The rates streaming services pay aren't up to DistroKid, and we have no control over changing them. We just pass along the exact amounts that services send to us. DistroKid has and always will pass on 100% of the earnings that services send us for your streams/sales, minus banking fees/applicable taxes.

Why do streaming rates vary?

Streaming rates vary because there are many factors that services use to calculate what you’re owed, and rate calculations vary from service to service. Some things that services use to calculate rates include (but are not limited to):

• Quantity of streams/downloads
• Territory
• Subscription type (free vs paid subscription)
• Ad/subscription revenue

The Pro Rata Model

Most services distribute earnings using the pro rata model. With this model, all the revenue from a product tier is pooled together, and a percentage of that revenue is set aside for artists. That remaining revenue is then allocated to songs based on their share of the total streams that took place on that product tier.

Example:

A service has $1,000 to distribute for their paid subscription tier that accumulated 10 million total streams for the month. Of the 10 million streams in total, your song was streamed 1,500 times.

• 1,500/10,000,000*$1,000= $0.15 owed

Please note that the above example is not based on any real service, and each service has their own method of applying the pro rata model. For example, Spotify has a great video that explains how earnings are calculated on their end: How Spotify Pays You

Sales vs Streams

For services that sell digital downloads instead of streaming, it's typical for the service to take a percentage of the sale, often up to 30%, with the artist receiving the remaining 70%. However, this percentage may vary by service.