Renowned Nigerian music producer Sarz (born Osabuohien Osaretin) has explained why music streaming earnings are significantly lower in Nigeria than in the United States and other Western nations.
Appearing in a recent episode of the Afropolitan podcast, Sarz noted that the revenue for a million streams on Spotify in the United States is between 3,000 to 5,000 dollars while in Nigeria, the revenue for the same streams is a meager 300 or 500 dollars despite the cost of marketing and promotion being almost the same.
“A million streams from the United States is maybe $3000-$5000..That same 1 million streams from Nigeria is arguably maybe $300-$500 but it will cost you the same amount to market or promote a song in Nigeria as much as it would cost you abroad,” he remarked.
Sarz explained that the disparity in revenue payments is due to economic reasons, stressing that subscribers in Western countries pay far more than Nigerians because they have better economies.
He noted that Nigerian love and desire to patronise music but lack the resources to afford premium subscriptions thereby making streams from Nigeria less economically valuable than Western countries.
On the way forward, Sarz said, “We [Nigerian entertainers and executives] are waiting for the state of the country to get better so other things can start improving.
“I think we have done very well with the resources that we have and with all the obstacles against us.
“I mean, people are streaming music, the people that can’t stream, can’t afford it. But people listen to music across the country and if they can’t afford streaming, it just means that they don’t have the money to.
“And how do we empower them? Back to the government. So, we are just waiting till the economy gets better.”
“A million streams from the United States is maybe $3000-$5000… That same 1 million streams from Nigeria is arguably maybe $300-$500 but…”
– Sarz
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— ÃuRàCLê ★†🪐🇳🇬 (@Auracle112) February 26, 2026
