PPS: Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer in comparison (2022 edition)

The last posts showed you how much you get per stream on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. Let’s compare the three streaming services to find out which one pays the most, and again, how this differs between countries. As you would expect, Apple Music pays the most however the gap with Deezer is not huge. Spotify has the significantly lowest PPS of the three providers.

Spotify vs. Apple

Unsurprisingly, Apple Music pays significantly more per stream than Spotify, which is mainly due to the fact that Apple Music does not offer an ad-based service. On average, you get 3.5 times as much for a stream on Apple Music as you do for a Spotify stream. This is significantly more than in the last two evaluations, where the figure was 2.63 (2021) and 2.84 (2020).

However, the difference varies enormously across the 59 countries surveyed. In 44 countries, you get at least twice as much for a stream of Apple Music. In Belarus, the Philippines and Macedonia, it is even more than nine times. Other Balkan countries such as Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia also receive a lot more for Apple Music streams.

The differences are more manageable in Israel, the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany.

Spotify vs. Deezer

Spotify and Deezer, which both offer a premium and an ad-based service, are more comparable. But here, too, Spotify is clearly behind; on average, you get 2.85 times as much for a stream on Deezer as for a Spotify stream. The Spotify PPS is higher in only two countries: Israel and Sweden, Spotify’s home country. In about half of the countries surveyed, you get more than twice as much for a stream on Deezer. The differences are again greatest in Belarus and Macedonia, as well as in Montenegro, where Spotify pays out enormously less.

Apple Music vs. Deezer

Despite the different business models, the differences between Apple Music and Deezer are the smallest. On average, you get 1.45 times more for a stream on Apple Music, or 45% more. It’s also only 12 of the 59 countries where you get more than twice as much for an Apple Music stream. In 16 countries, Deezer actually pays out more than Apple Music, including the US, UK, Austria, Belgium, and Denmark.

The English-speaking countries in comparison

For a concrete comparison, we show here how much you get per million streams at the three providers in the six English-speaking countries.

The following table shows how many streams from each country it takes to earn $4,000:

The PPS of 59 countries in comparison

Finally, now the evaluation of 59 countries and for each country the comparison between the different DSPs.

To explain the factor: Let’s take the comparison between Apple Music and Deezer as an example. If the factor is 3, this means that Apple Music pays three times as much per stream. If the factor is 1, the PPS is identical for both providers. If it is less than 1, it means that Deezer pays more than Apple Music in this country.