My songs get tens of thousands of likes but each Spotify stream earns me just £0.003

Aspiring musicians are facing a harsh reality where even viral success on platforms like TikTok doesn’t always translate into significant income from music streaming services. A common scenario is that short clips of songs can gain massive traction online, accumulating tens of thousands of likes and shares, yet this widespread recognition rarely results in substantial earnings through full song plays on platforms such as Spotify. The current streaming royalty model often results in fractions of a penny per stream, meaning that achieving a sustainable income requires an astronomical number of full listens. This disparity between viral popularity and actual revenue is a growing concern for artists who are pouring their creativity and resources into their music. The ability to capture attention with a snippet of a track is a powerful promotional tool, but it appears to be insufficient on its own to build a financially viable career in music without a significant shift in how streaming royalties are calculated and distributed.