Music Industry

New study: Songwriters are “getting screwed” by streaming music services more than anyone realized

Songwriters have long felt that they’re not getting everything they should from the world of streaming music, something that they’ve been rather vocal about for at least 15 years. “We’re getting screwed!” they yell.

A new study by Midia Research underscores this. The company surveyed 309 songwriters and found the following:

  • Just 10% of those in the survey were making US$30,000 a year or more.
  • 54% earn less than US$1,000.
  • The most common challenge they face? “A lack of meaningful streaming income” (67%) and “Breaking through the noise.” (40%.
  • Other issues:
    • Problems finding other musicians with whom to collaborate.
    • A lack of time devoting to creating music.
    • A hard time pitching songs.
    • Lack of knowledge about publishing.

Variety looked at the situation and brings up a very salient point. In the old days when CDs ruled, everyone who participated in the creation of music on any given CD was given a piece of the revenue. Now with streaming, songwriters’ share of royalties has dropped to the bottom. Songwriters get about half of what the performer does. Here’s an average breakdown of who gets what per paid stream:

  • The artist, label, and distributer get 56%
  • The streaming service gets 30%
  • The performing rights organization gets 14% (Some of this goes to the member songwriters, of coure. They get 68% of that 14%. However, because it’s so common to have 10 or more writers on a hit song–well, you can see the problem.)
  • The songwriter gets 9.5%.

Again, the industry average payout per song is 0.004. That’s four one-thousandths of cent. If we do the math, 9.5% works out to 0.00038. And if there are multiple songwriters on a track, that amount has to be divvied up appropriately.

More analysis here.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39188 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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