Tidal Says It Pays Four Times More in Royalties Than Spotify

Earlier this week, a leaked document seemed to show that Tidal pays nearly twice as much in royalties compared to its competitors over at Spotify. Now, Tidal is refuting that report -- the leaked document is from March, before Tidal's relaunch -- and says it actually pays closer to four times the royalty rates Spotify pays.

Spotify has said that it pays an average per-stream rate of $.0072 per stream. A Tidal spokesperson told The Verge that Tidal pays more along the lines of $.026 per stream.

(Spotify says their per-stream payouts vary widely based on a number of factors, including, most significantly, the number of plays an artist's music receives. Tidal hasn't released a breakdown of how their payments work.)

Spotify claims to pay 70 percent of its income to rights holders, while Tidal claims to pay rights holders 75 percent. Unlike Spotify, Tidal doesn't offer a free version of its service.

Tidal's artist-friendly payment scheme hasn't stopped the flow of big-name artists from taking issue with it. Mumford and Sons and Ben Gibbard have both called out Tidal for promoting its affiliation with big artists instead of struggling indies.

And Noel Gallagher -- who's never been stopped from badmouthing anyone, ever -- told Rolling Stone about Tidal: "Never mind f---in' royalties and the 'power of music.' Write a tune. F---in' start with that."