This infographic shows relative payback rates to musicians for various music sales outlets like self, cdbaby, iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. It claims you need to get FOUR MILLION Spotify plays per month to earn US minimum wage. Wow.
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How does that compare to terrestrial radio airplay? Don’t those stations have to pay fees too?
Jerry Acord From the article where I got that graphic: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/#comment-41115
The commenter suggests it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison because the revenue is per play for many listeners instead of per play for one listener or per sale for one listener. But he estimates 110 radio plays to get minimum wage.
Notable difference though between radio and services like Spotify is people are using Spotify to substitute their album collections. Radio was never a substitute.