Taproot drummer Jarrod Montague has offered some insight into exactly how much a musician makes through streaming services in a social media post breaking down his streaming royalty payouts for the last quarter of 2023.
While streaming has become one of the primary ways in which audiences consume music, it’s been a frequent talking point amongst artists since streaming came to prominence that the financial compensation hasn’t measured up to what you might expect.
In his posting, Montague posts his 2023 streaming royalties, telling fans, “You all have enjoyed seeing these in the past: my royalty payouts from various outlets for Taproot music played between Oct and Dec 2023. I made $0.01 on Snapchat! My kids will be so proud. Thanks for listening!”
About Taproot
The Michigan-based band Taproot broke on the music scene with a lot of buzz behind their 2000 debut album Gift at the height of the nu-metal era. With a solid showing off the first album, their sophomore set Welcome earned them their highest chart position, peaking at No. 17 in 2002. Their two successive albums in the 2000s – Blue Sky Research and Our Long Road Home – peaked at No. 33 and No. 65 respectively, before their next two albums saw a decline outside of the Top 100.
They might never have been the biggest of bands in the genre, but have remained a steady recording and touring band into the early 2010s. The last decade has seen sporadic activity, and in 2023 they released their first album in 11 years.
At present, they have over 263,000 monthly listeners on their Spotify channel.
In the past, Montague, who had left the band in 2008 only to return for guest appearances and rejoining the band in 2023, had shared that the group had a 30/30/20/20 split on royalties with the two primary songwriters earning the larger share.
Who’s Paying What?
The small streaming returns narrative has been circulating for some time, but Montague’s sharing of his ASCAP royalty returns for October to December of last year shows how minimal things can actually be.
READ MORE: The Percentage of Music on Streaming Services in 2023 That Was Never Played Is Staggering
As the drummer previously stated, the $0.01 from Snapchat is the low end of the spectrum. A $58.30 sum from Apple subscriptions was the high mark. Only two sources of income on the list resulted in payouts of over $5,00, while 17 of the 27 listed came in at under $1.00.
The 70 Rock + Metal Songs With Over One Billion Spotify Streams
Recapping the rock and metal songs that have eclipsed one billion streams on Spotify.
NOT INCLUDED: The definition of rock is incredibly broad today and, in this list, we’ve elected not to include pop/rock acts such as Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, Twenty One Pilots, 5 Seconds of Summer, Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls, Gym Class Heroes and Train.
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita