“Just so you know……”
(Picture: Getty Images)T-Pain is one of the most recent artists to reveal the amount of money that can be made from streaming platforms.
On Tuesday, the musical artist - known for his use of autotune - took to his Twitter to share a post showing the number of streams an artist would receive on some of the world’s most reputable streaming platforms to make only one US dollar.
One of the most shocking ones is YouTube Music. Judging by T-Pain’s chart, 1,250 streams are needed just to earn the dollar.
In a report from Times International, video streams YouTube Music streams pay out $0.00735 per stream. Video streams, on the other hand, payout $0.00069.
T-Pain’s post further expresses that platforms such as Amazon Music need 249, 752 on Pandora, 128 on Apple Music, and 315 on Spotify to earn a dollar.
Platforms such as Tidal Music and Napster require 78 and 53 streams to earn a dollar, respectively.
Just so you know…… pic.twitter.com/t8m3PerxT9
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) December 29, 2021
It is worth keeping in mind that this is just a post shared by the artist, and the figures expressed in the chart might not be completely accurate.
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Regardless, the conversation is an important one as T-Pain has several revenue streams such as brand deals, live performances, and label contracts to name a few, and he’s in a small minority amongst other artists.
Spotify notes that he receives around 10,285,213 monthly listeners since he emerged onto the scene in 2004.
Still, it is wonderful for well-known artists to speak out about every artist getting what they’re worth.
People in the comments of T-Pain’s post had mixed reactions.
“The thing is though that small artists would have never made anything from this anyway because most of this money does to the labels. It’s always been that most of the money that performers get is through actually performing. This was the case even before streaming,” someone wrote.
“This is insane. But none of these companies would make anything if we didn’t stream, so [why are] they short-changing artist [s]?” another added.
A third wrote: “[I] refuse to feel bad. Some of yall have reached heights the normal man won’t ever see, and instead [of] being smart with the money when you finally actually get it what do you do.... blow it on chains and watches and cars. this includes you.”
Gav, a songwriter and producer of Miracle of Sound, also tweeted about the matter and spoke about how people can support their favourite artists.
“Buying your favorite artist’s album from Bandcamp for ten dollars is the monetary equivalent of streaming them 12,500 times on youtube or 3,150 times on Spotify. Still the best way to support them, other than Patreon,” he wrote.
Check out other responses below.
Ice T warned y’all years ago pic.twitter.com/DetjhUKgFJ
— Paul Little 🎮 (@ItsPaulLittle) December 29, 2021
Hard to feel sorry for y'all artist flashing money, Jewelry and cars on social media
— 80Five (@80Five_) December 29, 2021
This is exactly why I buy the music of artists that I really enjoy instead of only streaming
— terribletea⁷❂💜 (@sillyarmerie) December 29, 2021
Wish Spotify wld be better about this. Love the UI, but I want my artists I love to be compensated.
— Shiloh Bevers (@shilohbevers) December 29, 2021
Tidal might be the move
Been telling y’all if you truly respect the artist work you’ll play them only @TIDAL #culture https://t.co/Y9z4O81owt
— Tiera Lee (@TheRealTieraLee) December 30, 2021
Another reminder to buy albums from artists websites and local record stores. Bless your whole crew. https://t.co/Drn2BTobNS
— NATKINS (@NicoleAtkins) December 30, 2021
Certainly, streaming platforms aren’t disappearing anytime soon and are completely fine to utilise if you want to listen to your favourite artist or band.
However, buying their records, tickets to show, or merchandise would be beneficial to truly support artists, especially smaller artists.
