Spotify’s Australian Music Team ‘Stronger Than Ever’ (EXCLUSIVE)

In the business of numbers, Spotify is top dog.

More than 675 million users are plugged into the streaming audio platform, including 263 million subscribers.

And upwards of 100 million tracks are ingested into the service, which is live in 180 markets. 

Earlier in the year, the streamer announced a new big-money benchmark, by paying out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024.

That’s the highest annual payment to the music industry from any single retailer, wrote Spotify’s VP and head of music David Kaefer, in a blog post. Since its commercial launch, Spotify’s lifetime payouts to rights holders and creatives come to almost $60 billion. Bark and bite.

Spotify is top dog in Australia, too.

Roughly half the population of this Great Southern Land presses play on the Spotify app in a regular month, Mikaela Lancaster, Spotify’s managing director of Australia and New Zealand, told The Music Network at SXSW Sydney 2023. As business grows, so too does the team behind it.

TMN caught up with Spotify ANZ’s recently-appointed head of music Ben Watts and head of music development Alicia Sbrugnera for an update on the streaming juggernaut and its Australian team.

Benn Watts

TMN: Spotify slashed its staff worldwide in 2023. What’s the state of the domestic team?

Ben Watts: The Australian music team is stronger than ever. Nine years ago, when Alicia joined Spotify Australia, she was the sole editor in a three-person music team. Today, that team has grown to eleven local music specialists across editorial and partnerships, uniquely positioning Spotify to spotlight and export Australian artists.

Now, in her new role as head of music development, Alicia is focused on strengthening connections between Spotify’s music team and the wider industry, fostering deeper relationships, and expanding artist and industry engagement.

Our most recent additions to the editorial team are Joe Kahn, formerly of triple j and Steph Liong, joining from APRA AMCOS. Additionally, Nat Day has joined our artist & label partnerships team from Arcadia Music Company.

How does this play into the altruistic goal of helping export local artists?

Australia is undeniably a music export powerhouse, with more and more local artists finding success on the global stage.

Here, Spotify plays a crucial role, using playlists to drive music discovery and movement across borders. Our music editorial team—at the intersection of machine learning and human expertise—carefully curates and advocates for new finds globally, helping artists reach audiences far beyond their home countries.

Each of our editors is a cultural and genre specialist, working within Spotify’s Global Curation Groups, a worldwide network dedicated to championing local music on a global scale.

These teams meet weekly to discuss trends and emerging artists—ensuring great music travels further and reaches more listeners around the world.

What recent campaigns have helped build an Aussie artist’s career?

Artist programs like RADAR remain a central focus, helping emerging talent on their journey to superstardom. It truly is a case of ‘once a RADAR artist, always a RADAR artist,’ as we continue to build long-term support and nurture relationships beyond their early releases, ensuring sustainable careers.

grentperez, Blusher, Royel Otis, Baker Boy and Larissa Lambert are just a few examples of artists who joined RADAR over two years ago, and their success continues to rise steadily.

How are you working to empower artists?

Our Artist & Label Partnerships team is dedicated to educating and empowering artists and their teams, helping them maximise Spotify’s tools to grow their audience through masterclasses, workshops, and artist partnerships. You’ll continue to see the team present at industry events such as IndieCon, SXSW Sydney and BIGSOUND in support of this.

This year, we’re also focused on strengthening our commitment to transparency, sharing more insights into our processes, programs, and artist support with label partners.

Can you speak on the work of Spotify’s editorial team and the curation of local editorial playlists.  Are those Aussie playlists making an impact outside of these shores?

Our editorial teams’ jobs have evolved, going beyond the traditional task of playlisting and curation. They are music and culture experts, and their influence is felt throughout the company, as they provide music intelligence, cultural trends and insights for other teams.

Their primary focus remains on crafting playlists that resonate with local audiences, ensuring a deep and meaningful connection to the music they love.

Human curation is our edge. The team’s editorial choices are centered in culture, reflecting real-time cultural moments and trends. Our team not only reacts to trends, but uses their tools to forecast them to define cultural moments.

As a result, listeners have a more authentic listening experience in a way that only a human can provide. Our editorial choices have led to the birth of new genres, album tracks becoming singles and more.

What genres are Aussies listening to on Spotify?

Pop remains hugely popular, but the past year has seen an explosion in dance and electronic’s popularity, driven by the success of artists like Dom Dolla, CYRIL, and Alison Wonderland.

At the same time, Australians are embracing country music like never before, thanks to the genre’s evolution and crossover influences from pop, rock, and hip-hop. In fact, country music streams in Australia have grown 73% in the past two years.

Cyril had the most popular Aussie track on Spotify outside of Australia. Who had the most popular Aussie tracks in Australia?

While iconic artists like Vance Joy and AC/DC remain staples, we’re seeing artists like CYRIL and Dom Dolla appear among the top five most-played here in Australia.

Alicia Sbrugnera

What’s the focus for Spotify ANZ in 2025?

Alicia Sbrugnera: My ambition in this role is to foster a thriving artist community by creating more opportunities for development and growth, elevating Australian music both locally and globally.

This includes spearheading new strategic industry partnerships that will pave the way for innovative industry collaborations.

Alongside Ben Watts, who has recently stepped into the head of music role, we are fortunate to have a diverse group of experts who passionately champion Australian artists every day—an effort that will only strengthen this year.

Another key focus for the wider team in 2025 is education around our platform and addressing the misinformation surrounding streaming that undermines our industry, by championing fact-based discussions to ensure we can drive our industry forward.

Our industry is filled with incredible talent and diverse expertise—from artists and managers to independent distributors and major labels. This is where our collective focus and vision as an innovative music industry should be, and where we can drive real impact.

There has been considerable discussion recently about the role of streaming platforms within the music ecosystem. By aligning our shared goal of elevating local artists, we can foster innovative ideas, leveraging our music and industry expertise while ensuring that platform technology is managed by machine learning engineers.

It would appear that Spotify’s algorithms favour international artists. How much truth is in that statement?

There’s a common misconception that our recommendation technology pushes listeners offshore, but these claims are always made without evidence.

Misinformation like this can distract from more constructive discussions.

We recognise the industry’s curiosity about our technology and its role in music discovery. To ensure these discussions are fact-based and productive, you’ll be hearing more from Spotify’s experts in recommendation technology, providing clarity and insight directly from those who build and refine it.

Liz Pelly’s “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist” was described by the Guardian as a “savage indictment” of Spotify. “It may be the most depressing and enraging book about music published this year,” wrote Alexis Petridis, “a thoroughly convincing argument that Spotify’s success has had a disastrous effect on pop music.”

It’s important to note that the author of the book did not reach out to Spotify for fact check or comment, which is why we’re out to correct some of the confusion.

The notion that Spotify aims to replace human artists with AI-generated music is ludicrous and couldn’t be further from the truth.

Spotify prioritises listener satisfaction, and our playlist editors’ programming decisions focus on what music positively resonates with our users. There is a demand for music to suit certain occasions or activities, including mood or background music.

Like all other music on Spotify, this music is licensed by rightsholders, and while the terms of each agreement vary, none of those agreements promise placement on any playlists.

Spotify doesn’t dictate how artists present their work, including whether they publish their songs with their real names, under a band name, or a pseudonym.