When a royalty statement does not match your streams

Each answer says what is known, what is only estimated and by whom, and what only your own statement can show. Figures carry their source and date.

• Does DistroKid pay me correctly?
  A low total is usually the sum of many small rows, each set by the listener’s country, the type of listening and when the store reported it, not a distributor skimming.
• Why is Spotify not reporting my earnings to DistroKid?
  Spotify’s listening counts and the money a store reports to your distributor are two different feeds, and the money arrives later, in batches, after the streams.
• Why are streams in my DistroKid stats page not in my earnings statement?
  The Daily Stats page and the earnings statement are two different reports.
• Why do some streams in my DistroKid earnings report show earnings of zero?
  A line can show streams and zero earnings because that listening was not paid (free trials and promotions), because it was worth a fraction of a cent in the listener’s country, or because it sits below a store’s minimum.
• Why does Spotify show different stream numbers than DistroKid?
  Two dashboards can report different stream totals because they cover different date ranges, different stores, or measure different things (usage versus the accounting that gets paid).
• When will I start to see revenue in my CD Baby account?
  The wait depends on the kind of income.
• Why haven’t I received my YouTube earnings from DistroKid yet?
  YouTube money is reported separately from the music stores, on its own timeline, so it can lag behind Spotify and Apple rows for the same month.
• Why was my Bandcamp payout less than I expected?
  A payout is not the sum of what fans paid.
• Why is my Bandcamp net amount lower than what the fan paid?
  Net amount is what is left after fees, not what the fan handed over.
• How much does TikTok pay per stream?
  There is no TikTok rate we can honestly quote.
• How much does DistroKid pay per 1,000 streams?
  DistroKid does not set a rate: each store pays, and the amount depends on country, free versus paid listening and the pool.
• When does DistroKid pay?
  Two separate delays.
• Why don’t my TuneCore trend report numbers match my sales report?
  The monthly sales report is the one that counts.

Open your own DistroKid, CD Baby, TuneCore or Bandcamp statement here and see exactly which store and country paid what — free, and it stays in your browser: https://musiciwant.com/musicians