Free tool
Discography earnings calculator
Estimate what your catalogue earns each month — then see how long a record deal's advance takes to recoup against it. No signup, no contract upload. Change the numbers and watch the projection move.
Your discography earns
$438 /mo
≈ $5,250 a year · $0.00 per stream to you
- Recoup $15,000 in
- 34 mo (~2y 10m)
- You keep until recouped
- $0
- Streams/mo to recoup in a year
- 1,428,572
Simplified estimate — one flat rate, master share only. It ignores where your listeners are, per-platform rates, publishing, and contract deductions. The signed-in app projects all of that from your real discography.
Project my real discography in Recoup →What this calculator tells you
Two questions, one tool. First: roughly what your whole discography earns from streaming each month, given your royalty share. Second: if you took an advance, how many months of those earnings it takes to recoup — the period where the label keeps your royalties to pay the advance back before any money reaches you.
It's the fastest way to sanity-check a deal on the table: if the advance takes five years of your current catalogue to recoup, you know to push on the royalty split or the advance size before you sign.
How the estimate works
The math is intentionally simple so you can see every lever:
- Per-stream payout — the gross a stream pays before your cut. A blended ~$0.0035 is a reasonable default; your real number depends on platform and listener country.
- Your royalty share — multiply the gross by your cut of master revenue. An 80/20 deal in the label's favour means you keep 20%.
- Monthly earnings — your per-stream share × your catalogue's monthly streams.
- Months to recoup — the advance divided by those monthly earnings.
This is a ballpark, not a statement. It uses one flat rate and your master share only — it doesn't model per-country rates, publishing, radio, or contract deductions like the US Controlled Composition Clause. Recoup's signed-in app does all of that from your real streaming data. See the methodology →
Common questions
What does it mean to recoup?
Recoupment is when the label has earned back the advance it paid you, out of your share of royalties. Until you recoup, most deals pay you nothing on top of the advance. Full explainer →
Is a bigger advance always better?
Not necessarily — a bigger advance usually comes with a smaller royalty share, which means it takes longer to recoup and you earn less per stream afterward. Advance vs royalties →
How accurate is the per-stream rate?
It varies a lot. Spotify in a high-paying market can be several times what it pays in a low-paying one, and platforms differ. The default is a rough blend; enter your own if you know it.
Does this replace reading my contract?
No. It's a quick directional check. For the real picture — every income stream, your actual streams, and what your specific contract says — use the full app.
Want the real projection, not a ballpark?
Connect your streams and Recoup projects your whole discography — per country, per platform — and tracks recoupment as the numbers come in.
Start with my discography →