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# Comparing Radio Airplay To Streaming
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/radio-airplay-compared-to-streaming/
- Published: 2015-11-11T13:53:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-11T13:53:00.000Z
- Description: Music streaming has certainly earned itself something of a negative reputation when it comes to providing monetary compensation for artists and songwriters, but terrestrial radio may not be all that much better,. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/11/radio-airplay-compared-to-str
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: DIY Advice & Tips, Music Business, Radio & Satellite, Streaming, App Store (iOS), Apple Inc., Eyewitness News, List of online music databases, New York City, Pope, SoundExchange, Spotify, Streaming media, United States Copyright Office, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28

[![1](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d174037d970c-150wi "1")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d174037d970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)**Music streaming** has certainly earned itself something of a **negative reputation** when it comes to providing **monetary compensation** for **artists and songwriters**, but **terrestrial radio** may **not be all that much better**, as some **scrutiny of the numbers** reveals.

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Guest Post by **Bobby Owsinski** on [Music 3.0](http://music3point0.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-radio-airplay-compares-to-streaming.html?ref=hypebot.com)Many people have a difficult time getting their heads around the fact that a million streams or views just isn't that much in our new **Music 4.0** age. A minor hit starts at around 50 million and a major hit is in the hundreds of millions.1 million isn't that much when it comes to radio either, so take \[a look\] at traditional terrestrial radio for a second and see how it stacks up to streaming. [![2](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d17403e3970c-320wi "2")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d17403e3970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)There are 15,730,000 people in New York City, and **Artibitron** estimates that a station like **Z100** (currently the #1 station in the market) reaches at least 0.01% at any given moment (it's probably 5 times that actually). That's 157,000.If the station plays a song 5 times a day (not uncommon for a song in rotation), that's 157,000 x 5 = 785,000 listens a day.If the station plays the song for 2 weeks, that's 785,000 x 14 days = 10.99 million listens from just this one station.There's probably at least one other station in the market playing the song, so that's 10.99 million x 2 = 21.98 million listens.If the song is playing in New York, it's probably playing in the top 25 markets as well, which means 21.98 million x 25 = 549.5 million listens.That's the equivalent of almost 550 million streams, but unlike streams, the artist didn't get paid for a single one of the radio listens (the songwriters got paid though).Keep in mind that the number of plays above aren't even for a big hit (double the number of plays per day at least) and don't include the ratings for the number 1 station (at least by a factor of 5 in New York City).You can see why our perceptions of a million are a bit skewed. When it comes to sales, yes, a million is a big deal, but it's not the same scale when judging plays, streams or views.

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