Singer T-Pain garnered tens of thousands of reactions with a viral tweet shedding light on how little music artists get paid on streaming services. Twitter users were most shocked that Napster still exists.
via: Complex
According to the screenshot T-Pain shared, the OG streaming platform, which merged with Rhapsody after being purchased by Best Buy, paid artists the most money for streams when compared to heavy-hitters like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. Specifically, the screenshot of the chart shows how many times a song has to be streamed in order for the artist to make $1. It’s important to note that the numbers featured on the chart have not been verified.
Napster filed for bankruptcy in June 2002 after being hit with several lawsuits. The peer-to-peer file sharing software service was founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker in 1999.
After posting the chart on Twitter, T-Pain wrote, “I see a lot of ‘well I guess I’ll use the best one’ and not ‘we gotta make our owm.’ Keep in mind, most artists don’t even get the whole $1. I’m just letting the up and coming know what the real is. I worked for mine and there are tons of ways around this if you move right.”
Just so you know…… pic.twitter.com/t8m3PerxT9
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) December 29, 2021
I see a lot of “well I guess I’ll use the best one” and not “we gotta make our own” keep in mind, most artists don’t even get the whole $1. I’m just letting the up and coming know what the real is. I worked for mine and there are tons of ways around this if you move right
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) December 29, 2021
In addition to being shocked by the payout rates of each streaming service, many fans were simply amazed that Napster is even still around in 2021, so check out some of the shocked reactions to T-Pain’s tweet below.
NAPSTER is the highest paying streaming platform???? Just broke my neck on this plot twist. https://t.co/Aajf4sLloc
— ??SONGMESS?? (@songmess) December 28, 2021
Napster: from the music industry's bad guys in the 2000's to paying artists more than any other streaming service in 2021… pic.twitter.com/e2vD9aOyVC
— SportzStew ? (@sportzstewcom) December 29, 2021
Surprised to see @napster go from villain to the hero of this story… https://t.co/nud9q0AVmX
— AZcomm (@AZcomm) December 29, 2021
Napster did more for artists than Spotify by a factor of like 5, wild how narratives have shifted to where this is now "business practice" https://t.co/iPw7ASpBjn
— Shiv Ramdas Official Boye Mafia Spokesman (@nameshiv) December 29, 2021
Kazaa, Napster, limewire…. Memorex blank cds! When the world was a simple place. Lol pic.twitter.com/sY8GzkM9YO
— Sue Wallowed, U.P. (@cloudgoddes5) December 28, 2021
Me when Napster is trending pic.twitter.com/vZJ9rZU8XX
— Pizza Dad (@Pizza__Dad) December 29, 2021
You’ve never heard of #Napster?
In 1999 I set up 3-5 .mp3 file transfers on Napster every night and hoped they’d be done by morning. #TrueStory
That’s right, kids. It took ALL NIGHT to download a few songs.
Napster is the #GenX equivalent of walking to school uphill both ways. pic.twitter.com/XDGh2Iaqt2
— Jen Korey ????? (@JenniferKorey) December 29, 2021
What’s a napster https://t.co/oDxygRFgKo
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) December 29, 2021
Napster being the highest paying platform is some serious M. Night Shyamalan shit https://t.co/HbZkEZkcg4
— ?Johnny Danger? (@K_NoiseWaterMD) December 29, 2021
https://twitter.com/ShivamChatak/status/1476228361139539975?s=20
Ice T warned y’all years ago pic.twitter.com/DetjhUKgFJ
— Paul Little ? (@ItsPaulLittle) December 29, 2021
