Digital music distribution provides an opportunity for everyone to get their music heard. In order to get on a service like iTun
es, one needs to pay for distribution through a service like Tunecore or CD Baby. These services make sure that your music is heard on different platforms. One of the most important streaming services is SPOTIFY. Suppose the distributor charges the artist a $50.00 cost for distribution, and the streaming services pay $5.00 per unit. (Note: One unit = one thousand streams)
Model the profit for the total number of streams by answering the questions below:
1. Use the cost for distribution to build the y-intercept. What is the y-intercept?
(Hint: the y-intercept is a point on the y axis, so the answer should be an ordered pair (x,y) . Keep in mind that money is being spent, and therefore must be deducted from the profit. If the y-intercept is incorrect, all related numbers will be incorrect.)
2. Use the payment per unit to build the slope. What is the slope?
3. Use the slope-intercept format (y=mx+b) to give the equation of the line. What is the equation of this line?
4. Graph the line by adjusting the sliders below. Show the line by attaching an image of the graph below. (Hint: take a screenshot and upload it as an image.)
Use the equation from question 3 to answer questions 5-7 . (Hint: Remember one unit = one thousand streams.)
5. After how many streams will the distributor charges be paid? (Hint: this is where the line crosses the x-axis. This is the break-even point.)
6. How many streams would it take to profit $950,000?
7. According to new research in 2021, Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny again took the title of most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify. He received over 9.1 billion streams (9,100,000,000) without releasing a new album last year.
Use this number of streams with your equation to calculate how much money Bad Bunny may have made via Spotify. (Worlds Most Streamed Songs (Spotify), 2021)
Fun Facts:
Bad Bunny is followed by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose “Red” (Taylor’s Version) gave old and new fans alike a reason to relive the artist’s early groundbreaking work. Rounding up 2021’s top three is BTS. The globally beloved K-pop group had a standout year thanks to their single “Butter.”
Canadian hip-hop artists Drake—who released Certified Lover Boy in September—and Justin Bieber—whose 2021 album Justice featured collaborations with artists from across the globe—take spots four and five, respectively.
Based on the charge to the artist and the amount the streaming services pay, the following are true:
-50.
5.
y = 5x - 50
.
10,000 streams.
190,010,000 streams
<h3>What model can be derived for the streaming data?</h3>
The y-intercept would be the amount that the artist has before they start making any money. In this case that amount is -$50 because they will owe the distributor.
The slope is the change per unit which is $5.00 here.
The formula is therefore:
y = mx + b
y = Slope × x + b
y = 5 × x + (-50)
y = 5x - 50
The number of streams to pay off the distributor is when the profit is $0:
