Reports have been released about the updated royalty payouts for indie artists and can you believe of all people Napster topped the list with the biggest payout?

Data analysis giant Information Is Beautiful compared eight major music streaming services: Napster, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, TIDAL, Google Play, Deezer, and Spotify:

Napster topped this year’s list with the highest artist revenue paid out per play.  For a single stream, Napster paid out $0.0167.  Compared to its competitors, however, the platform has the second-lowest amount of total users: 5 million.  So it can be difficult to scale that per-play number, but great if you assemble a core Napster following.

To earn minimum wage, an artist would need 90,000 plays on the platform this year.

But why does Napster have higher payouts?  The answer may be that the service doesn’t have a free tier.  In 2015, a Napster spokesperson told TechRadar that a freemium business model simply “isn’t sustainable.”

Coming in at number 2 for highest paid out royalties is Jay Z’s TIDAL.

Despite Jay Z’s massive star power, users have yet to flock to the high-fidelity streaming service.  The company last reported around 4 million users, though it may have inflated its total subscription numbers. The Jay Z-owned streamer pays out $0.0125 per stream.  An artist on the platform would need 120,000 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.

Get the full breakdown list here: Read More