«Where are my millions?» — this is a common question directed at streaming platforms. You’ve released a track, but here’s the thing: how much will you earn from these plays?
In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at how earnings from platforms are formed, what factors affect plays on each individual digital platform, and we’ll also share tips on how to increase the number of plays and boost your final income.
There is no single price per stream.
Why is that? Many websites tell us that for a certain number of plays you’ll get exactly the amount they specify — but that’s not true, you’re being (mostly) misled. Several factors influence the price per play:
- Play depth
How much of your track was listened to? Time is money. If your track was played for more than 30 seconds, it will count as a full stream. If it was less than 3 prepared seconds, the play won’t be counted. Play time also affects algorithm performance and audience engagement.
Holding attention. If your track is listened to from start to finish, that’s great — you’ve earned one full stream. You need to be able to write music that holds attention from beginning to end. - Type of play
- With a subscription. If someone with a subscription listens to your music, it generates more revenue. However, there’s a catch: each platform has different subscription prices and various tariffs (student, individual, family, etc.).
- Without a subscription. These are also called ad-supported plays. An ad might play for 15–20 seconds at the beginning of the track, but such plays generate significantly less revenue than subscription-based ones.
- Listening region (with subscription)
- CIS region. Subscriptions in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are much cheaper across all platforms. While the subscription price doesn’t vary much between these countries, it’s still very low. Therefore, the price per play is lower than in the West.
- Europe and the USA. Subscriptions are much more expensive in the West than in Russia. For example, while an Apple Music subscription in Russia cost 300 rubles, in the US it was $11 (900 rubles). Consequently, if people with paid subscriptions in other countries listen to your music, the price per play will be higher.
- Percentages
Yes, those percentages. The streaming platform takes its cut.
The distributor takes their percentage.
If you’re on a label, you give up a portion according to your contract.
We also need to account for taxes, VAT, etc.
Don’t forget that if you had producers, the beatmaker and sound engineer also need to get paid.
But we’re here to figure out how much we’ll actually get for a million plays. To find approximate figures, we had to visit many forums. The numbers there vary too much, so we had to calculate everything ourselves.
Yandex Music
- Play with subscription ≈ 30 000 rubles
- Play without subscription ≈ 12 000 rubles
- Combined ≈ 21 000 rubles per 1 million plays
VK Music
- Play with subscription ≈ 80 000 rubles
- Play without subscription ≈ 27 000 rubles
Spotify
150 000–250 000 rubles
Apple Music
100 000–200 000 rubles
YouTube Music
100 000–300 000 rubles
These are not fixed prices. The price per play always varies.
Country, subscription status, distributor/label percentages — it’s impossible to calculate the exact payout for plays, especially when we’re talking about millions of plays.
How to increase income and play count?
- Work on release quality. You need to engage your audience with your music. Improve the quality of arrangement, performance, mixing, etc. If you hook a listener at the beginning of a track, they’ll want to listen to it until the end and add it to their library to replay it again and again.
- Social media. Work on your social media presence and personal brand, attract more listeners. Build your artist image from scratch properly. You can learn more about promotion in this article.
- Playlists. If you get into a popular playlist — especially near the top — it will boost your play count. How to get into a playlist is a whole other story, which you can read about here.
- Reliable label/distributor. A direct contract with a label will give you a higher percentage, and everything will be much simpler and clearer than dealing with third‑party sub‑accounts. If you’re unsure how to release your music, Voque Stars can help you publish your track quickly, professionally, and hassle‑free.
- Collaborations and features. Working with other artists can help you attract a new audience. Especially if you work well together. It’s a great way to combine pleasure with profit.
