Spotify has issued the latest Loud & Clear 2025 report.
The annual report covering last year is a major part of the streaming giant’s pledge to offer transparency about remuneration that goes – via rights-holders – to artists and songwriters.
“We’re still the only service offering this level of information,” said Bryan Johnson, international head of artist and industry partnerships, who urged other DSPs to open up further about remuneration.
With a record $10 billion payout to music industry rights-holders last year, Johnson said it underlined the fact that “the rise of paid streaming has created a sustainable model”.
“More artists than ever before are generating royalties at every career stage,” he added.
To illustrate the point, the 100,000th-ranked artist on Spotify has seen their generated royalties multiply by over 10 times – increasing from well under $600 in 2014 to almost $6,000 in 2024. During that same time period, the 10,000th-ranked artist on Spotify has seen their royalties increase almost four times – from $34,000 to $131,000. More than 100,000 artists are now generating thousands in royalties on Spotify alone.
In addition, the number of artists generating royalties at every threshold on Spotify — from $1,000 to $10 million per year — has at least tripled since 2017.
Here are the main takeaways from this year’s report – the dedicated Loud & Quiet site is here.
New Music Millionaires: In 2024, nearly 1,500 artists generated over $1 million in royalties from Spotify alone – and likely over $4M across all recorded revenue sources. Some 80% of these artists didn’t have a song reach the Spotify Global Daily Top 50 chart in 2024.
“Success in the streaming era doesn’t require a chart-topping hit or a decade-spanning catalogue – it’s about building a loyal fanbase that keeps coming back,” stated the report.
The Export Factor: Of the artists who generated $1,000+ in royalties on Spotify in 2024, more than half saw most of their royalties come from listeners outside of their home countries. Almost one third of them generated more than 75% of their royalties from listeners outside their home countries.
Music Is Multilingual: In 2024, the artists who generated at least $1 million on Spotify recorded music across 17 different languages. That’s up more than double from 2017. The artists who generated at least $100,000 in royalties have recorded music across 50 languages — also more than double the number of languages at that threshold in 2017.
The Rise of Indies: In 2024, independent artists and labels collectively generated more than $5 billion from Spotify — representing about half of total Spotify royalties for another year. Spotify globally represents about one-third of overall recorded streaming revenue (IFPI), but represents over 50% of Indies’ streaming revenue (according MIDiA).
“That over-index of Spotify in Indies’ revenue shows that our model uniquely creates more opportunities for more artists to build sustainable careers in music,” stated the report.
Record $10 Billion Payout: For another year, Spotify was the highest-paying retailer globally. It brings total lifetime payouts to nearly $60 billion. The $10 billion payout is the largest in music industry history.
Streaming’s Rising Tide: In the decade from 2014 to 2024, Spotify's yearly payouts to the music industry increased 10 times from $1 billion to over $10 billion.
“Spotify has been on a mission to get the world to value music again – and the system we've built together is working,” stated the report.
Since the low point for the music industry of $13 billion in 2014, global recorded revenue has more than doubled to over $28 billion in 2023 (IFPI).
Record Year for Songwriters: Spotify paid out nearly $4.5 billion to publishing rights-holders – who represent songwriters – over the last two years. “Our music publishing payout hit a new peak in 2024, seeing double-digit-percentage growth compared to 2023,” said the streaming giant. “Songwriters – through their publishers, PROs, and collecting societies – are generating record-breaking revenues driven by streaming services.”
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