Whether you respect her hustle or not, Lily Allen is gonna keep on grinding.
A few months after joining OnlyFans to sell photos of her feet, the 39-year-old singer-songwriter said on X Friday (Oct. 25) that her side business has been more lucrative than the streams she earns on one of the world’s biggest music platforms. “imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,” she wrote.
Allen’s remark came in response to someone who’d negatively commented on a post advertising her OnlyFans account. “Imagine being one of the biggest pop stars/musicians in Europe and then being reduced to this,” the fan wrote, to which the “Smile” singer added: “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Spotify declined Billboard‘s request for comment.
At press time, the monthly subscription cost of Allen’s OnlyFans page is $10. Going off her numbers, Allen is making about $10,000 each month on the site. In 2023, the number of artists who made $10,000 or more in royalties from Spotify streams was about 66,000. And according to kworb.net, which a source close to the situation says is fairly accurate, Allen’s daily stream count on Spotify as of Oct. 17 was about 851,623. Assuming that number is correct, the Music Streaming Royalty Calculator estimates Spotify would’ve paid a total of $4,077 a day, with $3,239 going to sound recording for the copyright owner; $336 of mechanical royalties going to the publisher, who pays the songwriter; and $503 in performance royalties going to performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, etc.).
The musician launched her feet-photo business in July after learning that she had an exceedingly high score on WikiFeet, which she revealed on her Miss Me? podcast. “I have a lady that comes and does my nails,” she told co-host Miquita Oliver at the time. “She said that I could make a lot of money from selling foot content on OnlyFans. And I’m like, ‘Not no.’”
Shortly afterward, Allen shared how her husband — Stranger Things star David Harbour — reacted to her new undertaking. “Yeah, he is, he thinks it’s great,” she said on Miss Me? “At first, he was like, not turned on, but he was like, ‘Is this a kink for you?’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s totally not a kink,’ but maybe there’s something in the power element of it that’s slightly kinky for me.”
See Allen’s tweet below.
