Worldwide, there are 487 million music listeners with a paid streaming subscription. There were 100 million new paying consumers joining in last year alone. More than a quarter of them opted for a Spotify subscription, which certainly also has something to do with Spotify’s recent expansion into different markets. Percentage-wise, however, YouTube Music, Tencent and Amazon experienced even higher growth. We’ve decided to take a closer look at how the streaming cake is cut.

Spotify clearly on top

The clear front runner is and continues to be Spotify, where 32% of the paying users can be found. Next in the rankings are Apple Music, Amazon, and Tencent, which together make up 42% of the paid subscriptions (Apple 16%, Amazon and Tencent 13% each). The remaining 26% are divided among YouTube Music (8%), Chinese provider NetEase (4%), Deezer and Yandex (2% each), Pandora (1%), as well as various other streaming platforms (9%).

Will the growth continue?

Last year’s growth of 100 million new subscribers surpasses that of 2019 by a long shot. Back then, the number of subscribers increased by 83 million. The numbers for the first quarter of 2021 are already out, as well, and show a growth of 19.5 million subscribers. Based on these figures, we can project a total of 78 million for the whole year. If the growth rate doesn’t increase, this would thus signify a clear downward trend compared to previous years.

Revenue doesn’t grow as fast as subscribers

Most of the growth comes from countries in Latin America, Asia, and other up-and-coming markets. This also explains why the revenues from subscriptions don’t grow as quickly as the number of subscribers, since most of these subscribers come from countries with lower subscription fees and ad revenues. You can learn more about how this affects the revenues for artists in our recent multi-part series on payouts per stream.

Strongest growth for YouTube Music

While Spotify saw a growth of only 20% and Apple Music even less with 12%, YouTube Music was able to increase theirs by an impressive 60%. Some analysts are already speculating that YouTube Music might be for Gen Z what Spotify was for millennials back in the day. We will definitely keep a close watch on the developments of both YouTube Music and the streaming market in general and keep you updated on the latest news and trends.

We have already pointed out last year that TikTok is a trendsetter in the music industry. Our new data has proven this once again and notably also shown that many listeners are discovering new songs via TikTok. So, it’s becoming harder and harder for musicians to ignore the video app completely. At the very least, you should make your music available on TikTok; even better if you are active on it yourself.

Surveys show: A lot of new music is discovered via TikTok

A survey conducted among 1,000 TikTok users showed that the respondents consider the app to be their second-most important tool for discovering new music. TikTok is still just behind Spotify but in front of YouTube, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. 40% of respondents also mentioned having discovered new music genres on TikTok. The two genres showing the most music discoveries are, rather unsurprisingly, hip hop and pop. Around half of the songs are found via the For You page.

TikTok conducted a similar survey among users from the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Here, 80% of respondents indicated that they discovered new music via TikTok. 56% do so via the For You page. Because of this, TikTok is therefore convinced that many users also stream or buy the newly discovered songs afterwards. However, they cannot yet back this up with numbers. Still, in their view, users are discovering even more songs on TikTok than on other streaming services.

Short attention span?

One reason for this, is certainly that on TikTok, you can switch from one video to the next in a matter of seconds and thus also from one song to the next. Since the videos are only a maximum of 60 seconds long, listeners are immediately presented with the catchiest part of the track. However, the fact that you can listen to dozens of songs within a short period of time is certainly not conducive to the attention span.

But there is good news, as well: 84% of respondents actually added the newly discovered songs to a playlist so they can listen to them again later. This gives at least some indication that things are not as short-lived as they may seem at first glance.

New up to 3 minutes long videos on TikTok

Another factor which might counteract TikTok’s ephemerality is their plan to extend the maximum video length once more from 60 seconds to three minutes.

Considering that nowadays most songs tend to be shorter, in most cases, this would be enough time to fit an entire track into one video. With the change, TikTok can simultaneously become a direct challenge to YouTube. While many other social medial platforms are copying TikToks short video format, TikTok itself is taking a step in the opposite direction. It remains to be seen whether the users will take to this or whether they will prefer the bite-sized clips.

At iGroove, you can have your songs made available on TikTok so that people can use them in their videos. You will be paid for each video that contains your song and not based on the number of views that the videos generate.

When a new release is coming up, you naturally want it not only to be available for purchase, but also to be discovered, streamed, shared, and loved. We’ve already made a previous detailed post about how much time and especially how much planning goes into the making of an album. In this one, we want to list once again what all needs to be done before each release (including singles) in order to set up the best prerequisites for going public and for launching the promotion that goes with it.

Generally, the mastered audio file as well as the artwork are enough to release a song. But you should never release anything before checking off the following points:

• Upload your song to your distributor’s page 2 weeks before the release at the latest – the earlier, the better. That way, you can be sure that it will appear in your fans’ release radar and you can pitch your track in time.
• If your distributor gives you the option, definitely make sure that all the IDs are correctly stored on Spotify’s and Apple Music’s databases so that the release will appear in the correct artist profiles.
• If you haven’t done so already: Claim your profile on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, and YouTube and make sure to update them all.
• Fire up the algorithms by setting up pre-saves on Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music.
• If the release has more than one song, you might want to consider instant gratification.
• To avoid having to post all kinds of different links, set up a handy link page.
• Make your songs available on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, as well, and make some money whenever they’re shared.
• Make sure that all your social media profiles as well as your website are up-to-date.
• Create the graphic design and videos for your social media promotion well ahead of time. This goes for your Canvas on Spotify, too.
• Register your release at the copyright collectives so you don’t miss out on any revenues.

Once you’ve checked off these 10 points, you’ve fulfilled all the basic prerequisites for a successful release. If you still have questions about your release or the promotion, our iGroove team will be happy to help.

Because of the pandemic, Twitch has become an increasingly important tool for musicians, as well, and for quite a few also a main source of income. Like many others, the Amazon-owned streaming platform, too, offers the option to verify your profile and thus profit from various features. We’ve summed up the most important information for you.

The advantages

With a verification, you can become a so-called Twitch-partner and profit from the following monetization options:

• Twitch subscription: Users can pay money to subscribe to your channel
• Ad revenues: As a Twitch partner, you can have ads on your channel and receive a share of the revenues they bring in (similar to YouTube)
• Bits: Users can support you via the chat using so-called bits

Other benefits include:

• Various customization options for your channel
• VOD features
• Access to a priority support team which will reply to you within 1-2 days
• The option to put together your own stream teams
• Being considered for special promotional opportunities
• Video transcodes
• Broadcast delay

The criteria

To apply for the partner program, you need to fulfil the following criteria:

• You have streamed for a minimum of 25 hours within the last 30 days
• You have streamed on 12 different days within the last 30 days
• You have an average of 75 viewers within the last 30 days

Once these requirements are met, you can start your application via the dashboard. Normally, it will be reviewed within the next 7 days.

In some cases, it’s enough to have a strong and engaged following on other social media platforms.

After we’ve shown you recently how greatly the Pay Per Stream (PPS) at Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer can vary depending on the country, we will now compare the three streaming services directly. To sum up our findings briefly: Apple Music always pays more than Spotify. Deezer, too, always has a higher PPS than Spotify, except in Israel. And finally, with the exception of 8 countries, Apple always pays more than Deezer, as well.

Spotify vs. Apple Music

On average, Apple Music pays 2.63 times as much as Spotify. In our last assessment, it was 2.84 times as much. In most countries, we observe a factor ranging between 1.5 and 2.5. In various Balkan states and in Jordan, it can even be between 6.34 (Serbia) and 10.43 (Macedonia). In the English-speaking countries, the factor is always below average and ranges from 1.54 (USA) and 2.29 (Ireland).

Spotify vs. Deezer

These two services are easy to compare, since both have a premium subscription as well as a free subscription option. In most countries, Deezer’s PPS is at most twice as high as Spotify’s. In 16 countries, you even get more than double the amount per stream, primarily in Eastern European countries but also in the US. Aside from the US with its factor of 2.63, the other English-speaking countries are either average or slightly below average.

Apple Music vs. Deezer

As expected, you will receive more at Apple Music than at Deezer, since the former does without a free subscription option. However, it is only 38% more on average. In 8 of the countries we examined, you even get more per stream at Deezer than at Apple Music. In most countries, the difference is not too big. Only in Jordan, Italy, Macedonia, Bosnia, and Israel you’ll find a factor higher than 3. In the UK and Ireland, the factor is slightly above average, in Australia you would get approximately the same amount from either service, while for streams from the US and Canada, Deezer actually pays better than Apple Music.

For those who find these PPs numbers and factors to be too abstract, we present the concrete comparison between the English-speaking countries. For one million streams you would receive the following amount of money (in USD) in each country:

All figures in USD / Status June 2021

	Spotify	Apple Music	Deezer
Australia	4,228	8,049	7,986
Canada	2,999	5,411	5,555
Ireland	5,370	12,278	7,954
New Zealand	4,820	9,837	7,854
UK	5,822	11,302	7,838
USA	3,974	6,113	10,465

The next table shows you how many streams it takes from each country to get to USD 4,000:

Status June 2021

	Spotify	Apple Music	Deezer
Australia	946k	497k	501k
Canada	1.334 Mio.	739k	720k
Ireland	745k	326k	503k
New Zealand	830k	407k	509k
UK	687k	354k	510k
USA	1.007 Mio.	654k	382k

The comparison clearly shows that it takes a much greater number of streams on Spotify to receive a good amount of money. But since Spotify has significantly more users than its two competitors, most musicians still receive their biggest share from Spotify.

Here you can find the complete assessment covering 45 countries:

All figures in USD / Status June 2021

Country	Deezer per Million	Spotify per Million	Apple Music per Million	Deezer vs. Spotify	Apple vs. Deezer	Apple vs. Spotify
Australia	7,986.27	4,227.90	8,049.19	1.89	1.01	1.90
Austria	8,104.17	4,114.99	9,139.21	1.97	1.13	2.22
Azerbaijan	1,229.65	621.91	3,137.05	1.98	2.55	5.04
Belgium	6,661.31	3,486.42	8,079.84	1.91	1.21	2.31
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,652.58	639.88	5,521.80	2.58	3.34	8.63
Canada	5,555.39	2,998.74	5,410.78	1.85	0.97	1.80
Chile	3,038.73	1,113.74	3,293.08	2.73	1.08	2.96
Colombia	2,813.89	943.89	2,481.97	2.98	0.88	2.63
Czech Republic	4,263.88	2,331.51	5,939.46	1.83	1.39	2.55
Denmark	10,958.15	5,491.26	12,220.66	2.00	1.11	2.23
Finland	9,576.10	5,414.59	11,092.60	1.77	1.16	2.05
France	5,661.92	3,516.62	6,960.26	1.61	1.23	1.98
Germany	5,766.49	3,816.47	7,013.45	1.51	1.22	1.84
Greece	5,166.14	2,052.02	8,635.16	2.52	1.67	4.21
Hungary	6,166.10	2,003.15	4,637.21	3.08	0.75	2.31
Ireland	7,954.48	5,369.9	12,278.36	1.48	1.54	2.29
Israel	1,507.97	3,297.39	4,882.73	0.46	3.24	1.48
Italy	2,336.81	2,272.5	9,397.36	1.03	4.02	4.14
Jordan	1,465.25	837.29	8,558.06	1.75	5.84	10.22
Kazakhstan	4,321.11	621.29	1,724.41	6.96	0.40	2.78
Luxembourg	7,033.16	4,629.69	10,109.95	1.52	1.44	2.18
Macedonia	2,139.11	706.00	7,363.64	3.03	3.44	10.43
Mexico	2,332.80	1,235.81	2,927.11	1.89	1.25	2.37
Montenegro	5,957.46	795.94	5,690.94	7.48	0.96	7.15
Netherlands	7,019.47	4,357.45	12,332.70	1.61	1.76	2.83
New Zealand	7,853.64	4,820.44	9,837.48	1.63	1.25	2.04
Norway	10,013.43	5,459.80	16,405.43	1.83	1.64	3.00
Peru	1,875.19	1,120.54	2,555.40	1.67	1.36	2.28
Philippines	1,472.99	802.70	3,253.71	1.84	2.21	4.05
Poland	3,632.63	1,521.36	4,639.03	2.39	1.28	3.05
Portugal	3,634.32	1,881.23	7,104.27	1.93	1.95	3.78
Romania	4,136.48	1,986.7	4,370.60	2.08	1.06	2.20
Russia	1,880.37	642.06	2,187.36	2.93	1.16	3.41
Serbia and Montenegro	4,092.71	973.64	6,177.64	4.20	1.51	6.34
Slovakia	3,770.36	1,976.40	6,572.99	1.91	1.74	3.33
Slovenia	3,898.85	1,265.91	4,576.56	3.08	1.17	3.62
South Africa	3,423.17	1,702.14	3,111.81	2.01	0.91	1.83
Spain	3,795.09	2,396.31	8,175.53	1.58	2.15	3.41
Sweden	6,978.38	4,955.35	10,888.19	1.41	1.56	2.20
Switzerland	7,117.00	5,377.06	10,778.58	1.32	1.51	2.00
Thailand	4,911.32	1,158.88	4,409.31	4.24	0.90	3.80
Turkey	1,036.29	594.28	2,774.49	1.74	2.68	4.67
Ukraine	3,332.50	838.78	3,556.06	3.97	1.07	4.24
United Kingdom	7,838.33	5821.53	11,302.16	1.35	1.44	1.94
United States	10,464.62	3,974.47	6,113.30	2.63	0.58	1.54

After our recent assessment of Spotify’s and Apple Music’s numbers, we have now analyzed Deezer’s Pay Per Stream (PPS) for the first time. Here too, we aim to show you how much influence the origin of a stream can have on the payout. It is not much of a surprise that Deezer’s numbers, too, vary greatly from country to country.

Surprising frontrunner

We were rather taken aback to see which country showed the highest PPS: Bulgaria is on first place by quite a large margin – this despite the fact that it can only be found somewhere in the midrange at Spotify. We are already curious to see whether this will be reaffirmed in our next assessment or whether this is just a single outlier.

What also stands out is that a whopping three Arabic countries, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, are among the top 10. The Ivory Coast, meanwhile, represents Africa in the top 15. Apart from these, you’ll find some of the usual suspects in the front rows, such as the US, Austria, and the Scandinavian countries. As is the case at Spotify, Turkey is again at the back of the list, as are various Asian, African, and Latin American states.

The English-speaking countries in comparison

In contrast to Spotify and Apple Music, Deezer sees the US rank first among the English-speaking countries. While Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK are pretty much neck and neck, Canada, as we’ve also seen before, brings up the rear.

USA	10,464.62
Australia	7,986.27
Ireland	7,954.48
New Zealand	7,853.64
United Kingdom	7,838.33
Canada	5,555.39

PPS twice as high as Spotify’s

Assuming you had the same number of streams in each of the 66 countries we assessed, you would receive $4,776 per one million streams. Even though Deezer offers add-supported subscriptions, as well, their PPS is about twice as high as Spotify’s and only around 25% lower than Apple Music’s. We will compare these three streaming services in more detail in an upcoming post.

Deezer wants user-centric model

In a recently released video, Deezer’s CEO emphasizes once again that his company absolutely wants to make a switch to the user-centric distribution model. However, he also points out that this will not be possible without the labels, distributors, artists, and fans. He is therefore asking for people’s support for this model that Deezer views to be fairer and more transparent. It will definitely be interesting to see what impact a system change would have on the PPS.

The PPS of 66 countries in comparison

Here you can find the complete list with all 66 evaluated countries. For each country you can see the Pay Per Stream (PPS) as well as the extrapolation of how much you get for one million streams from the respective country.

All figures in USD / Status June 2021

Country	PPS	Per Million
Bulgaria	0.014876675	14,876.68
Denmark	0.010958149	10,958.15
Qatar	0.010645948	10,645.95
USA	0.010464616	10,464.62
United Arab Emirates	0.010176228	10,176.23
Norway	0.010013431	10,013.43
Saudi Arabia	0.009983557	9,983.56
Finland	0.0095761	9,576.10
Austria	0.008104174	8,104.17
Australia	0.007986267	7,986.27
Ireland	0.007954484	7,954.48
New Zealand	0.00785364	7,853.64
United Kingdom	0.007838331	7,838.33
Côte d'Ivoire	0.007281317	7,281.32
Switzerland	0.007116999	7,117.00
Luxembourg	0.007033156	7,033.16
Netherlands	0.007019472	7,019.47
Sweden	0.006978378	6,978.38
Belgium	0.006661308	6,661.31
Hungary	0.006166098	6,166.10
Montenegro	0.005957459	5,957.46
Germany	0.005766485	5,766.49
France	0.005661923	5,661.92
Canada	0.005555388	5,555.39
Greece	0.005166136	5,166.14
Thailand	0.004911318	4,911.32
Egypt	0.004545196	4,545.20
Mauritius	0.004335617	4,335.62
Kazakhstan	0.004321106	4,321.11
Czech Republic	0.004263881	4,263.88
Romania	0.004136483	4,136.48
Serbia and Montenegro	0.004092707	4,092.71
Slovenia	0.003898852	3,898.85
Spain	0.003795095	3,795.09
Slovakia	0.003770362	3,770.36
Paraguay	0.003689322	3,689.32
Croatia	0.003673786	3,673.79
Portugal	0.003634324	3,634.32
Poland	0.003632625	3,632.63
Guatemala	0.003618873	3,618.87
South Africa	0.003423168	3,423.17
Ukraine	0.003332503	3,332.50
Chile	0.003038735	3,038.73
Ecuador	0.002985889	2,985.89
Colombia	0.002813892	2,813.89
Kenya	0.002677081	2,677.08
Italy	0.00233681	2,336.81
Mexico	0.002332801	2,332.80
Bolivia	0.002260412	2,260.41
Macedonia	0.002139115	2,139.11
Albania	0.001978478	1,978.48
Costa Rica	0.001891453	1,891.45
Russia	0.001880372	1,880.37
Peru	0.001875191	1,875.19
Morocco	0.001799536	1,799.54
Nigeria	0.001709087	1,709.09
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.001652584	1,652.58
Argentina	0.001582332	1,582.33
Israel	0.001507971	1,507.97
Philippines	0.001472989	1,472.99
Jordan	0.00146525	1,465.25
El Salvador	0.001332134	1,332.13
Azerbaijan	0.001229646	1,229.65
Brazil	0.001197467	1,197.47
Algeria	0.001169997	1,170.00
Turkey	0.001036293	1,036.29

Just as we did recently with Spotify, we have now given our Apple Music assessment from last year an update, too. The reasons are the same as the ones for Spotify: One, the Pay per Stream (PPS) is always fluctuating, and two, there were some more countries to add here, as well.

The assessment can help you to determine which countries you could step up your marketing game in but also to better understand how Apple Music pays you as an artist.

PPS below the announced $0.01

Apple Music has recently mentioned in an announcement that their PPS is at $0.01. However, this number only takes standard subscriptions into account, and not any of the cheaper ones, e.g., family subscriptions. They also add up the payouts for the master and publishing rights, while our assessment is solely focused on the payout for the copyright owners, which will then be forwarded to the artists via the distributor.

Even though Apple Music clearly pays more per stream than the majority of their competitors, they are still pretty far away from those $0.01.

On average across all countries, Apple Music pays $0.00599265 per stream. As mentioned above, this number only accounts for the master rights, which make up 52% of the generated revenues. If we add the 14.7% that are paid out for the publishing rights, we would thus get $0,0077.

Based on our calculations, it is only the top 23 countries that, when combining master and publishing rights, receive $0.01 or more per stream. For the US, Canada, Germany, or France, for instance, this is not the case.

PPS decreased in majority

Generally speaking, our new assessment has shown that the PPS in most countries has decreased since our last assessment. In many states this difference is only minimal, but in others it is in the double digits. The countries suffering the biggest losses are, among others, Japan, Portugal, Indonesia, the US, Hong Kong, China, Chile, and, as it was the case with Spotify, Turkey.

The average payout across all countries has decreased, as well. In our last assessment, we calculated $6,872 for one million streams. Now, however, if you had the same number of streams in all the countries we examined, you would get only $5,992.65. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, as we already mentioned, the decreasing PPS in many countries, but on the other also the fact that we included 30 additional countries in our assessment this year.

Northern European countries on top

The decidedly biggest payout can be observed in Norway. The other Scandinavian countries, too, are among the top 10 along with the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK and Switzerland. While a majority of Central European countries can be found at the top also, the other end of the list is made up of African, Asian, and Eastern European countries, as well as a few Latin American countries. The US and notably Canada only fall into the midrange.

The English-speaking countries in comparison

If we only compare the English-speaking countries, we can see that the differences here are even more massive than at Spotify. In Ireland and the UK, you get about twice as much per stream than you do in the US and Canada, while New Zealand and Australia are sitting somewhere in between.

Ireland	12,278.36
UK	11,302.16
New Zealand	9,837.48
Australia	8,049.19
USA	6,113.30
Canada	5,410.78

The PPS of 81 countries in comparison

Here you can find the complete list with the 81 evaluated countries. For each country you can see the Pay Per Stream (PPS) as well as the extrapolation of how much you get for one million streams from the respective country. In addition, you can see how high the number for one million streams was in our last evaluation and how high the percentual change is.

All figures in USD / Status June 2021

Country	PPS	Per Million Streams	Analysis 2020	Changes %
Norway	0.01640543	16,405.43	15,847.23	3.52
Netherlands	0.012332698	12,332.70	10,636.22	15.95
Ireland	0.012278358	12,278.36
Kuwait	0.012267253	12,267.25
Denmark	0.01222066	12,220.66	13,162.59	-7.16
United Kingdom	0.011302161	11,302.16	11,493.02	-1.66
Finland	0.011092597	11,092.60	11,715.55	-5.32
Sweden	0.010888192	10,888.19	12,341.49	-11.78
Switzerland	0.01077858	10,778.58	11,274.06	-4.39
Cyprus	0.01036388	10,363.88
Luxembourg	0.010109954	10,109.95	11,595.36	-12.81
New Zealand	0.009837479	9,837.48	9,222.5	6.67
Malta	0.009789304	9,789.30
Oman	0.00966501	9,665.01
Italy	0.00939736	9,397.36	10,651.69	-11.78
Austria	0.009139212	9,139.21	9,696.12	-5.74
Greece	0.008635156	8,635.16	8,671.53	-0.42
Jordan	0.008558062	8,558.06
Lithuania	0.008276725	8,276.72
Spain	0.008175532	8,175.53	9,312.94	-12.21
Bahrain	0.008171853	8,171.85
Belgium	0.008079841	8,079.84	9,109.45	-11.30
Australia	0.00804919	8,049.19	8,244.32	-2.37
Japan	0.007564396	7,564.40	9,242.73	-18.16
Singapore	0.007411335	7,411.34	9,192.75	-19.38
Macedonia	0.007363637	7,363.64
Portugal	0.007104269	7,104.27	9,497.39	-25.20
Germany	0.007013453	7,013.45	6,990.06	0.33
France	0.006960265	6,960.26	7,787.36	-10.62
Estonia	0.00693101	6,931.01
Slovakia	0.006572985	6,572.99	6,374.83	3.11
Indonesia	0.006260039	6,260.04	4,883.76	28.18
Serbia and Montenegro	0.006177641	6,177.64
USA	0.006113297	6,113.30	7,626.71	-19.84
Hong Kong	0.006055073	6,055.07	7,873.04	-23.09
Czech Republic	0.005939455	5,939.46	5,861.94	1.32
Belarus	0.005889568	5,889.57
Latvia	0.005740691	5,740.69
Montenegro	0.005690943	5,690.94
Lebanon	0.005604313	5,604.31
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.005521798	5,521.80
Canada	0.005410782	5,410.78	5,428.78	-0.33
Macao	0.005155643	5,155.64
Israel	0.004882726	4,882.73	5,656.07	-13.67
Malaysia	0.004858859	4,858.86	4,247.11	14.40
Armenia	0.004646479	4,646.48
Poland	0.004639033	4,639.03	4,968.25	-6.62
Hungary	0.004637213	4,637.21	5,274.08	-12.08
Slovenia	0.00457656	4,576.56	4,813.55	-4.92
Georgia	0.004471435	4,471.43
Thailand	0.004409307	4,409.31	4,696.93	-6.12
Romania	0.004370599	4,370.60	5,043.22	-13.33
China	0.004345117	4,345.12	6,114.22	-28.93
Mozambique	0.004301263	4,301.26
Taiwan	0.003994486	3,994.49	4,557.7	-12.36
Sri Lanka	0.003980617	3,980.62
Mongolia	0.003726007	3,726.01
Mauritius	0.003633868	3,633.87
Ukraine	0.003556062	3,556.06	3,592.61	-1.02
Moldova	0.003490845	3,490.84
Namibia	0.003335539	3,335.54
Chile	0.003293079	3,293.08	4,523.19	-27.20
Philippines	0.00325371	3,253.71	3,816.33	-14.74
Azerbaijan	0.003137046	3,137.05
Vietnam	0.003129812	3,129.81
South Africa	0.00311181	3,111.81	2,866.71	8.55
Mexico	0.002927107	2,927.11	2,994.04	-2.24
Turkey	0.002774485	2,774.49	3,515.26	-21.07
Kyrgyzstan	0.002752387	2,752.39
Peru	0.002555396	2,555.40	3,147.55	-18.81
Colombia	0.002481965	2,481.97	2,602.53	-4.63
Cambodia	0.002461158	2,461.16
Kenya	0.002193056	2,193.06
Russia	0.002187359	2,187.36	2,383.57	-8.23
Botswana	0.002068278	2,068.28
Uganda	0.001925875	1,925.88
India	0.00189384	1,893.84	2,299.08	-17.63
Kazakhstan	0.001724415	1,724.41	2,058.7	-16.24
Zambia	0.001400166	1,400.17
Ghana	0.001119094	1,119.09
Nigeria	0.000863615	863.62	1,288.77	-32.99

It has been almost a year since we last examined how much Spotify pays per stream and thus showed how extremely dependent these numbers are on the country from which each stream originates.

Since the numbers are constantly changing and there have been more and more new countries being added, we have once again analyzed mountains of data to deliver you the 2021 update on Spotify’s Pay Per Stream (PPS).

The goal of the assessment is firstly to help understand Spotify’s payout system. However, additionally, it can also give some indication on which countries might be well worth an additional marketing campaign launch. Obviously, in these deliberations, you should always consider the population figure as well, and not just whether the PPS is particularly high or low.

PPS increased in majority

The good news is that the PPS in many countries has increased since our last assessment. The bad news is that it has mostly decreased in countries where it was already low before. This primarily affects countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But in most European and North American countries, the PPS is higher now than it was during our last analysis.

The average across all countries has slightly decreased, but this is mainly due to the fact that Spotify is now available in various new states, most of which have low subscription fees (as well as low ad revenues), and thus also a low PPS. If we assume that you had an equal number of streams in each of the analyzed countries, then you would receive 2,354.56 USD for one million streams. In our last assessment, this average figure was at 2,389.58

In addition, we did not include some countries in which Spotify is also available because we did not have enough data. In total, we analyzed the data from 94 countries, with the addition of various Eastern European countries.

South Korea and UK are the frontrunners

The clear frontrunner is South Korea with a PPS three times as high as that of the UK sitting second place. The reason for this is that there is no free option for Spotify in Korea, only premium subscriptions. Thus, it becomes clear what immense influence the free tier has on the PPS and also why Apple Music, for instance, pays so much more per stream than Spotify does. Other than the UK, the top ranks are exclusively made up of European countries, primarily from Northern Europe, as well as Switzerland, Ireland, and the microstates Monaco and Liechtenstein.

The losers

The country that suffers the most losses is Turkey, where the PPS has sunk by a whopping 30% since our last assessment. Now, Turkey is sitting on last place when compared to all the countries we examined. Other low ranks include various Eastern European countries, North African states, and Argentina.

The English-speaking countries in comparison

How big the deviations are from country to country becomes apparent if you look at the comparison between the English-speaking countries alone:

UK	5,821.53
Ireland	5,369.90
New Zealand	4,820.44
Australia	4,227.90
USA	3,974.47
Canada	2,998.74

So, in the UK you would receive almost twice as much per stream than you would in Canada, for example, or 46% more than you would in the US.

The PPS of 94 countries in comparison

Here you can find the complete list with the 94 evaluated countries. For each country you can see the Pay Per Stream (PPS) as well as the extrapolation of how much you get for one million streams from the respective country. In addition, you can see how high the number for one million streams was in our last evaluation and how high the percentual change is.

All figures in USD / Status June 2021

Country	PPS	Per Million Streams	Analysis 2020	Change in %
South Korea	0.017860388129	17,860.39
United Kingdom	0.005821533044	5,821.53	4,968.85	17.16
Denmark	0.005491257400	5,491.26	5,218.46	5.23
Iceland	0.005461347731	5,461.35	6,253.90	-12.67
Norway	0.005459799009	5,459.80	5,542.20	-1.49
Monaco	0.005436284487	5,436.28	5,275.02	3.06
Finland	0.005414593856	5,414.59	4,496.11	20.43
Switzerland	0.005377062379	5,377.06	4,790.29	12.25
Ireland	0.005369902648	5,369.90	4,624.83	16.11
Liechtenstein	0.005004598020	5,004.60	4,777.97	4.74
Sweden	0.004955353245	4,955.35	4,456.09	11.20
New Zealand	0.004820436638	4,820.44	5,035.01	-4.26
Luxembourg	0.004629689127	4,629.69	4,207.28	10.04
Andorra	0.004431164402	4,431.16	3,636.18	21.86
Netherlands	0.004357449181	4,357.45	3,668.65	18.78
Australia	0.004227897318	4,227.90	4,010.35	5.42
Austria	0.004114991704	4,114.99	4,468.43	-7.91
USA	0.003974468826	3,974.47	3,567.14	11.42
Germany	0.003816468441	3,816.47	3,406.07	12.05
Japan	0.003740728419	3,740.73	3,589.90	4.20
France	0.003516620515	3,516.62	3,201.50	9.84
Belgium	0.003486423111	3,486.42	3,281.97	6.23
Cyprus	0.003304557583	3,304.56	3,075.31	7.45
Israel	0.003297388815	3,297.39	3,320.64	-0.70
Hong Kong	0.003247280073	3,247.28	2,774.91	17.02
Estonia	0.003038776986	3,038.78	2,719.23	11.75
Canada	0.002998742730	2,998.74	2,770.09	8.25
Malta	0.002836121824	2,836.12	2,794.45	1.49
Singapore	0.002509762105	2,509.76	2,950.14	-14.93
United Arab Emirates	0.002420192868	2,420.19	2,556.12	-5.32
Spain	0.002396313677	2,396.31	2,378.30	0.76
Czech Republic	0.002331507764	2,331.51	2,130.77	9.42
Italy	0.002272502868	2,272.50	2,016.41	12.70
Lithuania	0.002173603962	2,173.60	2,093.44	3.83
Greece	0.002052015233	2,052.02	1,790.01	14.64
Hungary	0.002003150929	2,003.15	1,926.22	3.99
Romania	0.001986701104	1,986.70	1,532.68	29.62
Slovakia	0.001976395811	1,976.40	1,951.08	1.30
Uruguay	0.001893749765	1,893.75	2,517.41	-24.77
Portugal	0.001881234998	1,881.23	1,644.62	14.39
Latvia	0.001846177924	1,846.18	1,793.73	2.92
Qatar	0.001800287130	1,800.29	1,470.48	22.43
Oman	0.001758742405	1,758.74	1,878.31	-6.37
Lebanon	0.001742737908	1,742.74	2,054.46	-15.17
Bahrain	0.001707071098	1,707.07	1,788.01	-4.53
Costa Rica	0.001702511421	1,702.51	1,998.53	-14.81
South Africa	0.001702138373	1,702.14	1,586.98	7.26
Dominican Republic	0.001635267720	1,635.27	1,911.83	-14.47
Panama	0.001625479624	1,625.48	2,938.55	-44.68
Bulgaria	0.001611744228	1,611.74	1,617.98	-0.39
Poland	0.001521362816	1,521.36	1,421.32	7.04
Kuwait	0.001510397963	1,510.40	1,464.56	3.13
Saudi Arabia	0.001507440497	1,507.44	1,040.85	44.83
Taiwan	0.001472435882	1,472.44	1,533.33	-3.97
Ecuador	0.001433256888	1,433.26	1,658.31	-13.57
Croatia	0.001431802337	1,431.80
Slovenia	0.001265914809	1,265.91
India	0.001254878691	1,254.88	1,424.51	-11.91
Mexico	0.001235808240	1,235.81	1,457.69	-15.22
Malaysia	0.001232390382	1,232.39	1,570.98	-21.55
Nicaragua	0.001204234070	1,204.23	1,239.84	-2.87
Vietnam	0.001177858688	1,177.86	1,651.53	-28.68
Thailand	0.001158879422	1,158.88	1,175.36	-1.40
Brazil	0.001150219227	1,150.22	1,309.48	-12.16
Peru	0.001120537461	1,120.54	1,478.11	-24.19
Chile	0.001113737485	1,113.74	1,276.45	-12.75
Honduras	0.001110135573	1,110.14	1,740.34	-36.21
El Salvador	0.001085584603	1,085.58	1,485.72	-26.93
Guatemala	0.001047797085	1,047.80	1,184.13	-11.51
Serbia and Montenegro	0.000973640242	973.64
Moldova	0.000962343080	962.34
Colombia	0.000943889656	943.89	1,061.79	-11.10
Egypt	0.000928249723	928.25	980.39	-5.32
Palestine	0.000874395435	874.40	988.56	-11.55
Ukraine	0.000838780258	838.78
Jordan	0.000837291178	837.29	1005.29	-16.71
Bolivia	0.000831138432	831.14	1,005.87	-17.37
Philippines	0.000802704758	802.70	823.36	-2.51
Montenegro	0.000795939228	795.94
Morocco	0.000759186316	759.19	809.50	-6.22
Paraguay	0.000743657959	743.66	1,556.01	-52.21
Indonesia	0.000728434289	728.43	974.90	-25.28
Macedonia	0.000705997809	706.00
Argentina	0.000702836241	702.84	859.80	-18.26
Belarus	0.000668329386	668.33
Tunisia	0.000662118175	662.12	710.60	-6.82
Algeria	0.000661773102	661.77	712.67	-7.14
Russia	0.000642055867	642.06
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.000639883319	639.88
Azerbaijan	0.000621906031	621.91
Mongolia	0.000621691097	621.69
Kazakhstan	0.000621291077	621.29
Albania	0.000611085058	611.09
Turkey	0.000594278777	594.28	851.40	-30.20

As a musician, you are often dependent on tools made available by tech giants like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, or Google – all companies that are not necessarily known for their exorbitant transparency. Therefore, it often takes external pressure before those companies give some more insight into their process, like Spotify and Apple Music recently did. Instagram seems to have felt this pressure, as well, as they have now divulged some information concerning their algorithm.

The first thing they make clear is that they don’t have just one algorithm but that there are different ones at work, each with their own function. When Instagram was launched in 2010, they showed all the posts in chronological order. The more users and the more content showed up, however, the more difficult this became. In 2016, users supposedly missed 70% of the posts in their feed, including half of the posts made by their closest friends.

Because of this, the feed was adjusted to show those posts that interest the user the most (or rather, that the algorithm in charge speculates interest the user the most). Every part of the app, from the Feed to the Search to the Reels, has its own algorithm based on user behavior for each. Here, we’ve put together the deciding criteria for you.

Feed & Stories

Here, the algorithm places its focus on friends, family, and generally people that the user is closest with. That’s why, with the exception of ads, the feed and stories primarily feature the newest posts from the people that the user follows. According to Instagram, which posts and Stories are effectively shown is determined based on thousands of signals. Broadly summarized, these include:

• Information about the post: Content, length, popularity, time, and place
• Information about the person who posted it: The algorithm will try to find out how important this person is based on the interactions that have occurred in the past weeks.
• User activity: Based on these, the algorithm identifies what the user is interested in, for instance by seeing what posts they’ve given a like
• Interactions: This is supposed to show how interested the user is in the posts of a particular person. It’s based, among others, on how much the user has commented on their past posts.

Thus, the user is shown the posts and Stories where the algorithm senses the highest chance of an interaction. What qualifies as an interaction is how long the user looks at a post, and whether they like, comment, save, or tap on the profile photo. The algorithm is also careful not to show too many posts from the same person in a row.

Explore

Unlike the Feed and Stories, the Explore page does not show posts from people that a user follows, but introduces brand new content instead. In order to do that, Instagram analyzes what posts the user has liked or saved before. After that, similar photos and videos are filtered out and finally sorted according to how high the chances are that the user will interact with them.

These are the criteria, listed in order of importance:

• Information about the post: This carries a bigger weight when it comes to the Explore page.
• Interactions: Even though the user doesn’t know the person and doesn’t follow them, there still might have been interactions between them that are taken into account.
• User activity: Here the interactions in the Explore Tab are taken into account, that is, what posts the user has previously looked at, liked, or saved.
• Information about the person who made the post: The algorithm sees how many people have interacted with this person and finds out how interesting their posts are for others, as well.

Reels

When it comes to Reels, the focus lies primarily on entertainment. Most of the content here, too, comes from accounts that the user does not follow. So, the process of the algorithm is comparable to the search function, but much more heavily aimed at entertainment. The algorithm tries to determine which Reels a user might watch all the way through or which might even encourage them to visit the audio page where they might make their own Reel using the song that was used.

The most important signals here are:

• User activity: Which Reels have they watched, liked, or commented on?
• Interactions: Similar to the Explore page
• Information about the Reel: Information about the content, the song that is used in it, as well as the popularity of the Reel
• Information about the person who made the post: I.e., popularity

Instagram makes it clear that they cannot promise that every post will reach the same number of people. According to them, it is a simple fact that a majority of someone’s followers will not see a post they’ve made. This is apparently because most users look at less than half of their feed. Of course, the algorithm also predetermines what is being shown at all.

Just as there are different algorithms, as a musician you will also need different strategies. Reels should be utilized especially to reach potential new fans. What’s important here is, once again, the entertainment value.

With posts and Stories, on the other hand, you are primarily catering towards your existing fanbase. What all of the features have in common is that you always have to think about what might incite the most interactions which might then be picked up by the algorithm.

Certain labels are considered to guarantee a level of quality, and thus, many listeners check out all of their releases. However, streaming services don’t currently offer the option to search by a particular label, even though it’s been requested for years. With its Record Label Pages, Apple Music is now taking the first step towards better positioning for record labels.

In the past, people would listen to certain releases in the record shop solely because of the label logo on the back of the record. Now, listeners can use the label pages to discover music produced by the record labels whose music they appreciate.

This tool is not only useful to the fans, but also the labels, who can direct their attention towards other releases and create a brand identity.

So far only for selected labels

In their first step, Apple has selected 400 record labels to receive their own label page. We can hope that this feature will soon be rolled out for other labels, too. Since streaming services generally like to copy the best features of their competitors, the hope also remains that Spotify and co. will make a search-by-label option available, as well.

According to their own statement, Apple Music is proactively approaching record labels themselves. Additionally, there is the option to request a label page via your distributor which can then make a suggestion to Apple Music.

In March it became known that Spotify had purchased Clubhouse competitor Locker Room. One rebrand and name change later, the new social audio app has now been released in 135 markets under the name Greenroom. You can either log in with your Spotify account or register for free.

After registering, you first select your interests. In addition to various music styles, keywords from the areas of sport, gaming, lifestyle, news and more are also available.

Like Clubhouse but not quite

Unlike Clubhouse, Greenroom offers the option to record the sessions. This was to be expected since it creates more podcast content that can then be used on Spotify.

When you create a room, you can choose whether you want to record the conversation. If you select this option, you will receive an MP4 by mail. A combination with the podcast app Anchor, which is also part of Spotify, would be interesting. It allows all songs available on Spotify to be included in a podcast.

Greenroom offers all the benefits known from Clubhouse, such as networking and acquiring knowledge. For musicians, it offers the possibility to get in touch with their fans directly and to organize Q&As or a listening party, for example. And of course, all of this can be used as a podcast.

By the way, Greenroom is available for both iOS and Android.

Spotify launches Creator Fund

While Clubhouse took some time to launch earning opportunities, Greenroom has had them almost from the start, in the form of the Creator Fund, which is set to launch in late summer. With this, they want to reward creators for their content and the community they build. This will primarily reward how the content created is consumed and how many people are listening. The payouts are supposed to be weekly, but how much money is in the find is unknown. You can already register, but for now only if you live in the US.

Investments at the expense of musicians?

The first critical voices are already questioning this fund and Spotify’s business model in general. On the one hand, Spotify is always criticized for paying out too little to musicians, and on the other hand, they made a loss in the triple-digit millions in the last fiscal year. So now money is also to be distributed to celebrities, politicians, athletes and other hosts on Greenroom. Unlike Clubhouse, Spotify wants to pay these out of its own pocket.

Hype about Clubhouse already subsided

At the moment, Greenroom is only available as a standalone app and it remains to be seen whether and if so, when and how it will be integrated into Spotify. We will also have to wait and see how Greenroom can establish itself and how much interest social audio apps still create. The hype around Clubhouse has already subsided again; after 9.6 million downloads in February, there were just 900,000 in April.

When a fan truly wants to support their favourite artist, then the fraction of their streaming subscription won’t be enough. That’s why a lot of them are happy to support musicians with regular donations on platforms like Patreon. And now, during the pandemic with the income losses it has brought, the platform has experienced a resurgence in popularity. But for which artist is Patreon really worth it and how does one find enough supporters?

Only very few cash in

While revenues from streaming or merch sales are uncertain and can fluctuate constantly, Patreon offers a way to receive a steady monthly income directly from your fans. However, only a few can manage that. A study has shown that 72% of musicians on Patreon have less than 10 fans supporting them. This means that around three quarters of these artists barely make 100 euros each month.

What this shows is that the majority of musicians either have not reached the point where they can mobilize enough followers or they are simply going about it the wrong way. To be able to use Patreon in profitably, you need to bring an already solid fanbase with you. The analysis shows that you can get approximately 1% of your fans to join in on Patreon. So, for instance, if you have 500,000 followers on Instagram, you can realistically expect 500 patrons.

Offer something to the fans

But having a bunch of followers are obviously no guarantee, because in order for someone to pay you every month, they really need to be a die-hard fan. It is therefore all the more important to keep in close contact and have a lively interaction with your fans. What is equally important is offering these fans something exclusive, for example showing them songs early or giving them a peek behind the scenes. They want to get something out of their monthly payments.

No income without promotion and time

You will additionally need a clear strategy on how to promote your Patreon. Many artists forget that this can’t just be a one-time promo, but should instead be planned with longevity in mind. This is because on the one hand you need to continuously win over new fans, but on the other also because there will be people backing out constantly. There is also no getting around investing a little money into advertising on social media, otherwise your posts will only be shown to a fraction of your followers.

Last but not least, Patreon requires you to invest time both into creating additional content for your patrons and into keeping in close contact with your fanbase. The goal should be to create a community in which not only the fans can exchange experiences with each other, but also where the artist themselves interact with their followers.

If you have a strong fanbase as well as the willingness to invest time into Patreon, you have the prerequisites you need to use the platform to get a steady income.