As the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) updates the country’s Broadcasting Act, it faces a fundamental question: Who counts as Canadian?
This question arises in the midst of unprecedented success for the Canadian music industry, especially on streaming platforms like Spotify. According to our latest Loud & Clear data, Canadian artists were discovered by first-time listeners more than 3.8 billion times last year. In addition, between 2018 and 2023, royalties generated by Canadian artists from Spotify alone more than doubled, exceeding $435 million CAD.
But as it currently stands, the CRTC system designed for radio employs certain criteria to decide whether a piece of audio content qualifies as Canadian or not, focusing on the location of production or performance and whether the writers and featured performers are exclusively Canadian.
For example, in November 2023, Tate McRae’s “greedy” became the world’s most popular song on Spotify, spending four weeks at the top of the charts and garnering over 860 million plays globally. But despite being headlined by a Calgary-born artist who is one of her country’s biggest cultural exports, the song is unlikely to be counted as Canadian, as it only fulfills only some of the required criteria.
For artists like Ikky and many others in genres like country or hip-hop (in which Canadian artists excel), the diverse backgrounds of collaborators are part of what makes their music distinctive and successful at home and around the world.
In fact, 92% of all royalties generated by Canadian artists on Spotify in 2023 were from listeners outside of Canada. But the Canadian music market’s revenue is also growing. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Music Report—which is an assessment of the music industry as a whole—Canada is outpacing the global industry with 12.2% revenue growth last year (compared to 10.2% globally). And on Spotify, Canadian artists are generating revenue at an even faster rate: When compared to 2022, their revenue grew by more than 15% in 2023.
But for Canadian artists with a global mindset, much of their work falls outside the CRTC definition of Canadian programming today.
Redefining ‘Canadian’
In light of the success Canadian artists are finding on Spotify today, we think it’s important for the CRTC to prioritize work toward an updated definition of Canadian and Indigenous music, as the Trudeau government directed it to do—especially if Canadian artists want to continue using Spotify to grow their audience.
More broadly, a definition of Canadian and Indigenous music that works with the global realities of Canada’s contemporary music industry will ensure that Canadian artists continue to succeed at home and around the world.
Spotify pense que les artistes méritent de la clarté en matière d’économie du streaming musical. C’est pourquoi la plateforme publie chaque année des données montrant son impact sur l’industrie. Ces informations se trouvent sur Loud & Clear, une ressource destinée aux artistes et aux professionnels de l’industrie, qui analyse l’économie mondiale du streaming, les acteurs et le processus.
Aujourd’hui, Spotify a dévoilé les données mises à jour sur Loud & Clear, y compris des chiffres de 2023 qui montrent de nouveaux progrès significatifs vers une industrie musicale plus diversifiée et plus équitable.
Dans une vue d’ensemble, le streaming a continué à créer plus d’espace pour que davantage d’artistes réussissent, démontrant un réel changement dans l’ensemble du secteur.
Les dernières données montrent que l’industrie n’a jamais été aussi peu dominée par les stars, avec plus de petits artistes ayant voix au chapitre et la possibilité de gagner de l’argent grâce à leur art. L’année dernière, Spotify a mis la barre très haute, enregistrant le versement annuel le plus élevé à l’industrie musicale de la part d’un seul distributeur. Et pour la toute première fois, le catalogue des artistes indépendants et des artistes signés chez des labels indépendants a représenté environ la moitié de ce que l’ensemble de l’industrie a généré sur Spotify en 2023.
Voici les points forts de notre rapport annuel sur l’économie de la musique.
Paiements record de Spotify
Ces versements ont permis aux ayants droit, agissant au nom des artistes et des compositeurs, d’enregistrer des revenus et une croissance record.
Plus d’argent à tous les niveaux
Les redevances Spotify contribuent au développement des artistes à tous les niveaux de leur carrière. En effet, les chiffres communiqués ne comptabilisent que les revenus générés par la plateforme. En réalité, les artistes peuvent potentiellement générer 4 fois plus de revenus grâce aux sources d’enregistrement musical en général, auxquels s’ajoutent les revenus des concerts et du merchandising.
Une année record pour les indépendants
En fait, il s’agit du montant le plus élevé jamais généré par les indépendants auprès d’un seul distributeur en un an, ce qui représente une multiplication par 4 depuis 2017.
Les millionnaires inattendus
À l’ère du streaming, les classements ne sont plus assez représentatifs de tous les artistes qui connaissent le succès. La diversification grandissantes des goûts musicaux des utilisateurs, couplée à une augmentation des redevances a pour résultat un accroissement des revenus pour un panel d’artistes toujours plus varié.
La croissance de carrière des artistes
Les carrières des artistes ne font pas que commencer sur Spotify, elles grandissent sur Spotify. Nous restons engagés à aider les artistes émergents et professionnels à vivre durablement de leur travail, année après année.
Pour en savoir plus sur nos principaux résultats, ainsi que sur le contexte de l’industrie en général, des rapports supplémentaires et des FAQ, rendez-vous sur Loud & Clear.
En Spotify, creemos que los artistas merecen claridad cuando se trata de la economía del streaming musical, por eso cada año publicamos datos que muestran nuestro impacto en la industria. Esa información se encuentra en Loud & Clear, nuestro recurso para artistas y profesionales de la industria que desglosa la economía global del streaming, los actores involucrados y el proceso.
Hoy, presentamos información y datos nuevas y actualizados en Loud & Clear, incluyendo cifras del 2023 que muestran un progreso significativo hacia una industria musical más diversa y equitativa. ¿Y cuál es el panorama general? El streaming ha seguido creando más espacio para que más artistas encuentren éxito, demostrando un cambio real en toda la industria.
Los últimos datos muestran que la industria está menos concentrada que nunca, con más artistas teniendo un verdadero lugar en la mesa y con capacidad de ganar dinero con su arte. El año pasado, Spotify elevó el listón, registrando el pago anual más alto a la industria musical por parte de cualquier minorista único. Y por primera vez, el catálogo de artistas independientes y aquellos firmados con sellos discográficos independientes representaron aproximadamente la mitad de lo que generó toda la industria en Spotify en 2023.
Aquí están los aspectos más destacados de nuestro informe anual de economía musical.
Pagos Récord de Spotify
Estos pagos han resultado en ingresos récord y crecimiento para los titulares de derechos en nombre de artistas y compositores.
Más Dinero a Todos los Niveles
Las regalías de Spotify están impulsando las carreras de los artistas en todas las etapas. Y estas cifras sólo representan los ingresos generados por Spotify. Es probable que los artistas generaran 4 veces estos ingresos de todas las fuentes de música grabada en general, además de ingresos adicionales por entradas de conciertos y merchandising.
Un Año Récord para las Indies
De hecho, esta es la cantidad más alta que las independientes hayan generado jamás a partir de un solo minorista en un año y representa un aumento de 4 veces desde 2017.
Los Millonarios Inesperados
En la era del streaming, los charts no son lo suficientemente grandes como para mostrar a todos los artistas que están teniendo éxito. Los gustos de los fans son más diversos y una mayor cantidad de regalías significa más ingresos para una gama más amplia de artistas.
For more of our top findings, as well as context from the industry at large, additional reports, and FAQs, head to Loud & Clear.
Crecimiento de las Carreras de los Artistas
Las carreras no sólo comienzan en Spotify, sino que crecen en Spotify. Seguimos comprometidos con apoyar a los artistas emergentes y profesionales a ganarse la vida de manera sostenida con su trabajo año tras año.
Para obtener más información sobre nuestros principales hallazgos, así como contexto de la industria en general, informes adicionales y preguntas frecuentes, dirígete a Loud & Clear.
No Spotify, acreditamos que os artistas merecem clareza no que diz respeito à economia do streaming de música – é por isso que publicamos dados que mostram o nosso impacto na indústria todos os anos. Essas informações estão no Loud & Clear, nosso relatório para artistas e profissionais da indústria que detalha a economia global do streaming, as partes envolvidas e os processos.
Hoje, divulgamos informações e dados novos e atualizados de Loud & Clear, incluindo números de 2023 que mostram progressos adicionais significativos em direção a uma indústria musical mais diversa e equilibrada. O panorama geral? O streaming continuou a criar mais espaço para mais artistas alcançarem o sucesso, demonstrando uma mudança real em todo o negócio.
Os dados mais recentes mostram que a indústria está menos concentrada do que nunca, com mais artistas tendo protagonismo e capacidade de viver da sua arte. No ano passado, o Spotify registrou o maior pagamento anual à indústria da música. E, pela primeira vez, o catálogo de artistas independentes e artistas assinados com gravadoras independentes representou cerca de metade do que toda a indústria gerou no Spotify em 2023.
Aqui estão os destaques do nosso relatório anual de economia da música.
Pagamentos recordes do Spotify
Esses pagamentos resultaram em receitas e crescimento recordes para os detentores de direitos em nome de artistas e compositores.
Mais dinheiro em todos os níveis
Os royalties do Spotify estão impulsionando a carreira de artistas em todos os estágios. E esses números representam apenas a receita gerada pelo Spotify. É provável que os artistas tenham gerado 4x essa receita de fontes de música registradas em geral, além da receita adicional com ingressos para shows e produtos.
Um ano recorde para artistas independentes
Na verdade, esse é o valor mais alto que artistas independentes já geraram em um único varejista em um ano e representa um aumento de 4x desde 2017.
Os milionários inesperados
Na era do streaming, os charts não são grandes o suficiente para mostrar todos os artistas que estão fazendo sucesso. O gosto dos fãs é mais diversificado e um conjunto de royalties maior significa mais receita para uma gama mais ampla de artistas.
Crescimento na carreira artística
As carreiras não apenas começam no Spotify, elas crescem no Spotify. Continuamos comprometidos em ajudar artistas emergentes e profissionais a viverem de seu trabalho, ano após ano.
Para saber mais sobre nossos principais resultados, bem como o contexto da indústria em geral, relatórios adicionais e FAQs, acesse Loud & Clear.
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.
“Stream On is about all the ways we are bringing Spotify to life and letting creators at all stages of their careers know that we are open for business,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said. “We are focused on building the best home for them—a place where they can establish a career, thrive, and grow, and where the world can be inspired by their creativity. And that’s what we’ve been doing for almost 17 years: building, improving, and reimagining this home to better meet creator needs and help them chart new pathways to success.”
From new app functionality to a holistic one-stop shop for podcasting to more opportunities for artists to engage with their fans, Stream On further cements our commitment to the creative community.
“As we look to the future, we are excited to expand that ambition to even more creators across new formats. We’re enabling more creativity, discovery, and personalization than ever before by providing the best resources, support, and interactivity,” Daniel said.
Helping fans discover creators and artists
We’ve unveiled one of the biggest evolutions since Spotify’s inception: a new, dynamic interface on mobile built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans.
With this new experience, we’re giving fans an even more active role in the audio discovery process, and giving creators even more space to share their work. Powered by advanced recommendations, new visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design, the new interface is making discovering new audio easier than ever before and helping introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. It’s all about closing the distance between creators and fans—and setting the stage for long-term, lasting connections that reach beyond viral success.
The new Spotify will roll out in waves to our 500 million+ monthly active users beginning today. Here’s what to expect:
Music, podcast, and audiobook previews across Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobooks feeds for listeners to sample before they play or save. We’re also bringing “shortcuts” to the top of listeners’ feeds—giving users easy access to some of their recent and favorite listens.
New feeds for discovery on Searchthat will allow users to quickly and easily explore personalized, short Canvas clips from tracks across some of your favorite genres. Users can easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends, all from one place. Looking for something else? Explore related genres using the hashtag within the feed, all with the goal of making discovery even easier.
We’re also bringing this feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, inviting users to preview tracks on a playlist before diving in.
Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts—when a podcast ends, another episode that fits the user’s tastes and is relevant will automatically start playing.
Smart Shuffle, the easiest way to breathe new life into custom curated playlists with just the tap of a button.
“Spotify recommendations drive close to half of all users’ streams. And when listeners decide to follow a creator, they listen to, on average, five times more of their music,” said GustavSöderström, Spotify Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify—unlike many other platforms—give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame. Those meaningful, long-term connections are a key part of what makes Spotify a platform for professional and aspiring artists.”
Supporting artist success through streaming
We also unveiled our annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear. The 2023 update demonstrates that more and more artists are finding success than ever before: The number of artists generating $1M+, as well as those generating $10,000+, has more than doubled over the past five years. Additionally, we estimate that the 50,000th highest-earning artist on Spotify generated more than $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources.
Loud & Clear also details how Spotify pays the vast majority of every dollar it generates for music—nearly 70%—back to the industry, and all-time Spotify payouts to music rights holders are approaching $40 billion.
Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools
We’re always building up our suite of tools to help artists find the fans who’ll love their music most. Here are a few of the new features they will soon find in the Campaigns section of Spotify for Artists:
Marqueeis a full-screen, sponsored recommendation of a new release that’s focused on reaching listeners who have shown interest in an artist’s music. On average, Marquee is 10 times more cost-effective at getting listeners to stream music on Spotify than ads are on the most popular social media platforms.
Discovery Mode is a tool through which artists and their teams identify priority songs, and Spotify will add that signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions. Today, Discovery Mode is directly available within Spotify for Artists, and is accessible to a wider range of artists and their teams, including thousands of independently distributed artists and labels.
Showcase is a mobile card on our brand-new home feed that will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels, and will make it more widely available in the near future.
We also shared more details on the next revenue line we’ll enable to help artists grow: merchandise and live events.
New Concert and Merch Discovery tools will help make sure concertgoers never miss another show. Listeners will begin to see merch offers and concert listings in far more places across the app. If a show catches a fan’s eye, they can tap a new “interested” button to save the listing to their own calendar in the Live Events Feed. Users can adjust their location and browse concerts worldwide, all personalized to their taste.
Spotify is also expanding its Fans First program to include more artists, ensuring top listeners receive emails and notifications that give them special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives.
And we unveiled new features and product expansions that allow more artists to express themselves in new ways and build buzz among fans. These include:
Spotify Clips, which letsartists add 30-second videos to their artist profiles and album pages so fans can go deeper into their stories while they’re listening; and
CountdownPages, which provide dedicated space on an artist’s profile and Spotify’s Home feed for fans to pre-save albums, see exclusive videos, pre-order merch, preview tracklists, and watch the timer count down to a new release.
Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators
Podcast creators joined our executives onstage to showcase the reimagined Spotify for Podcasters.The site now brings together the best of Spotify’s podcast creator tools into a one-stop shop to create, manage, grow, and monetize podcast content, including:
Broader availability of Spotify-unique features like video podcasting, interactive episodes using Q&A and Polls, subscriptions, and robust analytics
Podcast previews, PodcastChapters, SpotifyLabs, and a new space for educational podcasting content
Megaphone, Spotify’s hosting solution for enterprise publishers, will be integrated into Spotify for Podcasters in the future. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media werejust signed on as two of the latest publishers.
We also looked back at the growth of the Spotify Audience Network (SPAN), our audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, including monthly payouts to opted-in publishers.
Since we launched SPAN in 2021, it has grown by nearly 50%. Advertiser participation has since increased by 500%.
The number of independent and enterprise podcasters taking part in SPAN has grown eightfold in the last two years, with NPR being the latest publisher to join the network.
We’re partnering with Patreon,which will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.
Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives
Spotify Original and exclusive podcasts saw much success in 2022, with Case 63, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Call Her Daddy taking the top spots of the Wrapped top global podcasts. And now that Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain is exclusively on our platform, Spotify has four of the top five biggest hits worldwide.
We’re expanding our catalog with new shows, including The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. This latest title follows the Batman Unburied series and its characters in a brand-new story led by Phantom 4 and filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer DavidS. Goyer.
We’re also introducing more video podcasts, with Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returning for a second season and an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. Drew Afualo’s podcast, The Comment Section, is also coming to Spotify exclusively starting April 5.
We’ve also entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of DistractibleandGo! My Favorite Sports Team for Spotify beginning today. And with innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts.
Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify
Immediately following the presentation, we opened the doors of our campus in Los Angeles’ Arts District to creators for our “Play On” event to demo new products, hold workshops with top industry creators, and share insider knowledge on how best to use Spotify from the people who helped develop the tools at the company. To close out the activities, we’ll be hosting an all-female showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day.
“Today, there are more than 10 million creators on Spotify, with over half a billion listeners across 184 countries and markets,” Daniel noted. “Think about the massive potential that represents for creators. No matter where you are on your own creative journey within music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The potential to reach half a billion people. And that reach is about to become more powerful with what we’ve introduced today.”
Watch the 10-minute recap of the entire event below.
Forward-Looking Statements
The discussion above contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. For example, the words “will,” “expect,” “potential,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and management’s belief about future events and trends, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations, including, but not limited to, our ability to attract and retain users and monetize our products and services; competition; risks associated with our international operations and growth; risks associated with our new products or services and our emphasis on long-term over short-term results; our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users enjoy; our ability to maintain the integrity of our technology structure and systems or the security of confidential information; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
At Spotify, we believe artists deserve clarity when it comes to the economics of music streaming. That’s why last week we unveiled Loud & Clear, a new microsite that breaks down the players and process involved with the royalty system.
Artists want the opportunity to make a living from their work. We want that, too: Although more artists than ever are finding success through streaming, we’re nowhere near done, and we’ll keep pushing to grow the industry. As we make those strides, the Loud & Clear site demystifies how the money flows while also sharing more context when it comes to streaming numbers and how they stack up on Spotify in 2020.
In this week’s episode of our podcast, Spotify: For the Record, we continue the conversation about streaming economics and Loud & Clear.
Our first guest is Sammy Andrews, CEO of Deviate Digital and a board member of the Music Managers Forum (MMF) in the UK, who discusses industry reaction to Loud & Clear and where she thinks we should go from here.
We also speak with Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s Head of Marketplace, who provides more context on Loud and Clear and details how more artists than ever are finding success in the music industry.
Since its 2014 low, the music industry has grown by 44%, driven primarily by streaming revenues, which increased 500% over this same period. In 2020 alone, Spotify paid $5B+ and makes up about 20% of global recorded music industry revenue, more than any other streaming service. That number is massive on its own, and it doesn’t include the other music streaming services, or other sources of music revenue.
Still, artists ask me all the time why they’re not making more money. If the music industry is generating so much, then where the hell is it going? These are fair questions. So, we’re launching a new site, Loud & Clear, to increase transparency and shed light on the complicated economics of music streaming.
Streaming is thriving and has been key to helping more artists find a global audience. There are more artists than ever before. That’s awesome. It means new genres, more music crossing borders, and more artists finding new fans. It also means new artists joining Spotify every day, along with the entire history of music that came before them. More artists want to share their art, reach fans and earn a living from music. And it’s happening.
From streaming on Spotify alone, we’re seeing growth from artists at all stages of their career: since 2017, the number of artists generating
more than $50K/yr is up 80%
more than $100K/yr is up 85%;
and more than $1M/year is up 90%.
Today, 57K artists now represent 90% of monthly streams on Spotify — a number that has quadrupled in just six years. This means that the number of the most listened to artists in the world is growing and more diverse.
Our goal is to help musicians that aspire to be, or are professional to make a living. It’s something we take seriously every day. Of course not every one of the millions of artists on Spotify have found the same success. That will never be true. Fans will ultimately decide who succeeds and thrives, but our focus remains clear: Continue to create more opportunities for more artists to reach more fans.
We know we have much more work to do, but we’re confident in what we’ve built and the innovations we continue to deliver for artists and their fans. We’ll continue to empower the most talented artists in the world to turn their passion into a profession, grow the money paid to rights holders, diversify and expand the number of professional artists succeeding, and propel the music industry forward.
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