Here are the US states where music producers can actually make a living wage

April 27, 2023

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How many Spotify streams are needed to earn the average wage in America?

To earn the average US wage from Spotify streams, artists would need more than 400,000 streams every week!

Attention music makers! Mississippi would be the best place in America to earn a living as an artist on Spotify, a new study has revealed.

The analysis by Pirate, the world’s leading provider of rehearsal and recording facilities for artists, compared the average weekly wage in each state with the average amount an artist earns from a single Spotify stream, to discover how many plays would be needed to earn a standard wage across the country.

The results reveal that Mississippi residents would require the fewest Spotify streams to earn the average wage, with the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the average weekly wage in the state is $933. This means that, based on industry estimates of $0.0032 per stream on the platform, an artist would need to generate 291,563 streams each week to match the wage. That equates to 15,161,250 streams per year to earn the state’s average annual salary of $48,516.

A music artist living in Arkansas – where the second-fewest Spotify streams would be needed to match the state’s average wage – would need more than one million more streams each year than in Mississippi. The average weekly wage in Arkansas is $1,036, which requires 323,750 streams per week, and 16,835,000 over a whole year.

Third on the list is West Virginia, with a slightly higher average weekly salary of $1,042 which translates to 325,625 streams per week.

Top ten states where the fewest Spotify streams are needed to earn an average wage:

State	Average weekly wage	Streams per week	Streams per month	Streams per year
Mississippi	$ 933	291,563	1,263,438	15,161,250
Arkansas	$ 1,036	323,750	1,402,917	16,835,000
West Virginia	$ 1,042	325,625	1,411,042	16,932,500
Oklahoma	$ 1,047	327,188	1,417,813	17,013,750
South Dakota	$ 1,052	328,750	1,424,583	17,095,000
Montana	$ 1,059	330,938	1,434,063	17,208,750
Idaho	$ 1,063	332,188	1,439,479	17,273,750
South Carolina	$ 1,079	337,188	1,461,146	17,533,750
Kentucky	$ 1,082	338,125	1,465,208	17,582,500

At the other end of the scale, aspiring music stars living in Washington need more than half a million streams each week – 517,813 – to match the state’s average weekly income of $1,657, which is the highest in the country. That works out to a massive 26,926,250 streams needed per year.

Massachusetts has the second highest number of streams needed to match its average weekly wage of $1,651, with 515,938 plays required, while New York is just behind in third with 502,500 streams needed to match $1,608 per week.

Nationally, the average wage across the US is $1,334 per week, which translates to 416,875 streams per week.

Top ten states where most Spotify streams are needed to earn an average wage:

State	Average weekly wage	Streams per week	Streams per month	Streams per year
Washington	$ 1,657	517,813	2,243,854	26,926,250
Massachusetts	$ 1,651	515,938	2,235,729	26,828,750
New York	$ 1,608	502,500	2,177,500	26,130,000
California	$ 1,601	500,313	2,168,021	26,016,250
Connecticut	$ 1,491	465,938	2,019,063	24,228,750
New Jersey	$ 1,461	456,563	1,978,438	23,741,250
Colorado	$ 1,432	447,500	1,939,167	23,270,000
Maryland	$ 1,418	443,125	1,920,208	23,042,500
Virginia	$ 1,380	431,250	1,868,750	22,425,000

Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for Pirate said:

“This study offers a fascinating insight into the scale of success an artist would need just to earn the average wage from Spotify across America. To earn around one thousand dollars a week from Spotify, an artist would need to have more than 15 million streams per year. Obviously artists will rely on multiple streams of income rather than earning from just one platform, but this still shows the heights that performers have to reach to have the chance of earning a living solely from music.”

There you have it. If you’re already making music and lucky enough to live in one of the states with the highest payouts, kudos! For everyone else, might it be time for a move?