Today, Spotify launches its Loud & Clear report—our annual deep dive into the economics of music streaming—in Canada, and with it, a powerful story of how Canadian artists are thriving on a global stage.
The timing couldn’t be better. Just over a decade since Spotify launched in Canada, the country’s music creators have become some of the most influential and most streamed in the world. With global superstars like The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Céline Dion, Tate McRae, NAV, bbno$, Charlotte Cardin, and Patrick Watson, Canadian talent has not only shaped the sound of the past 10 years—it’s exported it worldwide.
And the numbers prove it. In the last year alone, Canadian artists earned nearly $460M CAD in royalties on Spotify, a 5% increase year over year, contributing to a near doubling of earnings in the past five years alone.
Since 2017, the number of Canadian artists generating at least $50K, $100K, $500K, and $1M CAD annually on Spotify has more than doubled. And remarkably, 92% of those royalties in 2024 came from listeners outside of Canada—a testament to how Canadian music is resonating far beyond its borders.
As Spotify marks more than 10 years of championing and amplifying Canadian voices, Loud & Clear offers a look at where those voices are going next and why the world is still turning up the volume on Canada.
A record year for Canadian artists
To underscore their gains: Canadian artists earned nearly $460M CAD in royalties from Spotify in 2024—a 5% increase from last year, and nearly double what they made in 2019. That’s not just streams; that’s sustainable careers being built in studios, basements, and tour vans from Vancouver to Halifax.
Spotify is now the number-one source of music royalties in the world and for Canada: It’s the critical engine of the music industry that’s powering the next generation of creators. Not only is Spotify the largest single source of music royalties globally, but Spotify alone paid more in royalties to the Canadian music sector in 2023 than the entire Canadian commercial radio industry combined, including royalties and Canadian Content Development (CCD) contributions. For Canadian artists, it’s helping turn streaming into a sustainable, global career path.
Recorded music revenue in Canada grew 129% between 2014 and 2024, from $397M CAD to $909M CAD. Audio streaming now accounts for nearly 79% of total recorded music revenue, with the majority from paid subscriptions like Spotify Premium.
And this success isn’t limited to major label acts: Indie artists and labels made up around 40% of all Canadian royalties on the platform last year.
“Spotify is more than a streaming service—it’s a springboard for Canadian artists to reach listeners in every corner of the globe,” said Elizabeth Phipps, Head of Artist and Label Partnerships, Spotify Canada.
Canadian sounds, global impact
Here’s what might surprise you: 92% of the royalties earned by Canadian artists on Spotify in 2024 came from outside of Canada. Fifteen million hours of music by Canadian artists are streamed every day on Spotify around the world, and that music features on 2.4B user playlists globally.
That makes Canada one of the world’s top music exporters and a key player in the global soundscape. It also means Canadian artists are making it big not just in Toronto or Montréal, but in cities like Jakarta, Osaka, Melbourne, London, São Paulo, Berlin, Mexico City, and Seoul.
And it’s not just English-language music. French-language artists saw a 15% boost in global Spotify royalties in 2024, a fivefold increase since 2017. In fact, Québécois artist Patrick Watson’s “Je te laisserai des mots” was the most popular francophone track on Spotify globally in 2024, and the first French-language track to pass 1 billion streams.
Leading with diversity and independence
Canadian women are making both hits and history on Spotify: Since 2020, their global streams on Spotify have nearly doubled, and in 2024, more than 40% of Canadian artists earning over $1M CAD on Spotify were women or in groups with both male and female members. All this puts Canada alongside the likes of Sweden and South Korea as the top countries in the world when it comes to female representation in their top artists.
Spotify is also lifting up independent voices—from singer-songwriters in Saskatoon to label-free rappers in Scarborough—through playlisting, editorial support, and real-world activations like billboards in Sankofa Square and festival stages at Les Francos de Montréal.
“This is what Canada sounds like—diverse, digital, and not just thriving domestically, but leading on the world stage. The data is clear in underscoring the vital role that export plays in sustaining the overall health of Canada’s music industry.” said Xenia Manning, Director of Global Music Policy, Spotify.
As we look to the next 10 years of Spotify in Canada, there’s a fresh opportunity to reimagine how Canada nurtures its cultural economy and what policies it will choose for the future. Spotify is optimistic that leaders will lean into a future-facing, inclusive vision—one that reflects how today’s creators make, share, and grow their art in a digital-first world.
Because Canadian artists shouldn’t just be heard. They should be celebrated. Globally.
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