The news this week that Gary Numan recently received a royalty statement for £37 for over 1 million streams raised a few eyebrows. How did he receive so little money, everyone asks.

I don’t know, but I’m willing to wager a guess that it’s because everything is ridiculously complicated in the world of streaming. It might also be to do with the number of fingers in the pie, especially given how old the song it. Various rights could have changed hands numerous times, making the process of payouts convulted and long.

Whatever the truth, all I know is that streaming does not pay. Unless you’re an absolute superstar at the top of their game or you have a legacy of music that remains popular over 40 or 50 years later, don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds of Daniel Ek…