According to Duetti's second-annual Music Economics Report, Amazon Music and Apple Music significantly outperform Spotify in per-stream royalty payments for independent artists.

The report reveals the following per-stream royalty rates (per 1,000 streams):

• Amazon Music: $8.80
• Apple Music: $6.20
• YouTube: $4.80
• Spotify: $3.00

The global average across all streaming platforms stands at $3.41 per 1,000 streams in 2024, showing a slight decrease from $3.46 in 2023 and $3.69 in 2022.

Key findings:

• Spotify requires tracks to reach 1,000 annual streams before paying royalties
• Apple Music offers higher rates for spatial audio content
• Spotify's Discovery Mode usage doubled to 26% in 2024, contributing to lower overall payouts

Spotify disputes these findings, stating that they don't operate on a per-stream payment model. Their spokesperson argues this approach would discourage user engagement and result in lower overall payouts.

However, while the payout process involves pooling streams and market-based revenue sharing, the end result effectively translates to per-stream compensation for artists.

These findings are particularly significant given:

• The continuing increase in streaming volume globally
• Growing challenges in monetization across different regions
• The rising impact of AI-generated content on streaming platforms

Industry experts expect these trends to continue throughout 2025 and beyond, particularly as the volume of audio uploads continues to grow.

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