Streaming Royalty Calculator
Estimate what a given number of streams is worth on each major platform, apply your ownership share and distribution cut, then split the result between collaborators.
Estimated earnings
Useful reference points
Split between collaborators
- $204.00
- $136.00
Total: 100.0% — balanced
Rates are widely reported industry mid-points, not contractual figures. No platform guarantees a per-stream rate, and your actual statement will differ. Treat every number here as a planning estimate.
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How streaming royalties are actually calculated
Almost nobody is paid per stream, despite the whole industry talking in per-stream rates. The dominant model is pro-rata revenue sharing. A platform totals its subscription and advertising revenue for a territory over a period, keeps its cut — typically around 30% — and pays the rest out to rights holders in proportion to their share of the total streams in that pool. Divide what you received by the streams you generated and you get a per-stream rate, but that rate is an outcome, not an input.
This is why the same track can earn very different amounts in two consecutive months, and why a stream from a paying subscriber in a high-revenue country can be worth ten times a stream from a free-tier listener elsewhere. It is also why any calculator, including this one, can only give you a bracket.
Then the deductions happen. Your distributor takes a commission or a flat fee. If you are on a label, the contract splits what remains. If there are featured artists or producer points, those come out too. The number you see in your bank account is usually a good deal smaller than the gross figure, which is why this tool asks for your ownership share and distribution cut separately.
What actually moves the number
Chasing per-stream rates is mostly wasted effort — you do not control them. What you do control is where the streams come from and how many of them there are, and those two things have far more impact than platform choice.
Saves, playlist adds and repeat listens all signal engagement, and engaged listeners generate far more streams per person than passive ones. A thousand people who add your track to their own playlist are worth more over a year than fifty thousand passive plays from an algorithmic placement that never returns.
- Editorial and algorithmic placement drives volume; fan playlists drive repeat volume
- Paid-tier listeners in high-revenue territories are worth several times free-tier listeners
- Publishing royalties are a separate income stream — register with a PRO
- Sync licensing, merchandise and live income routinely dwarf streaming for independents
Agreeing splits before the money arrives
The single most common source of conflict in independent music is an undocumented split. Everyone remembers the session differently a year later, and by then there is money involved. Agree percentages in writing when the track is finished, while everyone still agrees what happened, and keep the document somewhere you can find it.
Use the splitter below to sanity-check that the shares total 100% and to see what each person receives at your estimated earnings. Master splits and songwriting splits are separate agreements and frequently have different percentages — the person who produced the beat and the person who wrote the topline do not necessarily hold the same share of each.
Frequently asked questions
Because there is no fixed per-stream rate. Every major service pays from a revenue pool: it takes the subscription and advertising money for a territory and a period, keeps its share, and divides the rest between rights holders according to their share of total streams. Your effective rate therefore depends on where your listeners are, whether they pay, and how much everyone else streamed that month. A range is the honest answer.