Is streaming only helping music’s biggest stars?.At this rate, we think that the music industry will surpass its 1999 peak in 2025 because of streaming royalties. When you combine the growth of the overall royalty pool paid out to rights holders - and the expanding number of artists succeeding thanks to streaming - we believe the future is incredibly bright for artists’ careers. Last year, Spotify accounted for more than 20% of all recorded music revenue (based on IFPI data) - up from less than 15% in 2017. And from Spotify alone, last year in 2020, we paid out over $5 billion to rights holders, more than any other streaming service. In 2019, the total revenue of the recording industry was just over $20 billion - with $11.4 billion of that coming from streaming.
Since then, streaming has powered the resurgence of the music industry. When Spotify launched in 2008, the global recording industry had been ravaged by piracy - spiraling downward from 1999’s peak of over $25B to the industry’s low point in 2014, when the combined market of physical and digital sales was $14 billion.
Spotify stats free#
And revenue is generated from both types of listening-from fans who pay for Spotify Premium to advertisers who fund Spotify’s Free tier. Streaming is where fans come to put their favorite artists on repeat, but it’s also where casual fans discover new music or rediscover old favorites. Spotify solves these challenges with streaming.
Spotify stats full#
And in some markets, not all talent is compensated for the music being played.Īrtists benefit from a high purchase price in record stores, but physical and digital sales don’t generate money from all of an artist’s fans - only those willing to spend money to download tracks or purchase a full album. However, there’s limited space in a radio station’s rotation of songs - they typically stick to the Top 40, making it harder for artists to break through. With radio, artists can reach lots of listeners. Spotify plays a leading role in this healthier music industry - as a sort of radio station and record store all rolled into one, but without their limitations. These groupings are illustrative only, so some artists might see themselves as fitting squarely into one of these descriptions, some could span a few, while others might simply be in a league of their own. And based on trends and streaming data, we’ve broken them down to help you better understand who they are, how streaming has changed things for them, and what the future might look like. In this section, we’re focusing on select groups of these artists by charting their path to growth in streams and revenue. In 2020, 1.2 million artists had over 1,000 listeners. From there, listeners ultimately decide who succeeds and thrives. And while not every artist on Spotify will find the same success, we’re working to create opportunities for more creators to reach more fans.
Spotify stats professional#
Our goal is to help professional musicians make a living. There are artists we’ve known and loved for years, those who are just beginning to rock our world, those on the cusp of discovery, and those who are just starting out. Each is unique, with their own hopes and dreams. Of the millions of creators on Spotify, no two are the same. Spotify’s % of recorded music revenue calculated based on IFPI’s 2020 Global Music Report *$23 billion, $5 billion, and $3.3 billion include both recording and publishing royalties. These numbers do not account for revenue generated from other streaming services, physical sales, touring, merch, sync, or other sources. And streaming only makes up a portion of all industry revenues, so these figures represent a part of the picture. In 2020, Spotify accounted for more than 20% of recorded music revenue (up from less than 15% in 2017). Spotify is one of many music streaming services that generate revenue for rights holders. To put those numbers in context, click a dollar amount below to see how many artists globally generated at least that amount - across recording and publishing for their catalog - for each of the past four years on Spotify. As of 2020, Spotify has paid over $23 billion in royalties to rights holders - including over $5 billion in 2020 alone, up from $3.3 billion in 2017.*