(Hypebot) — Last year Spotify paid $10 billion to musicians, songwriters, labels and music publishers. Now, Spotify royalties top $60B over the last decade.
$10 billion the highest single one year payout from a single streamer to the music industry ever.
“It’s because the system we’ve built together is working, and where we are now is only the beginning,” said Spotify VP and Head of Music Business, David Kaefer in an blog post announcing the milestones. “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.”
Kaefer shared other Spotify stats and observations:
- Free To Paid: “more than 60% of Premium subscribers were once free tier users. Bringing in users who don’t expect to pay for music, and deepening their engagement, means they’re more inclined to become subscribers in the future.”
- Emerging Markets: “a decade ago, there was a widely held view that you couldn’t monetize certain markets… Today, we’re seeing tremendous growth across markets like India, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria. These are places where our investments are paying off.”
Spotify says its “Growing Careers Beyond the Superstars”
Offering a different take on the 50,000 to 100,000 tracks upload to steaming services every day. Kaefer argues that pre-streaming, “if you didn’t have a label deal or the means to distribute your music worldwide, you weren’t one of the few thousand artists on shelves at a record store or one of the 40 in rotation on a radio station.”
Now, he writes, “payments to the music industry have shifted from a concentrated few at the top to an increasingly diverse and growing ecosystem of artists finding success.”
- “in 2014, around 10,000 artists generated at least $10,000 per year on Spotify”
- “today, well over 10,000 artists generate over $100,000 per year from Spotify alone”
Last year’s IFPI report indicated that Spotify accounts roughly a third of global recorded streaming revenue. MIDiA Research showed that for indies, Spotify represents more than half of streaming revenue.
Up Next: 1 Billion Paid Subscibers
“Reaching 1 billion paid subscribers across all streaming services will be a collaborative effort,” concludes Kaefer, “requiring innovation, strategic partnerships, and a continued focus on delivering exceptional value to music fans worldwide. It’s a goal we’re confident we can achieve together.”
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and the founfer of the Skyline Artists Agency
