream rate, 100,000 streams pays $500.
So at 100,000 streams, Spotify royalties range from $300 to $500.

Earnings from 500,000 Spotify Streams
• 500,000 streams at $0.003 per stream pays $1,500.
• 500,000 streams at $0.004 per stream pays $2,000.
• 500,000 streams at $0.005 per stream pays $2,500.

Here the range rises from $1,500 to $2,500 for half a million streams.

Earnings from 1 Million Spotify Streams
• 1 million streams at a $0.003 rate pays $3,000.
• 1 million streams at a $0.004 rate pays $4,000.
• 1 million streams at a $0.005 rate pays $5,000.

So based on current per stream averages, 1 million Spotify streams pays between $3,000 and $5,000 in royalties to rights holders.

But does 1 million streams mean you‘ve “made it” financially as an artist? Far from it. While these royalties provide helpful income, 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify generates under $20,000 annually.

I'm a non-touring, non-gigging indy musician with a very small following.(www.cosmicorderband.com). I make enough from Spotify royalties to pay the yearly fee for my website, and that's about it. And I'm fine with that. If my goal was more listeners and more cash I'd have to spend most of my time on marketing and promotion rather than in the studio writing and producing. I'm happy enough at this point being able to spend as much time in my studio as I want to without the financial pressure of having to make money doing it.

All artists are up against the fact that every day, there are 50,000 new songs released on Spotify. That is not a typo. On top of that, anyone can buy "listens" that'll push their track on to Spotify's algorithmic playlists - then the Spotify software can automatically make the pushed tune go viral from there. ALL the majors play that fake listen game too and their budgets allow them to buy hundreds of thousands of "listens."

Today, most bands/artists make the majority of their money on tours and gigs and by selling merch, which is the opposite of how it was pre-Spotify/Napster etc. Back then, the tours were basically advertisement for selling albums and building a fan base. A lot of the tours ended up with a loss, but that was more than made up for via album and merch sales.

Sheryl needs to stop bitching and have a sit down with her manager regarding how to increase/multiply revenue streams. Because that's where it's at today. Spotify's only one source of cash. Maybe Sheryl needs to put down that square of toilet paper and get herself an Only Fans site. . .