If you would pay $0.01 per song on Spotify. Then if you listen to an artist's album of 10 songs for a 100 times, so 1000 song plays of $0.01, that is $10. Spotify takes 30% cut, then the artist gets $7 and Spotify gets $3. Now if 10,000 people listen to the album a 100 times, the artist gets $70,000 and Spotify $30.000.
What the artist needs to do for this is come up with the songs, work them out, practice them with a band, record, produce, mix, artwork, release, promo.
For Spotify to release the album on their platform, they just need to sign a deal with the artist and add the album to their library. And this process is obviously largely (if not fully) automated. Of course they have some infrastructure and costs for this, but I think they're much better off than the artists.
What the artist needs to do for this is come up with the songs, work them out, practice them with a band, record, produce, mix, artwork, release, promo.
For Spotify to release the album on their platform, they just need to sign a deal with the artist and add the album to their library. And this process is obviously largely (if not fully) automated. Of course they have some infrastructure and costs for this, but I think they're much better off than the artists.