How many Spotify streams do you need to make $1?

Getting paid on Spotify remains the dream of many musicians. However, it does not just end at being paid. How much Spotify pays you counts as twice as much as actually being paid. For some musicians, getting a minimum wage or decent pay (whatever that means) remains a dream they really wish to achieve. On that note, many musicians ask questions like, “how much does Spotify pay per stream?” “How many streams will you need to make $1?” These questions are not just important financial questions, they are also very important music promotion questions. The answers to these questions will go a long way in helping you set a proper budget for your Spotify promotion.

The actual figure of how much a specific number of streams is worth on Spotify is unknown. This is because Spotify does not pay a fixed amount to musicians. Different factors contribute to how much you will earn on Spotify as a musician. Factors like geography, time spent listening to your song, and how many percentages of the streams come from you also determine how much Spotify will pay you. Your location determines greatly how much Spotify will pay you per stream. For example, musicians from the USA tend to earn a bit higher than musicians from other developing countries. This is why you might find somewhat conflicting figures on different websites when searching for how much Spotify pays per stream. But in general, the pay is always between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.

So, let’s say you have a rather small fan base, are not bringing so many new listeners to Spotify, and are earning $0.004 per stream. This is an estimated figure considering the “Spotify stream share” policy. The stream share policy calculates the percentage of streams (from your total number of streams) that were generated by you as an artist. If you earn $0.004 per stream (which is pretty much the average payout for most artists), you will need about 250 streams to make $1. That doesn’t seem so bad, right? However, it means that [by following this rate], if you want to make a thousand dollars on Spotify, you will need to garner about two hundred and fifty thousand streams (250,000 streams) – I hope that didn’t scare you. This is why you need to promote your music on Spotify.