Indies Generate 50% Of All Spotify Royalties

Spotify has launched its annual report on music streaming royalties, which provides insight into who generates money, how much they make, and how their royalties have changed over time.

In an interesting statistic, the report, Loud & Clear, notes that artists signed to independent record labels generate nearly 50% of all Spotify royalties.

In a roundup called The Sustained Rise of Indies, Spotify revealed that in 2024, independent artists and acts signed to independent record labels collectively generated more than $5 billion from the streaming service, representing “about half” of the total Spotify royalties for another year.

On a global level, Spotify represents approximately one-third of overall recorded streaming revenue (per IFPI), but it also showcases over 50% of independent streaming revenue (MIDiA).

Elsewhere, the report revealed that in 2024, almost 1,500 artists generated over $1 million in royalties from Spotify alone. According to the streaming giant, it wasn’t just household names that reached the million-dollar threshold.

The report states that 80% of the artists didn’t have a song in last year’s Spotify Global Daily Top 50 chart, meaning that independent artists and acts outside the mainstream thrive on streaming.

Last year also saw the rise of export power, as 75% of artists’ royalties—from those who generated more than $1,000 in royalties on the streamer—came from outside their home countries.

The report also noted that artists will make money whether one is the 10,000th or 100,000th most streamed act on Spotify.

The 100,000th ranked artist on the platform has seen a ten-fold increase of royalties in the last ten years, from $600 to nearly $6,000 in 2024.

In the same time period, the 10,000th artist has also seen royalties hugely increase, from $34,000 to $131,000. Spotify notes that over 100,000 artists are generating thousands of dollars in royalties via the streaming platform alone—and that’s without looking at figures from other streaming platforms.

You can view the Loud & Clear report here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Life at Spotify (@lifeatspotify)