According to a new report, Google now has over 15 million subscribers on its streaming music platforms – Google Play Music (GPM) and YouTube Music.

Despite the great news for the Alphabet-owned company, here’s the kicker – subscriptions have abruptly stalled.

Growth in Google’s most critical division – YouTube – has all-but-flatlined.  In fact, when pressed about coming $1 billion short of Wall Street’s revenue expectations last week, top executives blamed the video platform.  Investors quickly punished the search giant over the weak earnings report, with Google’s shares plummeting 8.6%, its worst drop since 2012.

In a note summarizing the search giant’s poor quarterly results last week, Brian Nowak, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote,

“What Happened[?]  [Google’s] deceleration and uncertain forward trajectory highlight the need for better transparency.”

Underscoring the video platform’s inability to turn its massive 2 billion user base into paying subscribers, YouTube Music has only added 6 million subscriptions since its official launch last May.  Google now has 16 million subscribers around the world.

Though Lucas Shaw wrote that the search giant is now “chasing Spotify,” the truth behind the search giant’s numbers is actually much less optimistic than the Bloomberg writer would have you believe.

Shaw wrote (with my own added emphasis),

“Google, part of Alphabet Inc., is still a long way from the market leaders: Spotify Technology SA has more than 100 million subscribers, while Apple Inc. has more than 50 million.  But the progress is a good sign for an ad-supported company that has rarely gotten customers to pay for its services.”

But, it’s really not.  Just take a look at the facts.

Between May 2018 and March 2019, Apple Music and Spotify added over 10 million and 20 million subscribers, respectively.  Around the world, Amazon now has 30 million.

As the Wall Street Journal wrote,

“Muted Growth.

“Google has struggled to convert users into paying customers, placing the company fourth in music subscriptions globally.”

Responding to the report, and refusing to elaborate, a Google spokeswoman merely dismissed the dismal subscription turnover rate as “inaccurate.”  She added paid music subscriptions have grown 60% year-over-year.

But, when you start off with a ridiculously low number of subscriptions, and your video platform has over 2 billion monthly active users, 60% isn’t something to gloat about.

Plus, YouTube Music Premium and Premium remain available in 43 countries.  So, even without doing the math, you can see the terrible position Google remains in.  Excluding Spotify and Apple Music’s sizeable market lead, the search giant’s subscription total tally trails Amazon by nearly 50%.

Even worse for the company, between December 2018 and March 2019, sources told WSJ that Google’s music-subscription offerings had “stalled over the four-month period.”  Meanwhile, the top three streaming music players showed “significant subscriber growth.”

Spinning YouTube Music’s recent launch in India, Google CEO Sundar Pichai claimed that local users had downloaded the app over 15 million times.  Like Spotify, however, he remained quiet about the actual subscription numbers in the country.

Featured image by YouTube Music.

Indie artists aren’t the only things not earning enough from streaming music services.

Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay.

Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists, we ranked these services according to their per-stream rate.

Napster, the king of streaming music payouts, now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US ($1,472), an artist needs 77,474 total plays.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player.  The service pays artists $0.0125 per stream.  Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Taking third place, Apple Music now pays $0.00735.  Artists on Apple Music need around 200,272 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Beating Deezer for the first time, Google Play Music (GPM) per-stream rate stands at $0.00676.  Artists will need around 217,752 total streams to earn $1,472.

Falling to fifth place, and still without an established presence in the US, Deezer’s per-stream rate rose to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM.  Artists need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Previously ranked as the service with one of the worst payouts, Spotify reportedly pays $0.00437 per play.  That number varies per artist, with award-winning cellist and composer Zoe Keating receiving on average $0.00543 per play.  Typically, artists will need around 336,842 total plays to earn $1,472.

Right behind Spotify, Amazon now pays $0.00402.  Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.  Previously, Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play.

Pandora has historically paid indie artists dismal amounts in terms of royalties.  The company now pays $0.00133 on Pandora Premium.  Artists will need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

Historically, YouTube hasn’t ever been an artist-friendly platform, thanks to its horrendous payouts.

The popular video platform pays artists $0.00069.  To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

Now, The Trichordist has released its list of streaming music payouts.

What one indie label earned from streaming.

Gathering its data from a single source – a mid-sized indie label with an approximately 250+ album catalog which generates almost 1 billion streams – The Trichodist has published its list of streaming music service payouts.

According to the data, Amazon Music Unlimited has the highest per-stream payout rate at $0.01175.  An artist would need around 125,277 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  Amazon’s platform only had a 0.68% share of all the label’s streams, generating 4.04% of all revenue earned.

Napster came next, paying $0.01110 per play.  Artists on Rhapsody’s streaming music service would need around 133,818 plays to earn $1,472.  The service had a 0.14% share of all streams, generating 0.80% of all revenue earned.

TIDAL fell to third place, paying $0.00927 per play.  Artists on Jay-Z’s beleaguered streaming music service would need around 158,792 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.21% share in the label’s streams, generating 0.98% of all revenue earned.

In fourth place, Deezer reportedly paid $0.00567 per stream.  Artists on the platform would need around 259,612 plays to earn $1,472.  The French-based service had a 0.91% share in streams, generating 2.6% of all revenue earned.

Google Play Music came behind Deezer, paying $0.00543 per play.  Artists would need around 271,087 streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 1.12% share in the label’s streams, generating 3.08% of all revenue earned.

Apple Music paid indie artists around $0.00495 per stream.  Indie artists would need around 297,374 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a 9.95% share in overall streams, generating a significant 24.97% of all revenue earned.

Amazon Prime Music – labeled Amazon Digital Services – came in seventh place, paying $0.00395 per play.  Artists would need around 372,658 plays on the platform to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.95% share in streams, generating a low 1.90% of all revenue earned.

Spotify came close behind Amazon Prime Music, reportedly paying $0.00311 per stream.  At that rate, indie artists would need 472,312 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a whopping 29.22% share of all the label’s streams, generating 48.93% of all revenue.

Among the worst paying services, Pandora ranked in ninth place, paying $0.00155 per play.  Artists would need 949,677 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 3.86% share in the label’s streams, and generated a dismal 3.03% of all revenue.

YouTube ranked as the worst offender, paying artists a dismal $0.00028 per play.  An artist would need 5,257,143 plays to earn $1,472.  In terms of all streams for the label, the service had a whopping 48.58% share, generating only 6.99% of all revenue.

The key takeaways.

At first glance, only one streaming music service paid more to the indie label: Amazon Music Unlimited.

The rest paid far, far less than they have to individual indie artists.

Take Spotify, for example.  According to independent data, and as explained above, the streaming music giant pays $0.00437 per play.  Yet, the company paid the label $0.00311 per stream.  Spotify’s streams also accounted for nearly 30% of its billion streams.

Apple Music’s per-stream rate saw an even more dramatic drop for labels.  In 2017, the service reportedly paid $0.00783.  Last year, that number decreased to $0.00495.

Comparing both services’ payouts to independent labels, The Trichordist explained,

“Apple Music still lead in the sweet spot with about 10% of overall streams generating 25% of all revenue (despite the per stream rate drop).  Spotify by comparison has nearly triple the marketshare in streams than Apple Music but generates less than double the revenues on that volume.”

Also, despite multiple denials of the ‘value gap,’ YouTube continues cheating the music industry in terms of fair payouts.

The Trichordist explains,

“The biggest takeaway by far is that YouTube’s Content ID, (in our first truly comprehensive data set) shows a whopping 48% of all streams generate only 7% of revenue.  Read that again.  This is your value gap.  Nearly 50% of all recorded music streams only generate 7% of revenue.”

It also remains unclear how much streaming music services do pay major labels, which presumably take a higher percentage.  Yet, from what we can tell, indies receive far, far less than major labels do.

You can view the complete infographic below.

How much do artists make per stream? Reported per-stream payouts from top music streaming services (updated for 2021; click to enlarge)

How much do artists make per stream on the most popular streaming music services? Here’s a breakdown for Pandora, Napster, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more (updated for 2022).

Based on information directly received from artists and indie labels, as well as various published sources, we can rank streaming music services according to their per-stream rate. So how much do artists make per stream? Given extreme variations in payouts, the answer largely depends on the platform involved. Take a look.

Napster remains king of streaming music payouts, but total usage is lower.

With Microsoft’s Groove Music shutting down, Napster became king of streaming music service payouts.

The service had paid $0.01682 per play.  According to two sources – Information Is Beautiful and David Crosby – that number has steadily risen.  On average, Napster now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US of $1,472, an artist would need 77,474 total plays.

With 5 million paying subscribers, the service loses around $7.00 per user.  Unlike its rivals, however, Napster remains a profitable streaming music service.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player, at least in terms of payouts.

This year, Jay-Z’s streaming music platform, TIDAL, has remained embroiled in multiple controversies.  These include accusations of hacking users’ accounts to inflate Beyoncé and Kanye West’s total streams.

Nevertheless, the service had remained friendly to artists. But the service reportedly paid out $0.01284 per stream earlier this year. That number has fallen slightly to $0.0125, according to more recent data. Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Jay-Z’s streaming music service reportedly loses $6.67 per user with an annual loss of $28 million.

Apple Music takes third place.

How much does Apple Music pay per stream? Historically, Apple Music has paid artists much better than its streaming music rival, Spotify.

Back 2017, the service paid $0.0064 per stream. By last year, that number had risen to $0.00783. Now, Apple Music has upped its rate further: in April of 2021, the platform announced that its artists would receive a royalty rate of 1 cent ($0.01) per stream.

Artists on Apple Music would need around 147,200 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

With Apple closely guarding its user metrics, it remains unclear how much Apple Music loses each year on the service as well as per user.

Deezer falls to fourth place.

Launching several years ago in the US, French-based streaming music service Deezer still doesn’t have an established presence in the country.

Back in 2018, at $0.0056, the service topped GPM in terms of payouts. By 2019, Deezer paid $0.00624. That number has slowly risen to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM. Artists will need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Deezer recently reported an annual loss of $27 million, losing $1.69 per user. Deezer reportedly has 16 million users, with around 9.12 million – or 57% – paying for the service.

Amazon falls behind.

As with Napster, Apple, and Google, Amazon closely guards its user metrics.

Earlier this year, The Trichordist found Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play. That number has now plummeted to $0.00402, placing it just above Spotify. Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.

How much do artists make per stream on Spotify?

Spotify’s per-stream rate ranks as one of the worst, and it appears to be falling. According to the latest data, Spotify pays most artists between $.003 and $.005 (one-third of a penny to one-half of a penny) for each stream. 

Back in December 2019, you may have read our report on cellist Zoe Keating’s receiving a $753 check from Spotify, as compensation for 206,011 streams. Rounding up, the sum represents a per-stream royalty rate of $0.0037 – down from Keating’s 2018 Spotify royalty rate of about $0.0054. Separately, mechanical royalty firm Audiam also suggested that Spotify royalties have decreased despite rising subscriber counts and revenue.

Of course, there are plenty of Spotify alternatives. But as of 2022, Spotify remains the largest streaming music platform worldwide — which means you have little choice but to play ball with them.

Pandora continues to struggle.

Back in 2018, despite having the second-highest amount of total users in the US, Pandora paid artists $0.0011 per play. By 2019, the digital radio service slightly increased that rate to $0.00134. The company has now settled at paying artists $0.00133 on Pandora Premium. Artists will now need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

YouTube pulls a U-Turn.

Historically, YouTube hasn’t ever been an artist-friendly platform, thanks to its horrendous payouts.

In 2017, the popular video platform paid $0.0006 per play. By 2019, the company had increased its rate to $0.00074.

But YouTube executives have now pulled a U-Turn, choosing to pay artists $0.00069. To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

The video platform reportedly loses $174 million each year, with loss per user calculated at $0.17.

So, what’s our advice?

Once again, please don’t ever make a career out of your earnings on the popular video platform.  Trust us.  You’ll regret it.

Looks like Google won’t have three separate music streaming services after all.  Yet, why has YouTube Remix repeated the same mistakes the parent company made with Play Music and YouTube Red?

According to a new report, Google Play Music will become history by the end of this year.  So, what will happen to existing subscribers? Simple.  Google will allegedly force them onto its new music streaming service, YouTube Remix.  The news comes from a source that spoke directly to Droid Life, an Android commentary, news, and review website.

The source didn’t explain how Google will phase out Play Music.  The website only specified that the company “will do a forced adoption of Remix by the end of this year.”

We’ve known about the search giant’s new music streaming service for a while.  Last December, sources told Bloomberg that parent company Alphabet had planned to launch the service this March.  Of course, it hasn’t.  Yet, an unanswered question looms over the company.  Alphabet already has Play Music and YouTube Red.  So, why would the company launch yet another streaming music service?  Simple.  Because corporate executives want a large slice of the streaming revenue pie.  Yet, don’t expect their new strategy to work.

Google’s uphill battle to remain relevant in the streaming music market.

With both YouTube Red and Play Music combined, Alphabet has around several million paying subscribers.  Compare that to Amazon’s “tens of millions of users” with Prime Music and Music Unlimited.  Apple Music now has well over 40 million users.  And, with over 71 million paying subscribers, Spotify has the global streaming music market locked down.

With the launch of YouTube Remix, executives apparently fail to notice that streaming music profit margins remain incredibly thin.  In a recent financial note, Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter found that Apple Music has a gross margin of 15%, a figure noticeably lower than Spotify’s 23-25%.  In addition, after ten years in the market, Spotify has yet to turn a profit.  Ahead of its launch on Wall Street this month, the European streaming music platform revealed that losses amounted to $1.5 billion last year.

As noted earlier, YouTube Remix marks Alphabet’s third attempt to break into the mainstream music market.  Of course, top executives know that YouTube has had a historically rocky relationship with the industry.  In its Global Music Report 2018 Report, the IFPI noted that user-uploaded services – i.e., YouTube – have severely underpaid artists, creators, and producers for their work.  While Spotify pays the industry around $20 per user annually, YouTube pays under $1.  Spotify has over 71 million paying subscribers.  YouTube has over 1.3 billion users streaming music on its platform for free.

To appease industry executives, the video platform’s head of music, Lyor Cohen, has managed to score multiyear licensing deals with major labels.  He promised at SXSW that the video platform will launch a product “that will you be proud of.”  Shutting down Play Music and converting existing YouTube users appears to be part of the platform’s long-term strategy.

Seemingly confirming the news, a YouTube spokesperson gave a surprising nod to Droid Life’s report.

“We’ve previously announced the combination of the YouTube Music and Google Play product teams — music is very important to Google so it’s critical we have one offering that meets the needs of consumers and artists.  Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”

Yet, once YouTube Remix launches, it will compete directly with major streaming music market leaders.  And they won’t lose subscribers anytime soon.

According to Schachter, Apple Music will likely reach 110 million paying subscribers in three years.  Amazon has plenty of room to grow in the market now that it has over 100 million users paying for Prime.  Prime Music remains a key perk of having a Prime membership.  Spotify has gone all in with Freemium.  Analysts see the European service’s revamped free version as its best defense against competitors, namely Apple Music.  In fact, on Investor Day last March, Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Chief Product Officer, explained how the company’s free tier service helps the company gain paying subscribers.  It seems to have worked.  Around 43% of the European service’s total monthly active users pay for a subscription.  What’s YouTube’s strategy?  To flood its existing 1.3 billion users with ads until they pay up.  That clearly hasn’t worked with Play Music nor YouTube Red.  So, why would it this time with Remix?

For Spotify, providing ‘free’ on-demand music would serve as a powerful incentive to woo spurned YouTube users.  If successful, the European service would do something Alphabet has yet to accomplish: convert a large part of YouTube’s 1.3 billion free users to paying subscribers.

Lyor Cohen vows that the company will provide a fantastic product once it launches YouTube Remix.  Yet, Google and YouTube clearly haven’t learned from their past mistakes.  Will the third time be the charm for Alphabet?  I’d wholeheartedly bet against it.