Do You Actually Make Money From Music Streaming Services?

A lot of people are often curious and ask me, “Do you actually make money from Spotify or Apple Music?”  My short answer to them is “Yes, some.”

Every time a song is streamed, a fraction of a cent is earned – (so obviously, the more streams, the merrier). That fraction depends upon a number of factors like which streaming service it is, whether the listener is a paid subscriber or free user with ads, etc. Of the most popular services Tidal pays the best by far. Apple Music and Amazon are tied next, with Spotify just behind them paying slightly less. The biggest loser is YouTube, which pays poorly compared to the others. To give you an idea, to earn $100 you need 20,000 streams on Apple Music and 25,000 streams on Spotify. Or put a different way, the top 5 songs on Michael Jackson’s Spotify have earned a bit over $7 million.

Here’s an example based on my own listening. Last year I became totally obsessed with the soundtrack to Tolkien by Thomas Newman. I think it became my ‘subway’ music for about 2 months straight. So let’s suppose I got through the full album (25 tracks) once a day for 60 days. That means I had a total of about 1,500 streams. So I paid Thomas Newman $6 for what I would consider to be an amazing piece of work. Not too great. Damn, writing this has now made me feel like a jerk. That said, if 10,000 people listen to it the way I did, the number becomes $60,000. So as I mentioned before, it’s very much a numbers game.

So I guess in conclusion unless you listen to music a freakish amount, the best way to support a musician / artist / composer / band who’s music you love is still to buy it – from their website or online stores like Bandcamp. It’s almost more a gesture of support and respect than a means to hear the music. I’ve definitely bought albums out of support and then turned around and just streamed them. Convenience is definitely King. I’m well aware that these days most people simply aren’t going to buy the majority of the music they listen to. However, even just sharing what you find and play regularly with friends and family is super helpful, hopefully creating a snowball effect of new listeners. And actually, it’s really cool to see a huge ecosystem of user-created playlists that has formed for exactly this purpose!

I don’t say all of this begrudgingly it’s just the reality. It is certainly a lot easier to convince people to press PLAY than it is to press PAY and open their wallets. So to that end, this access model has definitely allowed my music to reach far more people. However I don’t think we develop the same relationship with the music we stream that we used to by owning it and really becoming invested in the humans behind it.

One last thought while I’m on the topic. If it seems like you’re bombarded by the plethora of music streaming services out there and wondering: “Why should I choose this one over that one?” I found a cool article on the topic that’s very extensive, properly researched, and well-written: Best Music Streaming Services Based on In-Depth Reviews. It could be a good starting point and offer some insight for you depending which features are most important to you!

When And How Did 'Music Within' Begin?

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I began learning to play the piano when I was six years old. My parents weren’t musical themselves but they saw the value of having my sister and I learn an instrument. I can’t thank them enough! Studying classical piano for those 10 years definitely opened up many doors for me. As the years went by, I picked up the trombone and guitar, playing in my school’s concert and jazz bands, many personal Rock bands and even the Niagara Youth Orchestra.

[Fun Fact: Growing up my favourite piece to play on piano was Sonata in A by Friedrich Kuhlau].

When it came time to choosing a life path, funny enough though, I actually headed down the road to becoming an engineer (like math and science engineer, not audio engineer). However, after a few years I knew that I had to make music more than a hobby or I might never be happy. So, after a yearlong audio production program at the Harris Institute, I got hooked up with a music publishing company in Toronto called Bedtracks. Over the course of a 6-month internship I began learning the ropes there, writing music for T.V. shows, documentaries and advertisements. The internship was a stepping-stone from which I dove headfirst into a career as a music composer.

At some point around 2016, I realized that I had all of this music that I’d written and was proud of but had no way to share it with the world. So, initially, ‘Music Within’ was born as an avenue to share some of my work; kind of like a portfolio of albums. Those first albums showcase my favourite compositions in some of the different styles that I’ve written in:

• ‘Ripple of Time’ – Classical Piano & Strings

• ‘Awaken’ ­– Ambient

• ‘Endless Stories’ – Light Cinematic

• ‘Places I’ve Never Been’ – Folk & Acoustic

Over time ‘Music Within’ has evolved into more than just a portfolio of my compositions made for media. Now in addition to that, it’s also another artistic outlet for me to use to write music just for music’s sake. My newest album ‘Finding Stillness’ is a good example of this. It wasn’t written so much with visuals in mind, as with an aim to help people find some quiet and calm in this fast-paced, stressful world – a soft reminder to slow down.

Have a listen! I hope you can find the same kind of peace in listening to ‘Finding Stillness’ that I did in making it.  

So What Is 'Music Within' Anyways?

It began with the simple question: "How can I share my music with the world?"

Hey, I'm Rob McAllister. I'm a composer, artist, and multi-instrumentalist based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

After about six years of composing music, writing mainly for film, advertising, & television, I realized that I had no avenue to share my music with the world. Outside of the films, ads, and TV shows where my music was being used to support the picture, there was no place to hear my compositions. I wanted people to be able to listen to my music simply as music, and to allow the pieces speak for themselves. I wanted people to close their eyes while listening and imagine their own stories inspired by the music.  

Music Within is that avenue that I was looking for to share my compositions. It's the artist moniker that I now use when releasing my music to the world, and it’s become one of my main artistic channels. In late 2017, I released 8 albums as Music Within, featuring the music that I was most proud of from my previous years of writing (I’ll have a blog post with more details for each album soon). On September 14th 2018, I released my newest album called ‘Finding Stillness’.  It features soft, dreamy, slow-moving, ambient-cinematic compositions suited for deep focus, meditation, relaxation, and sleep. I'm really excited about it!

And so it began with the simple question: ‘How can I share my music with the world?’ But in searching for that answer, it has actually opened up so many possibilities and has become so much more. I’ve inadvertently found more clarity and direction about where I want to go as a composer and an artist throughout this process. I’ve realized I love to score music to picture and that I don't want to move away from it. But at the same time, I love to create music that tells its own story and is not tied to any images whatsoever. Ultimately, I think I've realized that I'd like to strike a balance between composing music for picture and composing music as an instrumental artist. Regardless of this though, I want my music to move people. I really want to strive to work with live musicians as much as possible to create exceptional compositions that people love.

Music Within is an evolving thing and honestly I'm still figuring out exactly what it is and where it's going. I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Listen and Follow on Spotify!