Enter your streams to see the real payout, or flip it around: tell us your goal and we'll show the streams you need. Then see exactly how much lands in your account after your distributor takes its cut.
Two ways to run the numbers, depending on what you want to know.
Use the toggle at the top. Streams to money tells you what a stream count is worth. Money to streams works backwards from a payout goal to the streams you need.
Type your monthly or total streams, or in goal mode, the amount you want to earn. Everything recalculates as you type, so try a few figures.
The bars show what the same play earns on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and more, so you can see where your streams are worth most.
Scroll to the distributor section to see what actually lands in your account after a flat-fee versus a percentage-cut distributor. The gap surprises most people.
The same stream is worth very different amounts depending on where it happens. Here's the rough per-stream rate across the major platforms today.
Approximate per-stream rates. Tidal and Apple pay more per play, but Spotify's scale usually still earns artists the most overall.
Spotify pays your distributor, not you. Most pass through 100% for a flat fee — but some take a percentage of every royalty, forever. Here's your take-home on the streams above.
The "per-stream rate" is an average, not a fixed price. Four things move it, and knowing them is how you stop guessing.
Spotify pools all subscription and ad revenue each month, then splits it by each track's share of total streams. More Premium subscribers that month, bigger pool, higher per-stream rate. It moves constantly.
A stream from a paying US subscriber can be worth three to four times one from a free-tier listener in a lower-income market. An audience that skews Premium simply earns more per play.
Since 2024, a track must hit at least 1,000 streams in a rolling 12 months before it earns anything. Below that, those micro-royalties get redirected to bigger tracks.
Whatever Spotify pays, your distributor handles it first. A flat-fee distributor passes through everything. A percentage-cut one quietly keeps a slice of every royalty you ever earn.
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The calculator shows the take-home gap between a flat-fee and a percentage-cut distributor is huge over time. We've reviewed the ones worth using so you choose with the numbers in front of you.
Roughly $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, with most independent artists landing near $0.004. It isn't fixed: Spotify pools revenue monthly and splits it by stream share, so your real rate shifts with the season and your audience.
At the $0.004 average, around 250,000 streams. At a conservative $0.003 it's closer to 333,000. Use the goal mode above to plug in any target and see the exact number.
No. Spotify pays your distributor, who then pays you. A flat-fee distributor passes through 100%; a percentage-based one keeps a cut of every royalty. Over a track's life that difference adds up fast, which is what the take-home section shows.
Free-tier listeners, lower-income markets, and distributor or label splits all pull the effective rate down. Treat any calculator as a ballpark, then check your distributor statements for your true number.
No. Spotify normalises playback to around -14 LUFS, so a louder master just gets turned down. It can actually cost you dynamics. Master for the platform, not against it.