Last year, streaming platforms were the music industry's biggest source of revenue, surpassing physical sales and digital downloads. While the music industry is seeing a surge for streaming, it’s still not a direct path to riches for the beginning, and even the experienced, songwriter.
As the industry evolves, and there is more support for equal payouts, that could change. In the meantime, if you’re trying to decide which streaming platform to distribute your songs on, here is a list of what the top streaming services are paying songwriters as of 2018. While some don’t have the market share or the international reach of the bigger players, the payout to songwriters is in some cases double what Spotify or YouTube are offering - something to keep in mind as you make your decisions.
Napster/Rhapsody
Launched: 1999; In present form 2008, after acquisition by Roxio
Subscribers: 4.5 million worldwide
Market share: 1.75%
Payout: $0.01682 per play
Offices: Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Brazil, Germany
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Tidal
Launched: 2014; relaunched in 2015 after an acquisition by Jay-Z in 2015.
Subscribers: Estimated 3 million subscribers in 52 countries
Market Share: N/A
Payout: $0.01284 per stream
Offices: Sweden
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Apple 
Launched: June 2016
Subscribers: Estimated 36 million and 22.3 percent market share in the US. Available in over 100 countries worldwide.
Market Share: 16%
Payout: $0.00783 per stream (nearly double current Spotify rate)
Offices: Worldwide
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Amazon 
Launched: 2007, Amazon Music Unlimited launched in 2016.
Subscribers: Jeff Bezos says there are 100 million Prime subscribers worldwide. Prime Music is included with Prime membership. There is an additional monthly fee for the unlimited music service.
Market Share: 3.8%
Payout: $0.0074 per play.
Offices: San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Monica, Munich, Japan, Mexico, England, India, Australia
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Deezer 
Launched: 2007 in France; 2016 in the U.S.
Subscribers: 14 million in 180 countries
Market Share: 3.24% in the U.S.
Payout: $0.0056 per play
Offices: Colorado, Florida, Mexico, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Singapore
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Soundcloud .png?width=297&name=download%20(1).png)
Launched: 2007 Stockholm, Sweden
Subscribers: 40 million registered users (July 2013), 175 million unique monthly listeners (Dec. 2014)
Market Share: N/A
Payout: $0.0056 per play
Offices: New York City, Los Angeles, London, Berlin
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Google Play Music (formerly Android Play)
Launched: 2011
Subscribers: Seven million, in 63 countries.png?width=300&name=download%20(3).png)
Market Share N/A
Payout: $0.00611 per stream, which is actually lower than it was in 2015.
Offices: Worldwide
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Spotify
Launched: 2008
Subscribers: 75 million (paid), worldwide
Market Share: 52% in the U.S.
Payout: $0.0038 per play
Offices: New York, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Singapore, Mexico, Hong Kong
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
Pandora
Launched: Jan 2000 
Subscribers: US Only; 5.5 million subscribers
Market Share: 7.86%
Payouts: $0.00134 per stream
Offices: Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
YouTube
Launched: 2005, acquired by Google 2006. Ad supported service started in 2007. .png?width=300&name=download%20(4).png)
Subscribers: There are an estimated one billion monthly mobile users. World wide.
Payout: $0.00074 per stream.
Offices: California, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan, New York, Seattle, Tennessee, Ireland, India, Singapore, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, Belgium, Miami, Mexico
To create an account and learn more about streaming your music, go here.
There are many and new streaming services popping up around the world, this is just a small set. Learn more about how Songtrust can help you collect your mechanical royalties by setting up an account today!
Originally published on June 12, 2018, last updated on December 11, 2020
Take control of your publishing. Maximize Songtrust for your songs and business.
We created this guide to answer a simple question: How do songwriters support themselves?
The answer is not as simple as we’d like, but our goal is to make it as clear, transparent and understandable as we possibly can.
Songtrust is more than just a rights management platform and publishing administrator - we’re a team of experts in the music community who strive to educate, support, and provide thought leadership to creators, representatives, and businesses across the music industry.
Our hope is that you’ll finish this guide with an better understanding of the business behind songwriting and have actionable resources to help you be successful.
