Reverse Royalty Calculator

At Spotify's average rate of $0.003-0.005 per stream, you need roughly 200,000-333,000 streams to earn $1,000 before any label or distributor takes their cut. With a typical indie deal (80% artist share after 15% distributor fee), you'd need even more.

Per-stream rates vary by country, subscription tier (free vs premium), and time of year. These calculators use industry averages. Your actual rate depends on where your listeners are — a US premium stream pays ~3x more than a free-tier stream from a developing market.

The distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby) delivers your music to platforms and may take 0-15%. A label typically takes 15-85% of what's left depending on deal type. The artist gets what remains. Independent artists using flat-fee distributors keep the most.

Tidal pays the highest at ~$0.012/stream, followed by Apple Music at ~$0.008. Spotify averages $0.003-0.005. YouTube Music pays the least at ~$0.002. However, Spotify has the largest user base, so total earnings often end up higher there.