How payouts work

We take all the money the platform earns, give 80% of it to artists, and split that money so the artists each listener actually plays get the lion's share. You're paid every Thursday in USDC (a dollar-pegged digital currency) straight to your wallet — no payout requests, no minimums, no waiting.

Like every major platform, we don't pay a single fixed amount "per stream." Instead, your earnings are a share of real revenue. The difference is we keep less and we let your fans' money follow them to you.

The Indie Music Stream app is paid-only— there's no free, ad-supported tier dragging payouts down. Every listener is a paying subscriber. That subscription revenue (plus revenue from the artist portal) is the pool that funds payouts.

Of that revenue, 80% goes to artists. The remaining 20% covers running the platform, payment processing, and network fees so your payouts arrive automatically.

We use a hybrid model that blends two approaches, so most of the money follows real fans while a smaller slice rewards overall reach and discovery:

• 75% — fan-powered.Each listener's subscription is divided only among the artists they actually listened to that period, weighted by how much they played each one. If a fan listens mostly to you, most of their money goes to you — not into a giant pot that pays the biggest stars.
• 25% — shared pool.The rest goes into a platform-wide pool split by each track's share of total plays. This rewards songs that are reaching lots of new listeners and smooths out month-to-month swings.

Exact amounts vary with total revenue, how many people are listening, and your share of plays. These figures are illustrative, not a guarantee.

To keep payouts fair and fraud-free, a play only earns money once a listener has listened for at least 45 seconds, or finished the track — whichever comes first. So short songs still count fully the moment they're played to the end.

Duplicate and obviously automated/bot plays are filtered out before any money is calculated.

If a track has multiple contributors — features, producers, songwriters, a label — you can set royalty splitson that track from your Catalog. Each collaborator's percentage is paid directly to their own wallet during the weekly run.

If you don't set any splits, 100% of a track's earnings go to you, the uploader. Split changes apply to futurepayouts, not past ones. Collaborators who haven't set up a wallet yet still accrue their share until they do.

Payouts run automatically every Thursday. There's no "request payout" button — your earnings are sent straight to your payout wallet as USDC on the Solana network. Every payment has an on-chain transaction you can verify.

Don't have a wallet set up yet? No problem — your earnings keep accruing safely and are paid out automatically once you add and verify a wallet on the Payouts page. From there you can also cash out to your bank any time using the built-in off-ramp.

• We keep less. Artists get 80% of revenue, versus the roughly 70% that the major services pay out.
• No free tier dilution.Every listener pays, so there's no ad-supported pool dragging the average payout down.
• Your fans fund you directly.The fan-powered model means a loyal listener's money goes to their artists — not redistributed to the biggest names.
• No middlemen on payout.You're paid directly, weekly, in USDC — no distributor holding or delaying your money.

Do I need to understand crypto?

No. Your balance is shown in plain dollars. A secure wallet is created for you automatically, and you can cash out to your bank whenever you like.

Is there a minimum before I get paid?

No minimum and no payout requests. Whatever you earn in a week is sent the following Thursday (or accrues safely until you add a wallet).

Are membership fees taken out of my royalties?

No. Your membership and your royalty earnings are completely separate — fees are never deducted from money you've earned.

Why did my per-play amount change?

Because there's no fixed per-play rate anywhere in streaming — your share moves with total revenue, total listening, and how concentrated your fans' listening is. More engaged fans means a higher effective rate for you.