This page reveals what your music streams are really worth to an independent artist and which choices actually make a difference.

A quick, data-driven look at how to support artists better.

💝

YOUR STREAMING CHOICE MATTERS

Here's where we learn
to make a bigger impact
with more informed choices:

Change begins with all of us.

How do you feel about Spotify?

📊 Total Streams for Esa Ruoho a.k.a. Lackluster (2009–2025)

6.9M
Total Streams
📉 270.39€
Avg. Annual Income
4596.63€
Total Streaming Earnings

📊 YEARLY STREAMING INCOME (2012–2025)

8.3k
49€
10.3k
56€
7.8k
45€
69.3k
224€
199.5k
626€
178.6k
545€
191.1k
597€
168.5k
509€
156.1k
443€
158.0k
318€
162.6k
314€
4.0M
367€
1.3M
285€
279.1k
219€
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

🏆 STREAMING SERVICE RANKINGS

❌ WORST CHOICE
1x
lowest per-stream payouts
🟢 Spotify 📦 Amazon ▶️ YouTube Music
⚠️ BETTER CHOICE
2-3x
more per stream than Spotify
🍎 Apple Music 🎧 Deezer
✅ BEST CHOICE
5-7x
more per stream than Spotify
🎵 Qobuz 🌊 Tidal
📊 THE REALITY
4596.63€
Actual earnings
from 6.9M streams
→
137659.22€
If all streams
were on Qobuz

That's 29.9x more artist support!

🧮 WHAT IF YOU STREAMED MY ALBUM ONCE?

Choose an album to see exactly what Esa earns on different platforms

Lackluster - Container
15 tracks • 2000 • deFocus Records
Platform Per Stream Full Album (15 tracks) = 1 Bandcamp Sale
🟢 Spotify
0.0030€ 0.0450€ 247 album plays
📦 Amazon Music
0.0040€ 0.0600€ 186 album plays
🎧 Deezer
0.0064€ 0.0960€ 116 album plays
🍎 Apple Music
0.0100€ 0.1500€ 75 album plays
🌊 Tidal
0.0130€ 0.1950€ 57 album plays
👑 Qobuz
0.0200€ 0.3000€ 38 album plays

💚 Instead of streaming, you could buy it on Bandcamp for 13.54€

11.10€
goes directly to Esa (Bandcamp takes ~18% for fees)
3,701 Spotify streams
= same earnings as one 13.54€ Bandcamp purchase
That's 247 full album listens on Spotify!
💿 Buy Container on Bandcamp

🎤 WHAT IF YOU BOOK ME FOR A GIG INSTEAD?

Instead of streaming, book Esa for a live performance! Here's how one gig payment compares to streaming:

165€
Avg Paid Gig
min 10€ · max 900€
93
Paid Gigs (of 203)
46% paid
📈 +58%
5-Year Trend

🎧 "If you stream 20 songs (about 1 hour), I earn..."

🟢
0.060€
Spotify
📦
0.080€
Amazon Music
🎧
0.128€
Deezer
🍎
0.200€
Apple Music
🌊
0.260€
Tidal
🎵
0.400€
Qobuz
20 songs on Spotify = 0.060€ (less than half a can deposit in Finland!)
0.06€
20 streams on Spotify
VS
165€
1 gig booking

💭 "One gig at 165€ equals..."

Platform Per Stream Streams Needed That's Like...
🟢 Spotify
0.0030€ 55,113 streams 5.5k album plays
📦 Amazon Music
0.0040€ 41,335 streams 4.1k album plays
🎧 Deezer
0.0064€ 25,835 streams 2.6k album plays
🍎 Apple Music
0.0100€ 16,534 streams 1.7k album plays
🌊 Tidal
0.0130€ 12,719 streams 1.3k album plays
👑 Qobuz
0.0200€ 8,267 streams 827 album plays
55.1k Spotify streams = 1 gig booking at 165€

🎤 26 YEARS OF LIVE PERFORMANCES (2000-2025)

3
2
3
15
22
17
16
13
3
11
1
3
5
1
4
9
10
20
18
2
1
4
6
7
7
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Total: 203 gigs
Countries: 20
Peak: 2004 (22 gigs)
Total Earned: 15,376.40€
📧 Book a Live Performance

🎭 WHAT IF YOU USE MY MUSIC ON TIKTOK?

📱
TikTok
5,061,786
streams/uses
= 6.92€
Rate: 0.000001€/stream
5 MILLION plays = price of a coffee ☕
📘
Facebook
234,321
streams/uses
= 42.00€
Rate: 0.000179€/stream
234k plays = less than a dinner 🍽️

💡 To put this in perspective...

5 million TikTok plays
(at 0.000001€/stream)
6.92€
→
Same plays on Qobuz
(at 0.0200€/stream)
101,236€

TikTok pays 14,629x LESS than Qobuz per stream

"Going viral" on TikTok doesn't pay the bills. If you love an artist's music, stream it on a real music service! 🎵

💎 BEST WAY TO SUPPORT

Streaming is convenient, but buying music directly gives artists the most support. On Bandcamp, artists keep 82% of every sale!

💿 Buy on Bandcamp 🎵 Stream on Qobuz 🌊 Stream on Tidal

💰 DIRECT SUPPORT

Skip the middleman - 100% of donations go directly to the artist!

🎨 Patreon ☕ Ko-fi ☕ Buy Me a Coffee 💳 PayPal 💖 GitHub Sponsors 🛒 Gumroad 🏦 IBAN

🪙 OR YOU CAN GO ALL CRYPTO ON ESA

₿ Bitcoin
bc1qlpycdhydpaff3jwg2jq7xxq07y75gmj8nv68t3
Click to copy
⟠ Ethereum
0x71151C3aC25449708F55e7EF3aC0d2750af87dF1
Click to copy
✕ XRP
rsPSPQEVPuB82RqxcUMPm96AnaoAHXQaov
Click to copy
◎ Solana
FST7TzEViMZyjEoF9QoPLbfx7MAm8AHZ2frfVizHLmNy
Click to copy
₳ Cardano (ADA)
addr1qy3zkk9k0f900nh46wfq6p9m3zegpeaajzm5dyqak9am6lfz9dvtv7j27l80t5ujp5zthz9jsrnmmy9hg6gpmvtmh47s4quh5x
Click to copy
◈ DAI
0x71151C3aC25449708F55e7EF3aC0d2750af87dF1
Click to copy

🔗 STREAM EVERYWHERE

▶️ YouTube Music ~0.0020€/stream 🟢 Spotify ~0.0030€/stream 📦 Amazon Music ~0.0040€/stream 🎧 Deezer ~0.0064€/stream
🍎 Apple Music ~0.0100€/stream 🌊 Tidal ~0.0130€/stream 👑 Qobuz ~0.0200€/stream

🧮 STREAM CALCULATOR

See what any artist earns from streaming. Enter a name and stream count, then share the results!

🎵 Streaming Calculator
Portishead
3,500,000 streams
▶️
YouTube Music
0.0020€
7,000.00€
🟢
Spotify
0.0030€
10.5K€
📦
Amazon Music
0.0040€
14.0K€
🎧
Deezer
0.0064€
22.4K€
🍎
Apple Music
0.0100€
35.0K€
🌊
Tidal
0.0130€
45.5K€
🎵
Qobuz
0.0200€
70.0K€
Spotify
0.0030€/stream
10.5K€
→
Qobuz
0.0200€/stream
70.0K€
6.7x more on Qobuz!
Your streaming choice matters • lackluster.org/support#streamcalculator?artist=Portishead&streams=3500000

💝 DONATION CALCULATOR

See how a direct donation compares to streaming. 100% of your donation goes to the artist!

€
💝 Donation Calculator
50€
direct donation
✓ 100% goes to the artist
No middlemen, no platform cuts
To earn 50€ from streaming, I'd need...
▶️
YouTube Music
25.0K
streams
🟢
Spotify
16.7K
streams
📦
Amazon Music
12.5K
streams
🎧
Deezer
7.8K
streams
🍎
Apple Music
5.0K
streams
🌊
Tidal
3.8K
streams
🎵
Qobuz
2.5K
streams
Your 50€ donation equals
16.7K
Spotify streams
or
2.5K
Qobuz streams
⏱️ That's like streaming 24/7 non-stop for...
🟢 Spotify
1 month 2 weeks
16.7K streams
🍎 Apple Music
1 week 6 days
5.0K streams
👑 Qobuz
6 days 22 hours
2.5K streams
(based on 4 min average per track)
Direct support makes the biggest impact • lackluster.org/support#donationcalculator?amount=50

🚀 THE GREAT MIGRATION

"Daniel Ek, I'm dumping you!"

What if millions of listeners moved from Spotify to platforms that actually pay artists?
Let's do the math.

📊 The Current Landscape (2025)

🟢 Spotify
713M users (only 32% paid!)
🔴 YouTube
117M
🍎 Apple
95M paid
🌊 Tidal
~5M
👑 Qobuz
~1-2M

Spotify has 713M users but pays artists the least. Qobuz pays 5x more per stream!

🧮 What if users switched?

10M users left Spotify for
10M users × 100 streams/month = 1.0B streams/month
On Spotify
€4.0M
/month
→
On 👑 Qobuz
€20.0M
/month
Extra money going to artists:
+€16.0M/month
+€192.0M/year
That's 5.0x more for artists! 🎉

🌊 Be part of the migration. Every listener counts!

Your streaming choice matters • lackluster.org/support#ek

🚀 READY TO SWITCH?

"Ok, you've convinced me. I want to move to something better!"

"But wait... all my playlists! Years of curation! I can't just lose them!"

✨ Worry not! Trusted services make it easy to transfer your playlists.

🎵
Soundiiz
Most popular choice. Supports 40+ platforms. Free tier available.
soundiiz.com →
🎶
TuneMyMusic
Simple & free. No account needed. Works right in your browser.
tunemymusic.com →
🎧
FreeYourMusic
Desktop & mobile app. One-time purchase. Works offline.
freeyourmusic.com →
📱
SongShift
iOS app with clean UI. Great for moving to Apple Music.
songshift.com →

💚 Your playlists are safe. Make the switch and support artists better!

📤 SPREAD THE WORD

Help other fans understand how their streaming choices impact artists!