Everyone knows streaming pays poorly. That’s the general consensus. But when you actually look at the numbers Australian artists are getting, it’s worse than most people realize.

I’ve spent the last two months talking to independent musicians, small label artists, and a few people with major label deals. I asked them all the same question: what are you actually earning from streaming?

Here’s what they told me.

The Per-Stream Rates (Still Terrible)

The average per-stream rate across platforms hasn’t improved meaningfully in years. If anything, it’s slightly worse than it was in 2023 once you account for inflation.

Spotify pays about $0.003-0.004 per stream for most artists. That’s not a typo—three to four tenths of a cent. You need about 300 streams to earn $1.

Apple Music is marginally better at around $0.006-0.007 per stream. Still terrible, but roughly double Spotify.

YouTube Music is all over the place depending on whether streams come from ad-supported or premium users, but it averages around $0.002 per stream. The worst of the major platforms.

Tidal used to be better, but their recent changes have brought them down to about $0.004 per stream, roughly equivalent to Spotify.

For context, a stream on commercial radio would net the artist maybe 5-10 cents via APRA AMCOS. Streaming is literally 1/20th the value or worse.

What This Means Practically

Let’s say you’re an independent artist in Melbourne with a decent local following. You’ve got 5,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, which is actually pretty good for someone who’s not signed or nationally known.

If those 5,000 listeners each stream your songs four times per month on average, that’s 20,000 streams. At $0.0035 per stream, you’re earning $70 per month.

That’s not a living. That’s barely beer money.

To make minimum wage from Spotify alone (about $45,000 per year), you’d need roughly 1.1 million streams per month. That’s a level of success most Australian artists will never reach.

The Distribution Cut

Those numbers are before distribution takes their share. Most independent artists use services like DistroKid, TuneCore, or CD Baby to get their music onto streaming platforms.

DistroKid charges about $30-40 per year and lets you keep 100% of royalties. This is the best deal for most artists.

TuneCore charges per release (around $15-30 per single, $50-100 per album annually) but also lets you keep 100%.

CD Baby takes a 9% commission but no annual fees. For artists releasing infrequently, this might make sense, but it’s worse for anyone releasing regularly.

If you’re with a label, even an independent one, you’re typically seeing 50-70% of streaming revenue. Major labels might give you 15-30% depending on your deal.

So that $70 per month from 20,000 streams might become $35 if you’re on a standard indie label deal, or as low as $10-20 if you’re on a major label contract that predates streaming (many of which are genuinely exploitative).

The Geographic Reality

Australian artists face a specific problem: most of our streams are domestic, and Australia represents maybe 1-2% of global Spotify listeners.

To reach large numbers of streams, you need international audience. But breaking internationally as an Australian artist is exceptionally difficult without label support or significant marketing spend.

The artists I talked to who were earning meaningful streaming income (over $1,000 per month) had mostly done it by finding audiences in the US, UK, or Europe through playlist placements or viral moments.

One Melbourne indie band told me they get about 80% of their streams from Europe despite never touring there. They landed on a few popular Spotify playlists and the algorithm took over. They’re earning about $800 per month from streaming, which is genuinely good by Australian independent artist standards.

But that’s the exception. Most artists I talked to earn $50-200 per month from streaming.

The Playlist Economy

Editorial playlist placement is basically the only way to meaningfully grow streaming numbers without spending heavily on advertising.

Getting on a major Spotify editorial playlist like “New Music Friday Australia” or “Ultimate Indie” can generate 50,000-200,000 streams over a few weeks. That might be $200-800 in revenue, plus ongoing discovery benefits if listeners save your songs.

But editorial playlist placement is opaque and competitive. Spotify receives tens of thousands of submissions per week. Your chances without a label or publicist are slim.

User-generated playlists can also drive streams, but the most popular ones are often pay-to-play schemes where curators charge $50-500 to add your song. The ROI is questionable at best and potentially violates platform terms of service.

Several artists I talked to had tried playlist pitching services. Results were mixed—one Sydney artist spent $300 on playlist placements and got about 15,000 streams (roughly $50 in royalties). Not a great return.

What Actually Pays

Every artist I talked to said the same thing: streaming income is supplementary at best. The real money comes from:

Live performance. Even small pub gigs pay $200-500 per band. That’s more than most artists make from streaming in a month.

Merchandise. T-shirts, vinyl, posters. The margins are decent and fans will buy them at shows.

Sync licensing. Getting a song placed in a TV show, film, or advertisement can pay anywhere from $500 to $50,000+ depending on the usage. It’s unpredictable but lucrative when it happens.

Teaching and session work. Many working musicians supplement their income by teaching or playing sessions for other artists.

Streaming is not a revenue stream you can build a career on unless you’re reaching millions of streams per month, which is a level of success reserved for maybe the top 1% of artists.

The Honest Assessment

Streaming has democratized distribution. Anyone can release music globally now for minimal cost. That’s genuinely good.

But it hasn’t democratized income. The payment structure favors high-volume pop music and established artists with massive catalogs. Independent and niche artists—most of the Australian music community—earn very little.

The artists I talked to weren’t bitter about this, exactly. Most of them understand that music has always been a difficult way to make a living. But there’s definitely frustration that the streaming platforms are profitable while the people making the actual music earn cents.

What’s Changing (Slowly)

Some platforms are experimenting with user-centric payment models where your subscription fee goes to the artists you actually listen to, rather than being pooled and distributed by market share. Deezer and Tidal have implemented versions of this.

The early data suggests this marginally benefits niche artists at the expense of megastars, which seems fair. But Spotify hasn’t adopted it, and they’re the dominant platform.

Australia’s streaming inquiry recommended various reforms, but legislative change is slow. Don’t expect meaningful improvement in the next few years.

The Practical Advice

If you’re an Australian musician, here’s what the artists I talked to recommended:

• Use streaming for discovery and portfolio building, not income
• Focus on live performance and merch for actual revenue
• Build an email list and direct fan relationships that aren’t platform-dependent
• Consider Bandcamp for sales—artists get 80-85% of revenue and fans can pay more than the minimum price
• Be strategic about release timing and playlist pitching, but don’t spend significant money on it
• Diversify income streams (teaching, session work, sync licensing)

Streaming is part of the landscape now, but it’s not a business model you can rely on unless you’re reaching truly exceptional audience numbers.

For more on streaming economics and artist rights, check out The Music Network’s coverage of the Australian streaming inquiry and Music Australia’s resources for independent artists.