| "Spotify pays [rights holders] between $0.003 - $0.005 per stream[1]" - let's take $0.004. Assuming an album costs $10 to the customer, with approximately a 5% sales tax[2] and 25% margin[3], and there are 10 tracks per album, the nominal comparative cost per track is somewhere around $1-0.75/track. That means that the 'break even' point between Spotify and buying an album is around 200-250 listens. I think this is a bit on the high side, but bear in mind that this doesn't take into consideration that a) those 200-250 listens may be spread across multiple owners of a CD (if it's sold as second-hand), b) Spotify encourages people to listen to music that they otherwise would not have bought, c) Spotify monetises otherwise 'free' listens, whether it be radio, LimeWire, etc. Spherical cows in a vacuum, etc., but on balance I think that 200-250 listens to a track is not a bad break even point. [1]: https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per... [2]: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/sales-tax-b... [3]: https://howtostartanllc.com/business-ideas/record-store |