If Spotify, Rhapsody, or other streaming services won’t answer the question, maybe indie labels and artists will. These figures are from an independent catalog of 87 albums and 1,280 songs, as posted on The Trichordist. On Spotify, they seem consistent with reports of per-song payouts of roughly one-third to one-half of a penny.
per source: “Payable to Artist/Label via digital distributor for sales from July to December, 2011.”
(Rhapsody purchased Napster last year, though the Napster name continues in various European territories.)
Zune
15,159 plays
Payout = $437.58
$0.028 per song
Ratio = 25:1 iTunes Song Download
Napster
30,238 plays
Payout = $479.07
$0.016 per song
Ratio = 43:1 iTunes song download.
Rhapsody
50,822 plays
Payout = $668.57
$0.013 per song
Ratio = 53:1 iTunes song download.
Spotify
798,783 plays.
Payout = $4,277.39
$0.005 per song.
Ratio = 140:1 iTunes Song Download!!!
