In March, Spotify updated its annual Loud & Clear Music Economics Report, confirming that as of early 2024, Spotify’s all-time payouts to rightsholders in the music industry exceeded $48 billion.
These rightsholders include record labels, publishers, independent distributors, performance rights organizations, and collecting societies.
The music streaming service also revealed that it paid out more than $9 billion to the music industry in 2023, in what it called “the highest annual payment to the music industry from any single retailer”.
According to Spotify, that $9 billion annual payout figure for 2023 “has nearly tripled over the past six years” since 2017.
This month, Spotify also released streaming royalty data for several individual streaming markets in Europe, including the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Italy.
The UK
Spotify reports that the amount of money generated by UK artists on its platform in 2023 (across recorded music and publishing) exceeded £750 million ($932.83m according to the average annual exchange rate published by the IRS).
The company says that this figure has “more than doubled compared to 2017″. It hasn’t reported what it paid out in 2022 for us to make a YoY comparison.
Spotify breaks down the numbers for the UK further and reports that more than 40% of all royalties generated by UK artists on Spotify in 2023 were by independent artists or labels.
By our estimation, a 40% share of the total sum of royalties generated by UK artists on Spotify in 2023 (£750m) equals £300 million ($373m).
In March, as part of the global stats published in the company’s Loud & Clear Music Economics Report, Spotify revealed that in 2023, independent artists – including DIY acts and artists signed to independent record labels – generated nearly $4.5 billion on Spotify, accounting for around 50% of the more than $9 billion generated by the entire industry on Spotify last year.
Spotify also reports that close to 1,000 UK artists generated at least £100,000 ($124,378) in royalties from Spotify alone in 2023, which it says is “more than double compared to 2017”.
The number of UK artists who generated more than £10,000 ($12,437) and £50,000 ($62,189) in royalties from Spotify alone in 2023 has doubled since 2017. Spotify hasn’t provided a number for how many artists reached this bracket.
One of the most interesting stats of all however, is this: Spotify has confirmed that 75% of all royalties generated by UK artists on the platform in 2023 were from listeners outside of the UK.
Commenting on these stats, Spotify UK/IE Head of Music, Safiya Lambie-Knight, said: “While the UK has long had a rich heritage in music, it’s incredible to see how streaming and Spotify have enabled UK talent to scale their audiences globally.
“We work every day to innovate ways to help more artists earn and grow, so it’s great to see that three-quarters of royalties for UK artists were generated from listeners outside of the UK, showing just how more artists are connecting with fans around the world.”
The export success of British artists was highlighted in 2018, when Spotify’s then-Director of Economics, Will Page, gave a presentation in London in which he revealed that for every stream at home, UK acts attracted four overseas.
The UK is the world’s third-largest recorded music market, behind Japan (No.2) and the United States (No.1), according to the IFPI.
SWEDEN
Elsewhere in Europe, in 2023, royalties generated by Swedish artists from Spotify alone reached nearly 1.8 billion SEK ($169.6m), which, according to Spotify is more than double the amount in 2017.
Meanwhile, according to Spotify, more than 500 Swedish artists generated more than 500,000 SEK ($47,112) from Spotify in 2023. This number of artists has grown over 70% since 2017, according to Spotify.
According to Spotify, nearly half of all royalties generated by Swedish artists on its platform in 2023 were by independent artists or labels.
DENMARK
In 2023, Danish artists generated over 311 million DKK ($45.1m) in royalties from Spotify alone. According to Spotify, this is an increase of more than 75% since 2017.
Meanwhile, according to SPOT, 111 Denmark-based artists generated more than 500,000 DKK ($72,568) each from Spotify in 2023. The number of artists to do so has grown over 60% since 2018, according to Spotify.
Almost 45% of all royalties generated by Danish artists on Spotify in 2023 came from listeners outside Denmark.
Germany
For an additional comparison with other mature streaming markets in Europe, Spotify has confirmed to MBW that Germany’s royalty payments across recorded music and music publishing in 2023 were €409 million ($442.64m).
Germany is the world’s fourth-largest recorded music market, according to IFPI.
A Spotify spokesperson noted that this figure is significantly lower than the UK, but that Germany’s annual payment figure has “quadrupled since 2017” – and that it’s growing at a faster rate than in the UK, but from a lower base.
Italy
Spotify reports that in 2023, royalties generated by Italian artists from its platform alone exceeded €126 million ($136.36m), which it says, marks a more than 400% increase compared to 2017.
Spotify says that “close to 50%” of all royalties generated by Italian artists on Spotify in 2023 were from listeners outside of Italy.
Spotify has confirmed that in 2023, more than 1,200 Italian artists generated over €10,000 ($10,822) in royalties from Spotify. This number has more than tripled since 2017, according to SPOT.
Meanwhile, according to Spotify, the number of Italian artists who generated over €50,000 ($54,112) in royalties from Spotify alone has nearly doubled since 2019 and has more than quadrupled since 2017.
While Italy’s music industry revenues overall grew 18.8% from 2022 to 2023 (according to IFPI), revenues generated by Italian artists – from Spotify alone – grew 20% over this same time period, according to the company.
Italian artists were responsible for close to 80% of the tracks that were featured on Italy’s daily Top 50 in 2023.
All EUR-USD and GBP-USD conversions in this report have been made at the annual average rate provided by the IRS.
Music Business Worldwide
