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DSP Royalty Calculator: What Your Streams Actually Pay in 2026
Pick a platform, enter your streams, choose where they came from. The estimate uses 2026 industry per-stream averages and country revenue multipliers.
These numbers are estimates, and honest calculators say so. No platform pays a fixed rate per stream. Your real payout comes from a monthly revenue pool split by stream share, which is why the same million streams can pay out differently in March than it did in January. What this tool gives you is the realistic range, using the same industry averages distributors report against.
2026 per-stream rates by platform
| Platform | Est. per stream | Per 1,000 streams |
|---|---|---|
| Qobuz | $0.015 to $0.019 | $15.00 to $19.00 |
| Tidal | $0.012 to $0.015 | $12.00 to $15.00 |
| Apple Music | $0.006 to $0.010 | $6.00 to $10.00 |
| Deezer | about $0.0064 | about $6.40 |
| Spotify | $0.003 to $0.005 | $3.00 to $5.00 |
| Amazon Music | about $0.004 | about $4.00 |
| SoundCloud | about $0.003 | about $3.00 |
| YouTube Music | $0.001 to $0.002 | $1.00 to $2.00 |
| Pandora | about $0.0015 | about $1.50 |
The spread is more than 10x from top to bottom. Tidal and Qobuz pay the highest rates on the smallest audiences, Spotify pays among the lowest rates on by far the largest audience, and Apple Music sits in the middle on both. Rate and reach are different games: a great rate on a tiny listener base usually totals less than a modest rate at Spotify scale.
Country multipliers
Where the stream happens matters as much as the platform. A premium stream in the US, UK, or Norway can pay several times what a free-tier stream in a low-subscription-price market pays, because local subscription revenue funds the local royalty pool. The multipliers below are MPR estimates against a US baseline.
| Country | Multiplier vs US |
|---|---|
| Norway | 1.45x |
| United Kingdom | 1.10x |
| Germany | 1.05x |
| United States | 1.00x (baseline) |
| Netherlands | 1.00x |
| Canada | 0.95x |
| Australia | 0.95x |
| France | 0.85x |
| Japan | 0.80x |
| Global average | 0.80x |
| Portugal | 0.45x |
| Brazil | 0.30x |
| Mexico | 0.28x |
| India | 0.20x |
| Indonesia | 0.20x |
| Philippines | 0.20x |
| Nigeria | 0.12x |
How this calculator works
The estimate is simply platform rate x streams x country multiplier. Real-world payouts then move around that number based on four things: the free-versus-premium mix of your listeners (premium streams pay roughly two and a half to three times more), your distributor or label split, the platform's payout model, and minimum thresholds. Two platform rules worth knowing: Spotify pays nothing on tracks under 1,000 streams in a rolling 12-month window, and Deezer weights payouts toward artists with real, engaged audiences rather than a raw pooled split.
Treat the output as a planning number, not an invoice. If you're deciding where to focus promotion, the practical takeaway is that geography and listener quality move your income more than platform choice does.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my actual payout differ from this estimate?
Because per-stream rates aren't fixed. Payouts come from a monthly revenue pool split by stream share, then filtered through your distributor's cut and your listeners' free-versus-premium mix. This calculator gives you the realistic middle of the range, not a guarantee.
Which platform should I promote on if rates differ this much?
Usually the one where your audience actually is, which for most artists means Spotify despite its lower rate. Volume at scale beats rate on a small base. High-rate platforms like Tidal are worth distributing to (it costs nothing extra) but rarely worth dedicated promotion spend.
Do these rates include songwriting royalties?
No. This estimates the recording (master) side paid through your distributor. If you write your own songs, publishing and mechanical royalties are collected separately through a PRO or publishing administrator and come on top of these numbers.