We just got our latest online music statement through, and we are excited that we have just passed the 40,000 streams mark! Thanks for everyone who has supported us! The online / digital music world is new to us and a lot of artists, and also relatively new to the listening public. We thought it might be of interest to share our latest statement so that music listeners know what sort of income is being generated by artists through platforms such as iTunes, Spotify and Google Music, and why the sale of physical CDs is so important for artists.

After paying GST, royalty fee’s for cover songs (to APRA), the cost of manufacturing the CD and shipping, we make around $9 from the $20 price of each physical CD sold.

For online albums, you can see on the last line that we received $0.92 for one album sale and two streams.

In terms of what it costs to have music online, we pay around US$150 PA to the distributor and an additional USD$340 in licensing and processing fees to have them put on iTunes and all the other major platforms which includes between 50 and 1000 streams. Above the specified streams, we have to pay a licensing fee US$0.09 per cover per play. So it turns out that we are actually paying to have our music online, as is the listener, and possibly the advertiser too!

We are only brand new to this, and so maybe it will all work out in the end, and maybe the benefits of being online are not financial but more to do with reach.

Whatever the case, we are grateful for your ongoing support, and we are grateful for the amazing opportunity we have to travel Australia and share our music!

Oh and if you feel like buying a CD, they are only $20 with free shipping, you get an instant download link via email, and we can sign it for you too! As an added bonus, you can feel happy knowing that you have helped support The String Family, and we will be forever grateful!