Spotify Paid Out a Record $9 Billion to the Music Industry in 2023

While the music industry and governments around the globe figure out what to do with TikTok, Spotify puts its hands up as the music community’s No. 1 partner.

The music streaming giant Spotify sets a record for the highest annual payment to the music industry from any single retailer, at US$9 billion for 2023.

Independents generated nearly half that sum at nearly US$4.5 billion, also a record result – and a four-times increase since 2017.

“This is the highest amount indies have ever generated from a single retailer in one year,” reads a statement accompanying Spotify’s report.

The headline figure is a growing one. That revenue pot has nearly tripled over the past six years, according to Spotify, which claims to have paid out US$48 billion since its commercial launch in 2008.

Also, the tech giant claims, over the last two years nearly $4 billion has been paid to publishers, performance rights organizations, and collecting societies that represent songwriters.

The results, which are published in Loud & Clear 2024, Spotify’s yearly report, are presented just days before the IFPI shares its own Global Music Report on Thursday March 21, which should drill into the global recorded music industry, what’s hot, what’s not, and how the major territories are performing.

Revenue reported by the Federation for 2022 came in at US$26.2 billion, up by 9% year-on-year.

Assuming the IFPI’s GMP for 2023 indicates a ninth consecutive year of growth, driven by streaming brands, Spotify’s full-year payment should account for one-third to one-fourth of global recorded music revenue, across all platforms and formats.

Streaming is powering artist careers, not viral hits. We’re focused on helping emerging and professional artists make a sustained living off their work, year after year. Four out of five artists who generated at least $10,000 in 2017, generated at least that much this past year.… pic.twitter.com/MihSfqR23K

— Spotify for Artists (@spotifyartists) March 19, 2024

Also, claims Spotify, those “royalties are powering artists’ careers at all stages.”

The number of artists generating at least $1,000,000, $100,000 and $10,000 has nearly tripled in the six years since 2017, with more than half of the artists who generated at least $10,000 on the streamer hail from countries where English is not the first language.

Behind the latest, record-breaking annual payment is a long-tail for creators, notes Alicia Sbrugnera, head of music at Spotify Australia.

“While the broader music industry still considers chart action to be a key metric for breaking an artist, our data shows that 80% of the artists to generate at least US$1 million globally didn’t chart on Spotify’s Top 50 Daily Global Songs,” explains Sbrugnera.

“This is further proof of Spotify’s ability to help artists generate sustainable revenue across their catalogue.”

Adds Sbrugnera, “it’s also been fascinating to see hard stats demonstrating how Spotify allows music to have a truly global reach, reflecting the diverse nature of the music industry today as a whole. Over half of the 66,000 artists who generated at least $10,000 from Spotify were from countries where English isn’t the first language.”

Spotify now boasts a market-leading 602 million monthly active listeners, of which 236 million are premium subscribers.

Read Spotify’s Loud & Clear 2024.