Digital music streaming came into limelight in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the first two platforms that began to distribute music to the streaming stores were mp3.com and PeopleSound, while the most outstanding streaming platform was Spotify which was founded and launched in 2006 by two Swedish businessmen, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.
It is worth noting that, the aim of Spotify was to create a legal alternative to file sharing platforms like Napster and Kazaa which allowed its users to subscribe and stream songs on-demand using peer-to-peer technology.
According to a statement made sometime by Ek, their intention for finding Spotify was to create a service that will compensate the music industry by allowing artistes to earn online while their music are being played as opposed to music blogs which offered their music to listeners for free downloads.
Due to copyright complaints by a local royalty agency known as SACEM, A French music streaming platform known as Blogmusiq was shut down in 2006, but after reaching agreement with SACEM, the site later emerged as Deezer and reached about 7 million active subscribers by the end of 2009.
In 2006, a French music streaming website known as Blogmusiq was shut down after copyright complaints by the local royalty agency SACEM. After reaching agreements with SACEM, the site subsequently relaunched as Deezer, which reached seven million users by the end of 2009.
After Spotify and Deezer, several music streaming platform have emerged, and all are aimed at allowing their users to subscribe and listen to music from their favorite artists.
In this article therefore, I am going to reveal to you how musicians make money from streaming platforms, and in the end you will learn how to distribute your music to these streaming platforms.
But before I show you how musicians make money from streaming, let us first and foremost help you to understand what os music streaming.
What is music streaming?
Music streaming is simply the process where people are allowed to subscribe to streaming apps or platforms in order to listen to digital copyright restricted songs from their favorite artists who in turn gets a percentage share from those subscription fees.
Some of the streaming services offers free tiers with limitations which may include ads and limitations to song usage.
These platforms in general have an algorithm which allows its users to discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history as well as the opportunity to create a playlist which they can publicly share with others who are using the platform.
It is undeniable that streaming services have keep enjoying a tremendous wave of growth since the late 2000s when it all began, and so far they have been able to overtake music stores who are still hopelessly waiting for people to walk in and buy their vinyl’s and CDs.
It is also worth mentioning that musicians are allowed to distribute their songs either as singles, EPs and albums etc.
How Musicians Make Money From Streaming.
Musicians make money from streaming when users who pay a certain amount of money to subscribe to the streaming platform are playing their songs and a percentage of their subscription fees is being deducted and paid to them.
The simple way to understand music streaming is that a platform allows people to sign up and pay a monthly fee so they can listen t music from their favorite artists who have already distributed their music to these platforms.
Now anytime these subscribed users play the music of their favorite artists, a certain amount of money is being deducted from their subscription fees to pay the artists while the platform keeps their own percentage.
However, what we cannot really ascertain is how these streaming platforms split their percentage share with an artists, but what we know is that if an artists can amass millions of streams from his music, he is going to make a reasonable amount of money that may run to millions of dollars.
And according to Spotify, over 100,000 songs are being distributed to their platform everyday and about 4 million songs have never been streamed on Spotify ever since they were being distributed there.
This therefore means that, if you want to make money from any streaming platform, you must ensure your music has lots of streams.
How to distribute your music to streaming platforms.
To distribute your music to streaming platforms, you must choose a distributor, also known as an aggregator who will ensure your songs is uploaded to the streaming platforms.
It is worth noting that streaming platforms do not allow musicians to upload their songs directly to their platforms unless they pass through a distributor who is also known as an aggregator.
Some of the most popular streaming platforms are:
- Spotify.
- Apple music.
- Amazon Music
- eezer.
- Tidal.
- YouTube Music.
- SoundCloud.
- Pandora etc.
And the most notable distributors, also known as aggregators are:
- CD Baby.
- Distrokid.
- Tnecore.
- Amuse.
- Ditto Music.
- LANDR
- Awal.
- BandCamp etc.
However, there are certain steps you need to take into consideration when you want to distribute your song to streaming platforms and they are:
- Choose a distributor, also known as aggregator: Without a distributor, there is no way your music is gong to be uploaded on any streaming platform. It is however worth noting that the fees they charge differs so much and it mostly depends on how the percentage is shared between the musician and the distributor who will be the sole collector of the streams revenue from the streaming platforms.
- Upload your songs and artwork: There are specifications of file format when it comes to uploading your song on streaming platforms. The general ones will include your song being exported in a WAV or FLACC format and your artwork being designed in an RGB color type and exported in a higher resolution of 1500 by 1500 pixels.
- Input your song metadata: Your song metadata s simply the collection of information pertaining to your song file on a streaming platform, these usually includes Artist Name, Producer, Writer, Song Title, Release Date, Genre or Track Duration, to name a few.
- Select a release date: You will need to determine a release date for your song which often falls between a week, wo or more depending on the aggregator you are choosing.
- Collect your links after the release is out: Once the release is out, you are going to be notified by your distributor and its usually via an email, so you need to either visit the streaming stores to search for your links on their search engines or rely on your distributor to collect them for you. It is however worth noting that most of them will not collect the links for you.
- Promote your streaming links to get listeners: The fact that your song has been released to the streaming store does not mean that you are going to start making money from your music on streaming stores because if no one is listening to your song you will never be paid. And for that reason, you need to adopt several promotion strategies to ensure your song reaches potential listeners who are going to stream it.
Final thought.
We understand that most artists, especially here in my country Nigeria, are finding it very difficult to distribute their music to streaming stores and for that reason we are offering a service that enables us to distribute their music for them at an affordable price.
So use the WhatsApp link below or the contact form to reach out to us if you want us to help you distribute your music.
You can also call us on +2348132633812, +2348079974193.
Meanwhile, you can also check out some of the related article on this topic below:
Good luck!
