Spotify Says It Paid Out $10B to the Music Industry in 2024
With the Grammy Awards looming, Spotify wants to remind the industry that it has been at the forefront of its renaissance.
The streaming audio giant said Tuesday that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, a new record high. And it has paid out a collective $60 billion since its founding a decade ago.
“For a lot of people, those numbers might go in one ear and out the other. And they’d perhaps ask why Spotify keeps shouting about it,” Spotify VP of music business David Kaefer wrote in a blog post. “It’s because the system we’ve built together is working, and where we are now is only the beginning. Today, there are more than 500 million paying listeners across all music streaming services. A world with 1 billion paying listeners is a realistic goal we should collectively set.”
The company notes that in 2014, total global recorded music revenue was $13 billion, and thanks in large part to Spotify, Apple and YouTube, the industry has seen its fortunes reverse.
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Still, the company has faced criticism over its payouts to artists, with many who are not at the top of the business frequently complaining about their compensation. Kaefer pushed back in the blog post.
“We estimate that, in 2014, around 10,000 artists generated at least $10,000 per year on Spotify,” he wrote. “Today, well over 10,000 artists generate over $100,000 per year from Spotify alone. That’s a beautiful thing.”
“Our goal is to help artists get their work in front of existing and future fans, continue to innovate on their behalf, and deliver it in a way that inspires people to pay for it,” he continued. “Onboarding people to paid streaming is precisely what has increased our payouts—tenfold—over the past decade.”
