Spotify paid $9 billion in royalties last year
Kyiv • UNN
In 2023, Spotify paid out more than $9 billion in royalties, almost three times more than in 2017, with more than half of that going to independent artists and non-English-language catalogs.
Spotify reported that it paid more than $9 billion in royalties last year. This amount has almost tripled over the past six years, UNN writes, citing the Loud and Clear report.
Details
In 2023, more than $1 million in royalties were paid to 1,250 artists for their recordings and publications. In addition, 11,600 performers earned more than $100 thousand, and 66,000 earned more than $10 thousand. These figures have almost tripled since 2017.
More than half of these 66,000 artists come from countries where English is not the main language. Other languages on Spotify besides English include Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, and Korean. At the same time, languages such as Hindi, Indonesian, Punjabi, Tamil, and Greek have significantly expanded on the streaming service in 2023.
According to the report, in 2023, for the first time in history, catalogs of DIY artists and artists signed to independent record labels accounted for about half of all revenues generated on Spotify, which amounted to $4.5 billion. This amount is 4 times higher than in 2017.
The report also says that over the past two years, Spotify has paid nearly $4 billion to content rights holders representing songwriters.
Recall
According to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Ukraine has asked Spotify to remove Russian artists who support Russian dictator Vladimir Putin from its catalogs.
