How much does it take to make $1 streaming?
Over the holidays, T-Pain tweeted about a Reddit post and shared a graphic that stirred up conversation among artists and fans alike.
WordPlay T. Jay caught the tweet saying how many streams it takes on each platform to make $1, and though he’s discussed it in the past, no amount of awareness is too much.
In the past, T. Jay’s posts on making money streaming focus on the bigger picture of making a living with music, somewhere in the ballpark of $50,000 per year.
The post T-Pain shared looks more closely at how much it takes to make just $1, and the reaction was felt.
Many people in the end did not care about the post, saying T-Pain had already made his money, so why is he worried.
Some pointed out how the numbers are skewed, as they are an average and do not take into account many other royalties that could be collected.
Others defended T-Pain for being bold in sharing the information, as it sheds light on the industry.
Fans in general seemed surprised by the numbers, something T. Jay hopes to help change.
“I want everybody to understand it’s not easy to make money in music,” he said. “Ultimately, T-Pain wanted other independent artists to understand what is going on and how much it will take to make significant money.”
A follow-up tweet by T-Pain showed his aim was to get artists thinking about different ways to make money. T. Jay said a critique of that is that while T. Pain says he’s made moves to get where he is, sharing some of those tips would be helpful.
T. Jay said as far as the original post, it seems accurate compared to numbers he pulled a couple years ago, but to make even just $1, it takes a lot.
Earnings per stream can fluctuate based on how people are listening and how many total streams there are in a given month.
Also, with the added royalties that can be claimed, you can get more than 1 penny per stream.
“Everyone just needs to be more aware, and I’m glad T-Pain spoke out because his money and records are made, so he didn’t have to,” T. Jay said. “It also benefits the industry for T. Pain to not speak out because labels negotiate stream royalties at a different rate than independent artists are able to do.”
For more on this topic and to see the streams needed to make $1, check out the video below.
WordPlay T. Jay is a hip-hop artist and producer from Little Rock, Ark., focused on making music for the underdog. He started his YouTube music advice channel because he wanted people to have information about the music business as he learns it, allowing them to apply tips and tricks for success.