The Brutal Math | open tool | no login
Where the music money actually goes.
Plug in any artist's numbers. See an illustrative estimate of how many cents reach them on every dollar fans spend. The result is an industry-benchmark scenario, not a VAYLA guarantee or official protocol output.
Of every $1.00 fans spend, this artist actually receives
28.3¢
That's $120.0K after middlemen and tax, on $424.0K of total ecosystem revenue.
Inputs
All values monthly unless noted. Drag the sliders or pick a preset.
10K100M
Where the money goes
Every dollar of ecosystem revenue, traced through the supply chain.
- Total ecosystem revenue (gross)$424.0K
- Spotify takes$72.0K
- Label takes$134.4K
- Sync agent takes$12.8K
- Merch platform takes$8.6K
- Booking agent takes$8.0K
- Manager takes$28.2K
- Income tax (effective)$40.0K
- Artist take-home$120.0K
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How the math is built
- Spotify per-stream payout: $0.004 (publicly reported average).
- Spotify keeps 30% of subscription revenue (Spotify Loud & Clear).
- Major label keeps 80% of the artist royalty pool on standard recording deals (industry average across catalogs).
- Aggregator/distro: 7% blended (Distrokid/CDBaby/Tunecore mid-tier).
- Manager 15%, sync agent 40%, booking 10%, merch platform 12% (industry standard ranges).
- US effective income tax assumed 25%.
- This calculator is illustrative only. It does not model VAYLA fees, token returns, protocol performance, or guaranteed outcomes.
- Real deals, payout rates, taxes and expenses vary materially by territory, contract and platform.