With ongoing debates about how much money artists make from streaming, industry publication Billboard is hoping to help them get to the bottom of their earnings.
It has launched a royalty calculator, initially covering Spotify and Apple Music. It’s the work of a partnership with law and consulting company Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
Musicians (or, indeed, any interested party) can type in a number of streams and see an estimation for the total royalties payout, as well as how that breaks down between the sound recording payout, mechanical royalties and performance royalties.
According to the calculator, 1m streams generates a payout of $4,798 from Spotify (split $3,700 for the recording, $591 of mechanicals and $506 of performance royalties), but $8,803 from Apple Music ($7,085 / $899 / $819 respectively).
“Gone are the days where artists cannot fathom the value of a stream. Knowledge is power, data is paramount, and simple answers and insights are now available for all,” said Manatt’s Jordan Bromley in a statement, promising more tools to come “to help every creator and rights holder understand the true value of what they own”.
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