Photo by Apple/Wikimedia Commons
Billboard has created a royalty calculator for Spotify and Apple Music. The payout is calculated on the subscriber fees that each respective digital streaming provider pays as well as the number of streams. The calculator will be updated on a monthly basis with a three-month lag due to when information is available.
All users need to do is enter the number of streams of an album or song, and the calculator will tell you the total payout for that figure number of streams, the sound recording payout to the copyright owner, mechanical royalties paid to the music publisher (which pays the songwriter after), and performance royalties paid to performance rights organizations (PROs) including ASCAP, BMI, GMR, and SESAC.
According to Billboard, Apple has a higher play rate than Spotify, but Spotify still pays out more due to its larger user base — Spotify paid labels and publishers $1.84 billion to Apple Music’s $1.68 billion in the first six months of 2023. Spotify has a lower play rate because of having twice as many plays as Apple's platform.