Last month, Tone Deaf reported on a study conducted by music industry bible Billboard, which compiled the average salaries for different positions in the higher end of the music business, breaking them down by sector, such as performance, touring, and media.
One sector that was less widely reported on, but becoming increasingly important is streaming. As Hypebot notes, once music leaves the creative stage of an artist with an idea, it’s becoming more and more dependent on technology, particularly for distribution.
Even the once-resistant major labels seem to finally understand that, like it or not, streaming is the future of the music industry. While traditionally technophobic, labels now understand today’s distribution, communication, interaction, marketing, and promotion rely on technology.
With the introduction of Apple Music and the continued popularity of services like Spotify and Pandora, it seems the streaming market is booming. Working in the music tech field is often viewed as a dream job by many creatives, business pros, and musicians.
But just how much would you stand to earn from working at Spotify, for example? Billboard have the answer and it may surprise you. For example, the CEO of Pandora, Brian McAndrews, commands a salary of just $500,000.
While that’s a handsome sum for anybody, it’s considerably less than other music industry chiefs bring in, such as Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, whose combined salary earns him $24.4 million a year.
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However, McAndrews makes most of his money from performance-based incentives, such as stock options, a compensation method that’s becoming increasingly common. In 2014, for example, McAndrews earned a $455,000 bonus on top of his salary, plus ‘other’ compensation from $25,448.
One also has to remember that this is just the higher end of the spectrum. Looking down the bottom of the list, the lowest paid employee at a streaming service is the social media manager, an increasingly crucial role in any company, but that’s only compensated with $40-$70k a year.
See the full list below.
The High End of the Music Industry
How Much The People Behind Streaming Earn
