Top iPad Music Apps (a/o May 23rd):
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It started with a simple question. But this is the email thread I had with Rhapsody on Tuesday morning, starting about 10am Pacific. If you want to see the actual email, it's here.
Digital Music News (Paul): How much does Rhapsody pay artists per stream? On any song?
Rhapsody (Jaimee Steele, Senior Director, Public Relations):
Hey, Paul -
Anything else you need? The secret formula for Coca-Cola? Colonel Sanders' blend of 11 herbs and spices?
Kidding aside, we can't disclose this, based on the terms of our agreements with the labels.
Jaimee
Digital Music News: Okay, so there is not one uniform rate, it varies depending on artist, label deal, etc.?
Rhapsody (Jaimee Steele):
Working on this.
Digital Music News: Okay, thanks.
Rhapsody (Jaimee Steele):
Here's what I can tell you:
We don't believe that any of the services pay artists directly. While we can't disclose details, we can confirm that yes, the per play rate we pay to labels (and publishers) varies depending on the nature of the stream (tier) and the details of the governing license agreements.
That said, we have a per play rate that is substantially higher than what we understand the ad-supported and other "free" services pay the same licensors.
I hope this helps!
jaimee
Digital Music News: So, what is the range that a stream gets, regardless of who exactly it is paid to?
Rhapsody (Jaimee Steele):
Hey, Paul -
I have given you what I can. I wish I could help you more!
Jaimee
Comments Closed
Dave Tuesday, October 04, 2011
yet another waste rip-off service, exploiting indies as much as they can.
Cliff Baldwin Tuesday, October 04, 2011
I'm not sure this problem is limited to the indies. If you are *on* a major label and not generating hundreds of thousands of spins on Spotify or Rhapsody or Rdio you probably aren't seeing any money from the exploitation of your music. The business model has changed. It goes something like this:
1. Make music perceived as free and unlimited as ubiquitous as possible (ie via Facebook).
2. Get a stake in the companies that are distributing it and marketing it (ie Spotify, Ad Serving Networks, Facebook if you can)
3. Sit back and let the tech/social media/advertising companies use the music to drive advertising revenues through the roof and add to their company valuations.
Tip the artists on the way out as you cash out on your investments and sail off into the sunset.
That's the game. And everyone had better learn how to play it.
Cowardly stranger Wednesday, October 05, 2011
That is just about the most precise sitrep written so far about the idea behind Spotify rhapsody etc..... Congrats.
Some Dude Wednesday, October 05, 2011
You nailed it.
Dissertation writers Wednesday, February 08, 2012
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@BenjiKRogers Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Benji Rogers
it's going to kick off!
HansH Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Paul, why not contact an indie artist with music on Rhapsody?
I don't have any data on Rhapsody payouts.
Napster UK paid 0.0156 Euro per stream in October 2010.
Napster Germany paid 0.009 Euro per stream this year.
And how about the Danish 24/7 TDC Play? 0.048 Euro per play early this year.
But we have to take the number of subscribers into account. Chances of your song being streamed are bigger when a service has more users.
big edd Tuesday, October 04, 2011
wow please fwd that email xtatuz@gmail.com
paul Tuesday, October 04, 2011
NathanJE Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Uh.. What? So instead of Rhapsody telling us the number or being transparant we're supposed to ask every indie artist and make some patchwork guess? There's a phrase for this: Lack of Transparancy!
Jonathan Segel Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Hi,
I play in Camper Van Beethoven, and indie band for the past 28 years, also a solo artist during this time. I just got a SoundExchange payment, who collect for web plays, so I can give a ballpark estimate of some things as it's still in my memory. Also, I am a BMI registered artist, and they *somewhat* elucidate where the pennies come from via webcasting im the statements.
In my personal statement for music made outside of CVB, I get about $20 per quarter from SoundExchange. Of this, about $18.50 is from Pandora. Rhapsody and e-music account for about $0.50 --max. usually a few pennies..
In BMI statements, even for CVB, these are similarly below $1.00 typically.
So, this is for spins in the thousands, like maybe 2-4000 for the quarter. I will try to get info on CVB if I can...
Wheee! love the internet, don't you?
@YataForLuda Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Yata for Luda
Rhapsody is Screwed!!
yv Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Let's boycott Rhapsody. Their plans to pulp Napster (after the acquisition of Napster in November 2011) sucks too. Currently i am a Napster To Go subscriber and as soon as they transfer me to Rhapsody (on December 1st?) i will cancel my Napster (=Rhapsody) subscription.
Rhapsody?? They suck.
/yv
@madktc Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Matt Downes
Streaming payouts are as gray as the NCAA college football playoff system.
Thanks Paul!
Dane Spencer Tuesday, October 04, 2011
I can show you my streaming statements they pay anywhere from 3 cents to 5 cents per stream. Now what the labels get is another story.
Math Lesson Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Try shifting the decimal place a few slots over and fire your accountant while you're at it.
HansH Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Dane, would love to have a look at your statements. You can send them to hans[at]spotidj.com
Brenda Tuesday, October 04, 2011
I sell streams on Rhapsody through CDBaby.com. Here is a copy of my CDBaby accounting data for my most recent Rhapsody streams, as reported by CDBaby on 1/1/2011:
For what it's worth...
Brenda Elthon (aka, @onapoleon )
http://soundcloud.com/brendaelthon
HansH Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Thanks Brenda. That's the way to do it.
Is Rhapsody the only streaming service you use? Would love to find out what the others pay you.
Brenda Elthon Sunday, October 09, 2011
Hello, Hans. Contact me at Brenda@brendaelthon.com, identify yourself and your organization, and I will discuss other payments from streamers with you.
@RapCoalition Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Wendy Day
...Got the industry run around...
Hagen Wednesday, October 05, 2011
I think people here are confusing the terms "artists" and "songwriters". "Artists" do not get paid any royalties for songs inless they are also the "songwriters" on said composition. Also, who cares what songwriters are getting paid for Rhapsody? Why are people surprised that Rhapsody is not giving details of a confidential agreement? Publishers do not disclose advances given to songwriters or %'s taken for administration.
REMatwork Wednesday, October 05, 2011
BWA-ha-ha-ha-ha!
SamR @ Projekt.com Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Hi All, I just pulled a report. Rhapsody pays IRIS (Projekt's Digital Distributor) 1¢ a stream. This is 7-fold better than Spotify.
Maxwellian Wednesday, October 05, 2011
post this report for us please?
HansH Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Nice Sam, in my case it is twice as much but still. Would love to see your statements.
HansH Thursday, October 06, 2011
@SamR
Come to think of it. Have you contacted IRIS for information about the pay outs? They have made the deals with the streaming services. You are a customer of IRIS and have the right to know how these pay outs add up.
Why not put some pressure on IRIS. Ask them why Zimbalam can pay me € 0.004 per stream and they pay you far less.
This is getting more interesting every day!
Ignacio Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Welcome to music industry town hall.
@KeyMediaPR Wednesday, October 05, 2011
KeyMedia PR
messy
@McLff Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Emmett McAuliffe
interesting exchange
@stacifrenes Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Staci Frenes
songwriters/artists: this is what's wrong with online music streaming.
dhenn Wednesday, October 05, 2011
my most recent CD Baby statement gives me either $0.01 or $0.02 per digital distribution sales. why the difference? who knows?
dhenn Wednesday, October 05, 2011
my most recent CD Baby statement list Rhapsody as paying me $0.01 or $0.02 per digital distribution sales. why the difference? who knows? but yes, as someone else pointed out this is their payment to me as a label (artist), not songwriter. it's still up to me (label) to pay the publishing if i didn't write the song.
HansH Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Would be nice if you can put this statement online so we all can check and maybe find the answer.
@BigChampagne Wednesday, October 05, 2011
BigChampagne.com
So, will mysterious artist payment terms really plague streaming music services or is this just a teapot tempest?
Maurice Wednesday, October 05, 2011
The funny things is that even though as artist we understand they are stealing from us. The question is why we deal with the slavery tactics? Why?
TimH Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Paul,
Can you ask Spotify what they pay artists? Would be interested to see what they're paying out compared to some of the statements in this thread.
paul Wednesday, October 05, 2011
@TimH
We asked about specific, detailed payouts shared by Projekt, in particular a $0.00029 per stream royalty. This was Spotify's response.
"Spotify does not sell streams, but access to music. Users pay for this access either via a subscription fee or with their ear time via the ad-supported service [just like commercial radio] - they do not pay per stream. In other words, Spotify is not a unit based business and it does not make sense to look at revenues from Spotify from a per stream or other music unit-based point of view. Instead, one must look at the overall revenues that Spotify is generating, and how these revenues grow over time."
http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/093011spotifyresponds
/paul
Josh Wednesday, October 05, 2011
I hate to accuse anyone of bias, but this is ridiculous. Spotify hasn't told anyone how much they pay; this information was revealed by the labels. You think Spotify would tell you if you asked, before other people started spouting off about it?
What does DMN like so much about Spotify that it doesn't like about Rhapsody?
paul Wednesday, October 05, 2011
@Josh
I'm not sure I understand. We asked both: the Spotify question right above, and this article details our questioning of Rhapsody. Both gave us non-answers.
So what's the difference?
/paul
TimH Thursday, October 06, 2011
Solid response from Spotify turning the question into something related to their revenues vs. the question around royalty payouts to artists. Talk to the labels to get the real answer Paul.
Cameron Mizell Thursday, October 06, 2011
I too distribute my music through CD Baby and receive $0.0091 per stream, which means Rhapsody pays CD Baby $0.01, CD Baby keeps 9% as the distributor and pays the rest to the artists.
When health advocates want to make a statement about the perils of fast food, they usually use McDonald's as their example because they're the biggest and most widely known fast food chain.
Rhapsody and Spotify are similar, but Spotify seems to be the making a bigger splash in the news and is gaining more traction than Rhapsody managed to do when it initially launched their streaming service.
Rhapsody has been around much longer than Spotify, but their small payouts never seemed to bother anybody. They were just a blip on my digital revenue radar. Spotify, however, is being lauded as a fix for the music industry, and the need for transparency is more important than ever.
Thanks for the investigation, Paul, the more this is discussed the better things will be in the long run for all parties.
Casey Shafer Sunday, October 09, 2011
I own an SF based label called Burning House Records and this is a report from Rhapsody. Thought this might help.
[full size here]
zoom in:
HansH Monday, October 10, 2011
Hi Casey, thanks a bunch for sharing this. It confirms the data I have collected so far. See
Is the payment per stream you get from Rhapsody the same every month or do they recalculate every month like Spotify does?
Should you have more info on the payments by other services may be you can share this as well? Would be great.
HansH Monday, October 10, 2011
CD Baby sure has mysterious statements. I just received this one.
8 differents payments for the same song on the same date! Can anyone explain?
Though I must say that it is good to see that most plays were rewarded with more than $ 0.009.
David Harrell Monday, October 10, 2011
As others have noted above, Rhapsody pays a penny per stream for CD Baby- and TuneCore-distributed material. It also makes smaller per-stream payments to composers/publishers. I posted some details here:
http://digitalaudioinsider.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-much-does-rhapsody-pay-artists.html
Karen Sizemore Monday, October 10, 2011
Hey Paul, where's your coverage..ANY COVERAGE...on the FRAUD and deceptive figures that keep generating from Groupon? Not one word on your site. Is that because one of the owners of DMN has his hand in the til over at Groupon thru the Live Nation Jointventure? Think so. he won't let you tell what's happening? Even though all the other online outlets like All ThingsD, TEchcrunch, etc have run at least ten stories in past 2 weeks? About the lack of transparency, and honesty in reporting numbers coming from all corners of Groupon and why their IPO stalled? And SEC make them RESTATE all the figures again, truthful this time? And why industry insiders are doubting the figures given by Live Nation about the JV this past summer, a big sham, no where close to the "400,000 offers bought' as claimed by LNE. Birds of a feather, huh. How bout some coverage unless your hands are tied by BigChampagne and its owners who are all in collusion on this one and trying to stay off the media's radar. Like to see some honest and FREE Journalism on DMN, c'mon dude.
Jack Hawkins Wednesday, November 30, 2011
How about a massive class-action lawsuit to convert Rhapsody into an honest business? That's the only thing they will understand or respond to.
aweymier Tuesday, December 20, 2011
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