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Instagram helps top artists boost earnings

The money that artists receive when their tracks get played has just hit a record high.

In 2018 £746 million was paid out - a rise of 4% on 2017.

PRS for music, which collects the royalties for artists, counted songs used on Facebook and Instagram Stories for the first time.

But according to singer-songwriter Ruth-Anne Cunningham, "a lot of songwriters are making less than minimum wage".

Ruth-Anne, who's worked with Avicii, JoJo and John Legend, says "it's great everything is starting to get monetised" but adds, "unless you have a top 40 radio hit you don't make a substantial income".

The boss of PRS says the rise of streaming has made it harder for them to monitor what's being played - and agrees that those trying to earn a living from music are losing out.

"The very successful people are doing extremely well," Robert Ashcroft tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"The challenge is, if you're trying to make a living and you're not a performer it's getting more difficult."

Ruth-Anne says that despite performing as well as writing, that's something she's got experience of: "I've had that where I've had massive hits and made money, but then had to be a vocal coach too.

"Back in the day you could make money from being on an album, now people see streams and people see 10 million and think that's a lot - but a songwriter might make £400 from that."

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