The Internet has become a large part of our lives and more so after work from home has become the norm in most parts of the world. As work, education and fitness have gone online, so has entertainment. Video-on-demand platforms and music streaming platforms entertain. Gone are the days when people turned to television to listen to the latest music track, it is all on the cloud now. Listeners only need a device and an internet connection to log onto a music streaming platform and listen to the music track launched. Worldwide, the music streaming industry generated a revenue of $23,293 million in 2021. 

In this article, we are going to discuss how music streaming benefits artists. 

Revenue from streaming platforms for artists

Create a music streaming app for a fixed revenue model for the artists. Revenue is based on the number of times a music track has been played by the listeners of the platform. Revenue varies from one platform to another. Spotify pays $0.0044 USD per music stream which means, one music track should be streamed 23,000 times for the artist to receive a revenue of 100 USD. Tidal and Apple Music streaming platforms pay the highest to the artists when compared to other music streaming platforms all over the world. 

Top 5 music streaming platforms for artists

There are plenty of music platforms for artists, but these 5 are the most popular around the world. Let’s dive in.

Spotify

Spotify generated revenue of 2,331 million Euros in 2021 from its premium customers worldwide. It is available for free and paid users. It has over 100 million subscribers around the globe. Users can access single music tracks, albums, create customized playlists, download and listen to music tracks offline, listen to ad-free music. Spotify has special subscription plans for students and their families. 

Pandora

Pandora music streaming platform for independent artists has free and paid subscriptions for users. Pandora boasts 76 million monthly active users over the world and has generated revenue of 516 million USD in 2021. Over 70% of Pandora’s users are from America. Users can create playlists of music tracks and podcasts. A paid subscription is available at $5 and $10 per month using which users can create shared playlists and listen to ad-free music/podcasts on the app.

Apple music

If you are wondering why music streaming is good for artists, here is a fact that will blow your mind. Apple music has 72 million subscribers as of June 2020. It streams more than 75 million songs that the users can listen to, get personalized recommendations and also get a peek of the music tracks their friends are listening to. This means the app can keep its users hooked to artists can get more ears for their track. Apple music generated revenue of $4.1 billion in 2020. 

YouTube music

YouTube music has 50 million paid subscribers in 2021. It charges $9.99 per month for premium music. Premium subscribers have the luxury of playing songs in the background on their phone while using other apps, or even when the phone is locked. Users can search by lyrics of the music track, switch from audio track to video song at any time. 

Tidal

Tidal generated revenue of $19.27 million in 2019. Square Incorporation acquired a majority stake in Tidal in March 2021. Tidal is well-known in Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Ireland, and Luxembourg. It has over 1 million subscribers as of 2021 and offers free and premium music. There are 10 premium plans – Tidal premium priced at $9.99/month, Tidal Family premium – $14.99/month, Tidal Student premium – $4.99/month, Military and First responder at $5.99/month, HiFi at $19.99/month, Family HiFi at $29.99/month and Student HiFi at $9.99/month. Military and first responder HiFi are priced at $11.99/month. With a plethora of paid plans, Tidal caters to all segments of audiences. 

Benefits of music streaming platforms for artists

Now that you know all about music streaming and its platforms, here’s how music streaming benefits artists.  

• Platform to listen to music

Music streaming platforms are dedicated places for lovers of music. Users can log on to a platform and listen to any kind of music they want from any artist for as long as they want. Music tracks and albums of an artist can be collectively presented to the users. This gets the users to check out all the work done by an artist and increases the fan base. 

• Music can be launched and distributed easily

In old times when there was no music streaming platform online, music tracks were recorded on portable devices, copies were made and transported to stores for display and sales. This process involved a lot of time, money, and effort. Streaming platforms have shortened the process by streaming tracks on the platform directly. As soon as a music track or album is ready, it can be launched online.

• Solves piracy

Music and movies were made available online as soon as they were released. These free versions did not do justice to the artists as the artist or production company would not get paid for the pirated copies. Music streaming platforms offer affordable and multiple pricing plans that have given rise to the public paying to listen to music and podcasts. This has reduced piracy to a large extent. 

• Provides global exposure for new artists

Gone are the days when musicians had to run pillar to post to get their work to reach the public. Music streaming platforms have made it easy for artists to launch their work on the platform at any time. One track that goes viral is all an artist needs and music streaming platforms give them this reach. There is no one best streaming platform for new artists. Artists can try all the 5 platforms mentioned above. 

• Encourage people to pay for music 

Since the monthly subscription fee is kept low, the number of people subscribing to the music streaming platforms is high. More so, in the time of work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. As entertainment has moved online, people love to keep abreast through reliable channels. Music streaming platforms where bands, artists, and music companies launch their tracks, albums, and podcasts are reliable channels. 

Wrapping up

If you are an artist or a production company supporting artists, you should know that audio streaming platforms are the way to go forward. Though the revenue might not be high in the initial days, it increases as the popularity of an artist grows. Since the payment is by the count of repeat plays of a track, there are a lot of music lovers who like to listen to a track on loop. Such things count for an artist. Reaching out to a global audience using just one platform is a big deal. Any music artist should give it a shot to soar to heights.