Spotify vs Apple Music vs Tidal — Who pays artists more?

(L-R) the Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal logos

(Paradigm credit: Apple; Spotify; Tidal)

The conversation of Spotify vs Apple tree Music (and even Tidal), which was seemingly settled, has arisen out of the ashes of Neil Young'south Spotify streams. Everyone, even my dad, has been reaching out to ask almost the best options for streaming music. Who could have predicted that Neil Young declaring state of war on Spotify and Joe Rogan would take had such an effect?

And since morals and streaming music are now mixing, information technology'south never been a better time to expect into how these services compensate the musicians whose piece of work they offer up by the saucepan. Spotify's long had a bad reputation in this capacity, but I thought people might want to hear about how it actually compares to Apple and Tidal.

So, I found the bachelor numbers and fifty-fifty talked to an contained musician I know to see what things await similar from their vantage.

Apple pays more per spin than Spotify, and then does Tidal

Apple, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, announced that information technology pays artists a mere penny per stream, and (every bit stingy every bit that sounds) that'south actually adept — comparatively speaking. That's because Spotify is known to pay artists "somewhere betwixt $.003 and $.005," according to Business organization Insider.

But since that information comes from 2021, and was already known, I dug a little deeper, getting on the proverbial horn with one of my favorite contained musicians: Foxanne — or as anyone who works with her at our sister-site Space.com calls her, Chelsea Gohd.

Foxanne/Gohd, on a couch with her guitar — (Image credit: Foxanne)

Gohd, who's got music on all the major platforms including Spotify, talked to me on the function Slack, confirmed that "Apple Music pays quite a bit more than Spotify," before adding "Tidal [pays] improve than Apple tree." She also noted that "at that place are a few smaller platforms that pay more but they're much smaller."

And as for Jeff Bezos' digital jukebox? Information technology'south complicated. Gohd said "Amazon Music pays less than Apple, merely nonetheless more than Spotify," earlier noting that the payments aren't always the same, as "sometimes Amazon has paid less than Spotify."

Spotify's rate is (clearly) not the best perk

I besides wanted to know about the feel of being an creative person on Spotify, and Gohd explained one reason why people would stick with Spotify despite its low rate. "Spotify's primary depict for me an an artist," she said, "is certainly not the pay, but its Spotify for Artists platform."

This gear up of tools, Gohd explained, "allow you lot to pretty easily apply to editorial playlists with new music. She then noted, "not that those are piece of cake to get onto."

Spotify for Artists also enables musicians to "add fundraising goals to your Spotify folio, links out from Spotify, add together your own bio, and other materials you would have in an EPK [electronic press kit, a digital resume for musicians]."

"simply between playlists and just sheer popularity yeah, Spotify is definitely where the almost people listen to my music."

— Chelsea Gohd, aka Foxanne

Gohd also told me that Spotify provides "videos and articles helping new artists figure out what to exercise, including details on how to promote and release new music."

All of the conversation virtually Spotify alternatives has definitely made Gohd call back twice, as she tells me "While I'g super familiar with Spotify'due south features every bit an artist because it'south been essentially the industry standard, I haven't withal fully explored what platforms like Apple Music and Tidal have to offer."

The other reason musicians stay on Spotify

Spotify also keeps musicians because it has the largest audience, with 209 1000000 active free users and 172 million premium subscribers (as of its Q3 2021 earnings published on October. 27, 2021).

Apple isn't equally transparent about its subscriber numbers, so we tin can merely betoken to assay that it probable has slightly less than Spotify (at least concluding twelvemonth). That same assay had Amazon Music slightly under Apple Music, with Tidal not fifty-fifty registering, stuck in the 10% of the chart known as "Other."

A pie chart of music consumption in Q2 2021 — (Epitome credit: Midia)

Gohd confirmed that her ain experience matches this, saying "From the analytics I've seen, Spotify is definitely where most people listen to my music, though information technology seems that Bandcamp," (here'south her Bandcamp page) an contained music service that'due south also in the 10% "Other" section, "is actually also very popular amidst my listeners specifically - and I think that's true for a lot of indie artists because listeners want to proactively support artists they like ... merely between playlists and but sheer popularity yeah, Spotify is definitely where the nearly people listen to my music."

Before we parted, Gohd also informed me of a very weird thing happening in online music. If y'all thought Spotify's low rates were robbing artists, then look into HitPiece, a site that artists (including Gohd) argue is stealing their music and turning songs into NFTs. They're not only going afterward indie musicians, either. HitPiece has also done this to John Lennon and Taylor Swift songs, too.

For at present, though, at to the lowest degree you're more informed about how the unlimited buffet of music really treats the musicians whose fine art you dear. Whether yous decide to stick with Spotify, or leave for Apple tree Music or Tidal, is your ain determination. (Nosotros've got a Spotify vs. Tidal comparison to outline the pros and cons of those services.)

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past half-dozen-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's too covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.