Aside from Radio spin royalties generated by the efforts of a major Radio Airplay Network Campaign, a recording artist can potentially earn significant royalties these days from streaming of their digital music releases. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has now introduced video and audio streaming equivalents into its Album Award methodology for the first time.

Effective in 2017, plays on such platforms as YouTube, Vevo, Apple Music and Spotify in the US count towards the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum Album Awards which are awarded to an artist at these sales levels:

500,000 sales - Gold
1,000,000 sales  - Platinum
2,000,000-plus sales - Multi-Platinum

The RIAA inclusion of music streams into its sales calculation is as follows:

*1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale

​

Here's a detailed pro forma breakdown of royalties you could potentially earn per stream, from 5 Streaming Music Platforms, including the Top 3 music services, Spotify, YouTube & Apple Music.

1 Stream on YouTube = $0.00069
1 Stream on Spotify = $0.00437
1 Stream on Apple Music = $0.00735
1 Stream on TIdal = $0.01250
1 Stream on Amazon Music = $0.00402

1 Million Streams on YouTube = $690
1 Million Streams on Spotify = $4370
1 Million Streams on Apple Music = $7350
1 Million Streams on Tidal = $12,500
1 Million Streams on Amazon Music = $4020

150 streams = 1 Song Download ($0.99-$1.29 Equivalent)
1500 streams = 1 Album Sale (10 Tracks / $9.99 Equivalent)

75 Million Streams = 500,000 Singles Sold (RIAA Gold)
150 Million Streams = 1 Million Singles Sold (RIAA Platinum)
1.5 Billion Streams = 1 Million Albums Sold (RIAA Platinum)

If you go RIAA Platinum on YouTube, you will recieve = $103,500
If you go RIAA Platinum on Spotify, you will recieve= $655,550
If you go RIAA Platinum on Apple Music, you will get = $1,102,500