Tag: artist payments

On Our $10 Billion Milestone and a Decade of Getting the World to Value Music

January 28, 2025

In 2014, the music industry reached a low point when global recorded music revenues hit $13 billion. Spotify’s annual contribution at the time was around $1 billion, with around 15 million paying subscribers.

In 2024, Spotify alone paid out a record $10 billion to the music industry—totaling nearly $60 billion since our founding.

For a lot of people, those numbers might go in one ear and out the other. And they’d perhaps ask why Spotify keeps shouting about it.

It’s because the system we’ve built together is working, and where we are now is only the beginning. Today, there are more than 500 million paying listeners across all music streaming services. A world with 1 billion paying listeners is a realistic goal we should collectively set.

Growing the Pie

There’s a vibrant marketplace of streaming services for different types of consumers, each doing its part to normalize the behavior of paying for music streaming. It’s been a collective effort. But there are a few things specific to Spotify that make it not only the most popular subscription streaming service but also the highest paying.

Retention is priority number one, and retention is driven by personalization, curation, and product innovation. Fans like the recommendations, the expert editorial curation, and surprise-and-delight moments like AI DJ, daylist, and Wrapped, as well as the access to non-music content. They keep coming back, discovering more new artists, and retaining their subscriptions.
We offer an ad-supported free tier, while some services don’t. Beyond the ad dollars this generates, more than 60% of Premium subscribers were once free tier users. Bringing in users who don’t expect to pay for music, and deepening their engagement, means they’re more inclined to become subscribers in the future.
We’re available in more markets and at local price points, meeting people where they are. A decade ago, there was a widely held view that you couldn’t monetize certain markets. But the journey of getting the world to pay for music means making long-term investments. Today, we’re seeing tremendous growth across markets like India, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria. These are places where our investments are paying off.

That’s our blueprint and it’s working.

Growing Careers Beyond the Superstars

I recently read a data point from economist Will Page that said more music is released in a single day than there was in the entirety of 1989. In the pre-streaming era, you were either in the club or not. If you didn’t have a label deal or the means to distribute your music worldwide, you weren’t one of the few thousand artists on shelves at a record store or one of the 40 in rotation on a radio station.

Now, you can record something today and have it on Spotify tomorrow. Everyone’s invited. Even better, payments to the music industry have shifted from a concentrated few at the top to an increasingly diverse and growing ecosystem of artists finding success.

Case in point, we estimate that, in 2014, around 10,000 artists generated at least $10,000 per year on Spotify. Today, well over 10,000 artists generate over $100,000 per year from Spotify alone. That’s a beautiful thing.

Think about this: Last year’s IFPI report indicated that Spotify contributes roughly a third of global recorded streaming revenue. But a recent comprehensive study of independent labels and distributors from MIDiA Research showed that Spotify represents more than half of indies’ streaming revenue. What this indicates is that Spotify’s model is uniquely enabling more room for more artists to find success and ultimately sustain a career in music, demonstrating real change across the music business.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Without a doubt, this has been a decade of unparalleled transformation. The global value of music copyright today sits at $45.5 billion. A decade on from its low point, how many other industries have experienced this kind of revival?

Our goal is to help artists get their work in front of existing and future fans, continue to innovate on their behalf, and deliver it in a way that inspires people to pay for it. Onboarding people to paid streaming is precisely what has increased our payouts—tenfold—over the past decade.

Reaching 1 billion paid subscribers across all streaming services will be a collaborative effort, requiring innovation, strategic partnerships, and a continued focus on delivering exceptional value to music fans worldwide. It’s a goal we’re confident we can achieve together.

– David Kaefer,

VP, Music Business, Spotify

Spotify Celebrates a Thriving Australian Music Industry With Pop Sensation Tones And I

July 11, 2024

Around the world, the shift toward streaming has completely transformed the music industry, and Spotify has led that charge. That includes in Australia, where Spotify is helping artists grow their revenues and audiences in big ways. Just ask Tones And I, the busker turned international pop star.

On June 24, Tones And I joined Spotify’s Loud & Clear event at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra to celebrate the growth of the country’s music industry, as well as the discoverability and global stage presence of Australian artists. Tones delivered a surprise performance for attendees including Minister for the Arts The Hon Tony Burke MP, representatives from Music Australia (a dedicated body to support and invest in the Australian contemporary music industry), and members of Parliament. The showcase included a stripped-back version of her 2019 smash hit, “Dance Monkey,” which reached 3 billion streams on Spotify earlier this year—making her the first woman to reach that milestone for a single track.

The Biggest Takeaways From Spotify’s Annual Music Economics Report

March 19, 2024

At Spotify, we believe that artists deserve clarity when it comes to the economics of music streaming—that’s why we publish data showing our impact on the industry every year. That information lives on Loud & Clear, our resource for artists and industry professionals that breaks down the global streaming economy, the players, and the process.

Today, we unveiled new and updated information and data on Loud & Clear, including figures from 2023 that show further meaningful progress toward a more diverse and level music industry. The big picture? Streaming has continued to create more room for more artists to find success, demonstrating real change across the business.

The latest data shows that the industry is less top-heavy than ever, with more artists having a true seat at the table and the ability to make money from their art. Last year Spotify raised the bar, recording the highest annual payment to the music industry from any single retailer. And for the first year ever, the catalog of DIY artists and artists signed to independent record labels accounted for about half of what the entire industry generated on Spotify in 2023.

Here are the highlights from our annual music economics report.

Spotify’s Record Payouts

These payouts have resulted in record revenues and growth for rights holders on behalf of artists and songwriters.

More Money at Every Level

Spotify royalties are powering artists’ careers at all stages. And these figures only represent revenue generated from Spotify. Artists likely generated 4x this revenue from recorded music sources overall, plus additional revenue from concert tickets and merch.

A Record Year for Indies

In fact, this is the highest amount indies have ever generated from a single retailer in one year and represents a 4x increase since 2017.

The Unexpected Millionaires

In the streaming era, the charts aren’t big enough to showcase all the artists who are finding success. Fans’ tastes are more diverse, and a bigger royalty pool means more revenue for a wider range of artists.

Artist Career Growth

Careers don’t just begin on Spotify, they grow on Spotify. We remain committed to helping emerging and professional artists make a sustained living off their work year after year.

For more of our top findings, as well as context from the industry at large, additional reports, and FAQs, head to Loud & Clear.

Spotify’s Top 10 Takeaways on the Economics of Music Streaming and 2021 Royalty Data

March 24, 2022

In 2021, Spotify launched Loud & Clear, a resource for artists and industry professionals that breaks down the royalty system, the players, and the process.

Today, we’re publishing new and updated information and data—and figures from 2021 that show further meaningful progress toward a healthier and more diverse music industry.

Read on for our top ten findings.

1. We paid music rights holders more money than ever in 2021: $7+ billion, up from $5+ billion in 2020. That’s more than double what we paid out in 2017 ($3.3 billion) and represents a big part of the $30 billion we’ve paid to rights holders since our founding. Even adjusting for inflation, that $7 billion total is the largest sum paid by one retailer to the music industry in one year in history—including any single retailer at the height of the CD or digital download era.

2. In 2021, recorded streaming revenue alone (across all services) was higher than the entire industry’s revenue from all forms of recorded music for each year from 2009 through 2016. When the music business hit its low point in 2014, it generated $14.2 billion from all parts of the recorded industry (streaming, physical sales, sync, downloads, performance rights). In 2021, recorded streaming revenue alone exceeded $16.9 billion—with Spotify leading the way.

3. We celebrated a new landmark this year with over 1,000 artists generating $1 million on Spotify alone. But when artists hit new heights, it’s time to launch additional milestones. New to the site in 2021, since so many artists have far surpassed the $1 million level, we’ve added $2 million and $5 million data. In 2021, 450 artists generated more than $2 million on Spotify—an increase of 110% in five years—and 130 artists generated over $5 million—an increase of 160% in the same period.

4. More artists are hitting milestones across all revenue levels, from $1,000 to $5 million, and the numbers are accelerating fast. The number of artists who achieved each of these milestones has doubled since 2017. And when taking into account earnings from other services and recorded revenue streams, these artists are likely to be generating 4x these amounts from recorded music overall. For the first time this year, a diverse group of more 500,000 artists—across different countries, genres, and career stages—generated $10,000 from Spotify and likely over $40,000 across all recorded revenue sources.

5. Over the past year, almost all of our music partners have reported record profit and growth for their artists. The three major music labels jointly brought in over $25 billion in revenue last year, with $12.5 billion coming from streaming recorded revenue alone. Spotify payments represent around a third of that streaming total. Major label profits in 2021 exceeded $4 billion—meaning more money to reinvest to grow the industry.

6. Songwriters and producers—through their publishing rights holders—are generating record revenues driven by streaming services. Publishing rights holders earned $3.5 billion from streaming overall in 2020, a sum that is more than publishing revenue from CDs and downloads any year in the 21st century so far, even during the peak of the CD era.

7. More artists are sharing in today’s thriving music economy than ever before. In the peak of the CD era, nearly 25% of U.S. album sales were accounted for by the top 50 artists. On Spotify in 2021, only 12% of U.S. streams were of the top 50 artists—meaning that revenue opportunities now reach far beyond the superstars.

8. Many artists use distributors like DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, or others to self-release their music on Spotify—and more than ever before, it paid off. Nearly a third (28%) of artists who reached $10,000 in earnings on Spotify released music through an artist distributor in 2021. These 15,150 artists represent a 171% increase since 2017.

9. Streaming has lowered the barriers to entry to music and accelerated the path to finding a global fan base—meaning artists can go from first single to first significant paycheck fast. Over 10% of artists (5,300) who generated more than $10,000 on Spotify in 2021 released their first songs ever in the last two years. In 2021, 350 of them generated $100,000 from Spotify alone.

10. Streaming revenue is bringing real scale to the music industries of emerging markets, making it increasingly possible to pursue a professional career as an artist in countries around the world. In 2021, Spotify launched in 80+ markets, introducing these artists to new fans in places all over the world. Of the 52,600 artists who generated more than $10,000 on Spotify in 2021, 34% live in countries outside the IFPI’s top ten music markets (Australia, Canada, China, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.).

We’re excited to see progress based on these numbers, but there’s plenty more to do. As our CEO, Daniel Ek, shared, “Music matters. To the world and to Spotify. It’s where we started and what continues to inspire us as we build the most valuable platform for artists. We’re nowhere near done.” Read more of Daniel’s letter on Loud & Clear, in addition to resources detailing the diverse voices represented on platform, context from the industry at large, and reports and FAQs.