Per-stream rate is the number everyone quotes and the least useful one available. Here is a plainer description of the path money takes. Specifics vary by service, territory and contract, so treat this as the shape of the system rather than a rate card.
There is no fixed rate
Most services do not pay a set amount per play. They pool subscription and advertising revenue for a period, take their cut, and divide the remainder among rights holders according to share of total streams. Your payment therefore depends on how much everyone else was streamed that month, not just on your own plays. A quiet month across the service can raise your effective rate; a huge release by someone else can lower it.
The money splits in two before it reaches anyone
Every track carries two separate copyrights: the recording, and the underlying composition. Those are paid separately, often to different parties, sometimes through different intermediaries. Artists who own the recording but signed away publishing — or the reverse — see only part of what the track earns.
Where independents lose money quietly
Usually not in the headline rate. Usually in unregistered compositions that never get matched to their writer, in distributor fees taken before the split, and in collection societies holding royalties nobody has claimed. Registering your works properly is unglamorous and it is where a meaningful share of missing income actually sits.
What to check
Know which of the two copyrights you control. Know your distributor’s fee structure and whether it is a percentage or a flat rate. Make sure every composition is registered with a collection society, including features. And read what your statements actually itemise — most disputes come down to a line nobody looked at.
This is a primer, not advice on your deal. If real money is involved, have someone qualified read the contract.
