Bloemfontein’s legendary hip-hop artist Kulax took to his Facebook page to reveal how much he earned from digital streaming platforms. The Stru Waar8 hitmaker received only R4.79 for his music, despite having over three thousand streams across more than 40 countries.
From February 2025 to March 2025, he earned just R4.79. Kulax expressed that those who think making money in 2025 is easy should reconsider. He reiterated that the streaming business is not beneficial for artists, and he is looking into alternative models.
He emphasized that digital streaming platforms are exploitative and urged fellow artists not to assume they will earn millions from streaming revenue.
Kulax advised artists to avoid uploading their entire albums, mixtapes, and EPs online. Instead, he encouraged them to promote their singles and videos on these platforms while releasing their full projects on Universal Serial Buses (USB) along with packaged merchandise, as returns from streaming platforms can be disappointing.
Kulax pointed out that even signed artists are struggling.
“A popular DJ/producer friend of mine, who has many more streams than I do and is signed to a major label, showed me his earnings from DSPs. With over 100,000 streams, he made less than R2000,” he stated.
Award-winning producer and DJ Nayshen-SA added that while DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms) can be tricky, the emergence of platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music has changed how artists make money. Although streaming provides a global audience, Nayshen noted that the payouts are significantly lower.
According to him, the average payout for Spotify in South African currency (ZAR) is R0.05 to R0.09 per stream; for Apple Music, it ranges from R0.13 to R0.18 per stream; for YouTube Music, it is R0.02 to R0.05 per stream; and for Tidal, it varies from R0.20 to R0.38 per stream.
Artists only receive a portion of these earnings after labels and distributors take their share. Nayshen highlighted that the era of CDs allowed artists to make substantial profits, as they could sell CDs for R50 to R100 each.
“Selling just 1,000 CDs independently could generate over R50,000, compared to needing over one million streams to earn the same amount today,” he emphasized.
He stated that making a living solely from streaming is impossible, despite it helping artists reach larger audiences. Nayshen urged artists to do live shows, sell merchandise, encourage direct fan support, and explore smarter ways to monetize their music.
American rapper Snoop Dogg has also expressed dissatisfaction with Spotify, claiming they paid him less than $45000 in royalties despite his streams reaching one billion on the platform.During an appearance on the “Business Untitled” podcast in 2023, he made these allegations.
Snoop has since formed a new partnership with the Web3 streaming service Tune.FM.
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