SPOTIFY TOUTS $10B IN 2024 MUSIC BIZ PAYMENTS

Spotify delivered $10b in royalties to music-industry stakeholders last year and has paid $60b since launching in 2006, according to a blog post by VP of Music Business David Kaefer.

Explaining why Spotify is "not only the most popular subscription streaming service but also the highest-paying," Kaefer pointed to customer retention, how more than 60% of Premium subscribers were once ad-supported free-tier users and the company's availability in markets once thought to be unmonetizable.

"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," he wrote in the post, which is titled "On Our $10 Billion Milestone and a Decade of Getting the World to Value Music."

Spotify estimates that about 10,000 artists were generating at least $10k per year in royalties circa 2014. Now, there are more than 10,000 artists making more than $100k per year, per Kaefer.

Referencing a 2024 IFPI report that said Spotify contributes around a third of global recorded streaming revenue, Kaefer said the company's "model is uniquely enabling more room for more artists to find success and ultimately sustain a career in music, demonstrating real change across the music business."

Looking ahead, Kaefer says it's realistic to envision 1 billion subscribers on all streaming platforms in the near future. "Our goal is to help artists get their work in front of existing and future fans, continue to innovate on their behalf and deliver it in a way that inspires people to pay for it," he allowed. "Onboarding people to paid streaming is precisely what has increased our payouts—tenfold—over the past decade."

The post follows Spotify and UMG's signing of new multiyear agreements for recorded music and music publishing, focused on "growth, innovation and the advancement of artists' and songwriters’ success."