For fun, we wondered how much historic music composers would be paid today for their steams.
Using the $0.0037 Spotify per stream payout as well as Spotify’s reported listener stats by artist, the three top legacy composer earners would be:
- J. S. Bach ($268K)
- Beethoven ($237K)
- Mozart ($235K)
Perspective
It’s no secret that the business of music-making remains a challenge for regular artists.
According to a 2020 report by Maple Syrup, 184,500 artists made over $1K on Spotify. Only 42,100 made over $10K. Further down, 13,400 people made over $50K and over 7,000 people made over $100K. Only 870 artists worldwide made over $1M.
Lonely at the top
Spotify’s top three artists in 2021:
- Drake ($114M)
- Bad Bunny (87.8M)
- Ed Sheran ($87.7M)
Michael Vincent is the Founder and General Manager Ludwig Van. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 20 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.
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