Better than YouTube, but that isn't saying much

Advertisement for Spotify featuring Justin Timberlake, Burrard SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, BC

Vinyl was supposed to be dead. But in 2015 sales of vinyl in the UK were the highest since 1994. In 2015 UK artists earned  £25.1 million from sales of vinyl, which is more than than the £24.4 million they received from YouTube and similar services. 

In 2015 Spotify and Deezer did cough up more (£146.1 million) to UK artists, but the amount per play is very low. According to a story in Time, Spotify pays between $0.006 and $0.0084 USD per play. A Spotify user would have to listen to an song over 3,000 times before the artist would make the same amount that they would from a single CD sale. 

Justin has made over $20,000 from Spotify in Canada. That is small change for him, but many smaller artists feel that Spotify, and similar services are using their work without providing fair compensation. 

This story is not over yet.