Apple Music royalties calculator: pay per stream in 2026

What Apple Music pays per stream in 2026

Apple's own figure (about $0.01) is a 2020 average for individual paid plans that includes label and publisher royalties; independent payout data sits lower, at $0.0062 in Duetti's 2024 figures. The table shows what that range means for common totals and three typical distributor cuts.

Rate: $0.0062 to $0.0100 per stream ($6.20 to $10.00 per 1,000), sources 1 2 3 4. Distributor cuts: 0% is DistroKid's subscription model 1, 9% is CD Baby 1, 15% is RouteNote Free 1 and AWAL 1. All checked 15 October 2026. If you are signed to a label, multiply the last columns by your royalty rate.

How Apple Music pays

Apple pays from subscription money only, because there is no free tier. In a 2021 letter to artists Apple said it pays the same 52% headline rate to every label, and that the value of a play "averaged $0.01 for Apple Music individual paid plans in 2020" (the letter). Two things make that cent bigger than what reaches an independent artist's recording: it includes publishing royalties, and it is an individual-plan average, while Apple says the value "varies by subscription plan and country".

Independent master owners saw $6.2 per 1,000 in Duetti's 2024 data (Duetti), and a distributor calculator gives $8.04 to $9.82 (LANDR). That is why the range starts at $0.0062 and not at Apple's cent.

Why it is a range, not one number

No source measures every Apple Music payment, and each one covers different countries, years and plans. Here is what each says, word for word. The low end of our range is the lowest credible recent figure and the high end the highest.

No free tier, so every play is a paid play

Apple Music has no ad-supported tier, so it has none of the very low free streams that pull other averages down. That is the main reason it pays more per stream than Spotify. Per-stream rates are not totals, though: if more of your listeners are on Spotify, as they are for many independent artists, Spotify still brings in more money.

We found no named, dated source for Apple Music pay by listener country, so this calculator uses the worldwide range for Apple Music in every country.

Worked examples

• 1 million streams on Apple Music pays about $6,200 to $10,000 to the rights holder. After a 15% distributor cut you keep $5,270 to $8,500.
• 100,000 streams pays about $620 to $1,000; 10,000 pays about $62 to $100.
• $1,000 takes about 100,000 to 161,000 streams with a 0% cut.
• Rent of $1,500 a month takes about 150,000 to 242,000 streams every month, before tax.
• A 50/50 split with a producer on 1 million streams: each of you gets about $3,100 to $5,000. Add collaborators in the calculator to see each person's share.

What these figures leave out

Every number here is the recording (master) side: what the platform pays the account that owns the recording, usually your distributor account. Songwriting money is separate. Mechanical and performance royalties for the composition go to the publisher, collection society or PRO, and US radio-style plays also earn SoundExchange money. None of that is in these figures, so a songwriter who owns their masters earns more than the table shows.