> Sure, as long as your favourite artist doesn't receive money from anyone who doesn't listen to him.
Yes.
> All the money from a small percentage of people or a small percentage of money from everyone is the same.
Only if you assume that people with lots of hours listen to the same mix of artists as people with few to medium hours. If accounts that are left on all day have a bias, then they will steer everyone's money in the direction of that bias.
> Only if you assume that people with lots of hours listen to the same mix of artists as people with few to medium hours.
That's the big assumption, which is most likely false. Even though it's not allowed, entities like gyms or bars have the top40 on repeat throughout the day.
Yes, this seems correct to me by simple commutation of arithmetic.
Although there is a problem that "money paid per user per month is fixed", "per-stream payout is fixed", and "money allocated to recipients matches in proportion to plays" cannot all be true at the same time.
Are people asking for (in the limit case) paying £10 to spotify for a month and listening to exactly one track once by Taylor Swift to result in a single royalty payment of X% of £10 to Taylor Swift?
Yes.
> All the money from a small percentage of people or a small percentage of money from everyone is the same.
Only if you assume that people with lots of hours listen to the same mix of artists as people with few to medium hours. If accounts that are left on all day have a bias, then they will steer everyone's money in the direction of that bias.