How much do musicians make from online music sales?

Short answer: an infinitesimally small amount.

If you have any sympathy for musicians you�ll buy their CDs from their web sites or at their performances. That�s pretty much the conclusion you�ll draw from a great attempt at quantifying musicians� pay rates in the online music business(es) by David McCandless of InformationIsBeautiful.net.

McCandless tried to determine how many songs or CDs a musician would need to sell in various ways to make the U.S. minimum wage ($1,600 per month). It was a tough project. He wrote: �As ever, this was incredibly difficult to research. Industry figures are hard to get hold of.�

The musician�s best deal: press and sell the CDs yourself (143 per month).

Second best deal: sell them on eBay (155 per month).

Worst deal: Spotify stream (4,540,020 per month).

Obviously Spotify makes the music available globally and selling CD�s from your own web site involves much less exposure. But four million a month?

McCandless acknowledges that his numbers are crude, but they are certainly an indication of what musicians face. It�s a good data point in the debate about piracy and the efforts of the Pirate Party to give creators less and consumers more.

Also, it�s another indication of why the successful working musician�s business model has always boiled down to: �work a lot of weddings and don�t quit the day job.�

McCandless blog here: �How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?�

Tom Kelchner