Tag: streaming data

Indian Artists Are Reaching More Global Fans Than Ever Before (and the Data Proves It)

April 15, 2025

In March this year, Spotify unveiled its annual Loud & Clear report, a transparent look at how the streaming economy continues to support artists and fuel the music industry’s explosive growth. The report details how artists earn money through streaming, clarifies royalty distribution, and highlights the evolving music landscape. 

Globally, Spotify continues to lead the music industry in payouts, with more than $10 billion distributed in music royalties in 2024 alone. Payouts have increased tenfold over the past decade, and the company has now paid out approximately $60 billion since its inception. 

Taking a closer look at India, where Spotify launched just over six years ago, the growth of its artists—and music industry at large—continues upward not just locally, but worldwide.

Spotify streams of Indian artists have skyrocketed by more than 2,000% in international markets between 2019 and 2023. In 2024, artists from India were discovered more than 11.2 billion times by first-time listeners on Spotify, an increase of 13% year over year. 

Through artist education initiatives, emerging artist programs, on-ground experiences, and more, we’ve worked to connect artists and their fans more deeply than ever. The success of Indian artists on our platform, highlighted in key insights of this year’s Loud & Clear report, underscores these efforts.

Spotify is contributing to the artist economy in India

Since 2022, the number of Indian artists generating more than INR 5 million in royalties from Spotify alone has more than doubled. During the same period, Indian artists generating more than INR 10 million in royalties from our platform alone have more than tripled, and those generating over INR 50 million in royalties have doubled. In fact, approximately two-thirds of the royalties generated in India in 2024 came from Indian artists. 

More than 90% of the tracks that were featured on Spotify India’s daily Top 50 playlist in 2024 were by local artists. 

Global listeners are discovering more Indian artists than ever on Spotify

Close to 50% of all royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify in 2024 were from listeners outside of India, with more than 9,000 Indian artists added to global and local editorial playlists on Spotify in that time. 

The U.S., U.K., UAE, Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka are a few of the countries where Indian-language songs were most streamed last year, with the most exported being:

  1. “Big Dawgs” – Hanumankind, Kalmi
  2. “Akhiyaan Gulaab” (from Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya) – Mitraz
  3. “Naina” (from Crew) – Badshah, Diljit Dosanjh, Raj Ranjodh
  4. “Sajni” (from Laapataa Ladies) – Arijit Singh, Prashant Pandey, Ram Sampath
  5. “Tauba Tauba” – Karan Aujla

India exports hits in multiple genres and languages on Spotify

Royalties generated by Indian artists performing in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu have each more than doubled since 2021. In addition, music performed in Telugu was one of the fastest-growing segments in 2024, as its global royalties increased 39% year over year. 

Songs performed in these languages are represented across some of the most-streamed Indian genres, including Hindi pop, Hindi hip-hop, Punjabi hip-hop, Hindi indie, Malayalam hip-hop, Punjabi pop, and Tamil pop. This intersection is also reflected in the list of India’s most-exported artists on Spotify:

  1. Arijit Singh
  2. Pritam
  3. Anirudh Ravichander
  4. Karan Aujla
  5. Shreya Ghoshal
  6. Diljit Dosanjh
  7. Hanumankind
  8. Kalmi
  9. A.R. Rahman
  10. Sidhu Moose Wala

Cristobal Tapia de Veer, Composer of the Viral ‘White Lotus’ Theme Song, Reveals His Process and Expectations for Season 3

June 8, 2023

Plenty of TV sitcom theme songs stand the test of time. The singability of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, clap-infused pop of “I’ll Be There For You” from Friends, and nostalgic harmonies of “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from Cheers each holds a notable slot in the cultural zeitgeist. It’s less common for a drama’s theme song to meet the same reception. And that picture is even more complicated when the theme is a wordless instrumental used—in the first moments of the show—to set the scene for dead bodies washing ashore.  

Yet composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s “Aloha!” and “Renaissance,” which serve as the theme songs for first and second seasons of The White Lotus, respectively, have reached such success. Each track features a consistent melody with high-pitched instrumentation, a  danceable beat, and breathless vocals. Each is also tailored to reflect its season’s location—Hawaii in the first and Sicily in the second. 

Each season, The White Lotus offers colorful, suspenseful commentary on exploitation, wealth, class, and race with a backdrop of murder and dysfunction set in a fictional luxury resort. The combination of Cristobal’s masterful composition, the show’s alluring storytelling, and a rabid global fan base has propelled both themes to viral fame and millions of Spotify streams, and raised the profile of their composer. 

Fans on the prowl 

Since its July 2021 release, “Aloha!” has been streamed most by fans in Warsaw, Berlin, and Paris. The song’s popularity only grew in the lead-up to the October 2022 premier of the second season, with fans taking to the internet to share commentary on the song. 

One popular fan theory was that its repeated notes created a musical allusion to the Gregorian chant “Dies Irae,” or “The Day of Wrath.” In a rare interview with For the Record, Cristobal explained that this is but a coincidence. “Those melodies are the result of chanting with voices and finding a melody that works with the sound. For lots of reasons, I ended up with those types of harmonies, but I wasn’t specifically inspired by that music or trying to use it intentionally.” 

Following the debut episode of the second season on October 30, 2022, searches for “White Lotus” on Spotify increased more than 500%. But to the chagrin of fans, “Renaissance” wasn’t released on Spotify until December 11, the end of the season. 

Even so, dedicated fans steadily played “Aloha!” on Spotify while they waited, and on December 12, streams of “Aloha!” jumped 200% compared to the month prior. Searches for “White Lotus” soared to 4,800% compared to two months prior. 

Once released, daily streams of “Renaissance” hit an all-time high on December 13, 2022, with fans in Paris, Oslo, and Berlin leading the charge. And as for Cristobal? The composer saw a 162% lift in his own catalog’s daily streams following season two. 

Even after the season came to an end, fans continued to circulate the song, using it as the musical background to their viral videos. On February 17, 2023, Dutch DJ Tiësto put out his own remix of “Renaissance,” which became a favorite among fans in Sydney, New York, and Oslo in particular.  

Soundtracking suspense

So what went into creating the right soundtrack? Cristobal employed wind instruments to create the whirling bird sounds on “Aloha!” “For the first season, I wasn’t trying to make Hawaiian music. It was more about making something about nature kicking the characters in the ass, and the wild stuff coming for the characters,” Cristobal explained. To hit his mark, he combined bird calls with tribal chants for an island feel with a spooky tropical depth.

Composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer

“The temp score was this loungy, rather soft thing—something that would be playing in a nice luxury cafe when you’re on vacation somewhere,” he recalled. “It was very different from what I came up with. I went with a tribal, rather aggressive screaming, and drums and flutes.” 

That “screaming,” which seems to be the best way to describe the vocal sounds, became a driving force behind the song’s virality when it came time to adapt it for the second season. Cristobal knew he wanted to match the vibe of the location and utilize disconcerting vocal tones.

“The ‘oululus’ are the most important thing,” said Cristobal, using his tongue heavily to propel the sound from his own mouth. “For the second season, I was trying to fit into the Italian and the Sicilian vibe. We spoke about having some renaissance sounds, some harps, mandolin, violin, things that we’d connect with Italian music and opera. I did a demo of some classical Italian music, something operatic, and that’s the beginning of the track. From there, I wanted to somehow bring back the sound of the first season, which is these screaming voices that are so recognizable.” 

He also wanted to evoke a different journey for a new cast of characters. 

“In the first season, there’s a lot of conflict in the music,” he said. “It feels very stressful and more tense than how it should; it has more dissonance. But this was something calculated. And I think the second season is funnier because things become dark later, towards the end of the show. So the song keeps it more playful, more light and harmonious.” 

A trip to Thailand

Cristobal finds the composing process as tumultuous as life is for the White Lotus patrons at times. “I don’t do anything particular to get into the zone,” he notes. “Sometimes people try to have the best conditions—relaxed and with a view—but surprisingly, for me, I like to see the stuff that results from being in a bad situation, a stressful situation, not having the right equipment, or not being in the right place.” 

For Cristobal, discomfort is more impactful, motivating, and conducive to creativity than pleasure or perfection. “When I feel that I’m in danger, it feels like I’m gonna probably come up with something better, a more original idea—as long as I’m surviving a situation—than if I’m too comfortable.” 

With the third season of The White Lotus confirmed for Thailand, we asked Cristobal to hint at some musical elements fans might expect when the show debuts.  

“For Thailand, I want to bring in some Eastern philosophy, something a little bit spiritual,” he said. “I love the Buddhist temples there, and funnily enough I have a collection of Thai gongs. I have 36 Thai gongs to make melodies with, so you can expect to hear some of those. I’d really like to go deep with it, make it take a journey.” 

Prepare for the third season of The White Lotus with The White Lotus Official Playlist on Spotify.

South Africa Looks Back at Five Years of Spotify Streaming

March 13, 2023

When Spotify launched in South Africa in March 2018, new users and music lovers raced onto the platform to stream Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.” In the five years since, listeners in the region have made millions of playlists spanning nostalgic jazz, pop, hip-hop, rap, home-grown Amapiano, and much more, and have spent billions of hours listening to podcasts. This has led to thousands of artists and creators finding an audience for their craft, with South African artists themselves having released over one million tracks.

Today, we mark this five-year milestone by looking back on the early days of Spotify streaming in South Africa. 

Originally, the only South African song featured in the first 10 tracks played in the market was Shekhinah’s “Thirsty.” Now, Canadian rapper Drake takes the top spot. He’s followed by Amapiano artist Kabza de Small in second place, The Weeknd and Juice WRLD in third and fourth, and South African DJ Maphorisa to round out the top five. The combination of global and local talent is further testament to the massive appeal and growth of Amapiano, and South African music in general.

“Spotify provides a global platform for these creators to share their music and podcasts with the world, and our entrance into the market has allowed local artists to grow their audiences and monetize their creativity,” said Jocelyne Muhutu–Remy, Managing Director for Spotify in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Spotify programmes like EQUAL, Fresh Finds, RADAR, and GLOW have also helped to market and support local, emerging, and underrepresented artists.”

Last year, we announced that we would include four South African podcasts in our Africa Podcast Fund. With this initiative, we’re supporting burgeoning podcasters through financial grants, workshops, and networking opportunities, and amplifying their stories. Our goal is to help platform African creators on a global scale and shift the historically restrictive view of stories about the continent.

Celebrate South Africa’s milestone anniversary with the Top 50 tracks being streamed in the country today.