Even legends aren’t immune to the harsh reality of music streaming economics.
Snoop Dogg recently disclosed that his 1 billion streams on Spotify only resulted in earnings of less than $45,000. This revelation was shared on the “Business Untitled” podcast in December 2023.
However, there’s more to it than meets the eye. There are many reasons why the famous rapper only earned this much and he has also already made a way to workaround the issue.
Unpacking Spotify’s Royalty Distribution: Why Snoop’s Share Was So Low
Spotify usually pays around $0.0032 per stream.
However, this amount is significantly reduced as it is divided among various stakeholders. This includes record labels, publishers, managers, and the artists themselves. Snoop Dogg’s situation is a great example of this.
If we simply calculate Spotify’s pay-per-stream rate and multiply it by 1 billion streams, it would amount to around $3.2 million. But an artist will only receive this full amount if they are not signed to any label and if they own all the rights to their music.
The platform also distributes net revenue from Premium subscription fees and ads to rightsholders only after deducting payments for taxes, credit card processing fees, billing, sales commissions, and other expenses.
Plus, not all streams are treated equally. Spotify pays more for streams from Premium subscribers than free users. So, we can assume some of the 1 Billion streams have less value.
Unfortunately for Snoop Dogg, the song in question, “Young, Wild and Free,” has 17 credited songwriters. It also has many more credited producers, which dilute individual royalty shares.
Until acquiring Death Row Records in 2022, Snoop Dogg did not own the full rights to his music. So, his earnings depended on his agreement with his label regarding his shares in streaming royalties.
Snoop Dogg’s Strategy
In 2022, Snoop Dogg acquired Death Row Records, the label that helped establish his fame. This didn’t just give him more control over his past music but also led him into the NFT world.
He removed the songs under Death Row Records from streaming platforms and made them exclusive to the metaverse. This resulted in a $40 million profit in 2022.
His son, Cordell Broadus, greatly influenced his transition to this digital realm. Cordell helped change his perspective by discussing the importance of viewing unauthorized uses of his image as opportunities for collaboration rather than violations.
“In the beginning, it was a bunch of motherf–kers just using my name, my face, and just doing all kind of sh-t.” he shares.
“He (Cordell) said, ‘You can’t be mad because if they use your face and your likeness. They love you. They just don’t know how they get in touch with you. So what you should do is reach out to them and say thanks or good looking out, or do you want to collaborate?’”
Snoop Dogg also shared his discovery with other artists, offering an alternative to the traditional streaming model that often pays artists very little.
For example, he takes 60% for distribution and leaves 40% for the artist, which could often result in substantial earnings.