How many streams are you paying for from artists you’ve never listened to? The general concept is that the more niche your musical taste, the more likely it is going to major labels + artist. Let’s say your subscription cost is $10.  We’ll take $4 off the top for the DSP’s operating fees. So, we’re down to $6 payable to artists. 

If the average pay out is .003c, each $10 subscriber theoretically pays for 2000 streams. If you only listen to 600 of your allotted streams per month, the “free” stream royalties for other artists make up the difference. This greatly favors major labels and their artists.

What do we want? “Fan Powered Royalties” are the new model proposed and tested by Soundcloud. This past year, all subscription dollars were paid to artists whose songs you streamed if and only if the artist owns their sound recording and publishing rights. 

• 56% of artists made more money 
• The more indie the artist, the greater the impact
• If an artist’s fanbase consists of 2-3% superfans, they can double their royalty rate through use of this model. 
• 4-5% superfans causes tripled incomes 

What does this mean for how we currently term success as a musician?
Stream count doesn’t matter as much. Plus, it allows artists to identify their super fans and create better relationships with them that also happen to yield better financial results.