user-centric (pay for what people listen to) is explicitly not proportional to play count. that's why your arithmetic does not work.
to make it simple
-----
userA: 999 plays of artist A: pays 5$
userB: 1 play of artist B: pays 5$
pool-centric: A gets 9.99$, B gets 0.01$
user-centric: A gets 5$, B gets 5$
-----
bonus: in spotify system artists under a certain threshold get 0$. which gives guaranteed distortions even if you suggest ideal conditions for the pool/user thing up there to not matter (independence and large numbers).
extra bonus: spotify also dilute the pool by running mass music production sweat shops aaaaand by running more and more AI music for which they run the money back to themselves.
in practice small artists lose money on spotify, and a significant section of spotify artists would earn more selling a few cds a year on bandcamp than on their spotify ever.
to make it simple
-----
userA: 999 plays of artist A: pays 5$
userB: 1 play of artist B: pays 5$
pool-centric: A gets 9.99$, B gets 0.01$
user-centric: A gets 5$, B gets 5$
-----
bonus: in spotify system artists under a certain threshold get 0$. which gives guaranteed distortions even if you suggest ideal conditions for the pool/user thing up there to not matter (independence and large numbers).
extra bonus: spotify also dilute the pool by running mass music production sweat shops aaaaand by running more and more AI music for which they run the money back to themselves.
in practice small artists lose money on spotify, and a significant section of spotify artists would earn more selling a few cds a year on bandcamp than on their spotify ever.
it's a scam.