Leaked Data Shows Tidal’s Payouts Are Higher Than Spotify’s
A leaked report from an indie label suggests that Tidal pays an extra half-cent per stream.
UPDATE, 3:03 PM: According to Complex, a Tidal representative said "This is not one of Tidal's royalty statements. For the same period
(March 2015) as this purported 'leaked' statement, Tidal paid an average royalty per stream of $0.024-0.028, or double the royalty shown in the statement." This suggests that Tidal paid more than 3 times as much per stream as Spotify.
Tidal has been fighting an uphill battle since its inception: at this point, almost every aspect of Jay Z's new streaming service has faced criticism. (Sample headline: "I tried Tidal and it sucked.") But maybe public perception is due to change: according to a March earnings report from an unnamed indie label that leaked to Digital Music News, the amount of money that Tidal pays out per stream is more than one-and-a-half times the equivalent number for Spotify: 1.2 cents vs. .72 cents (the second number is the one reported on Spotify's website). It's still hard to imagine an artist making a living on that extra half cent—especially the unsigned artists Tidal says it wants to help—but this is a potentially positive piece of news for the embattled fledgling service.
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