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It’s perhaps the most criticised player in the modern music ecosystem, but also its most central. Today, the world’s biggest streaming platform, Spotify has redoubled its efforts to dampen claims that its payouts to artists have been unsustainably small.
In the latest Loud & Clear report, the streaming giant has emphasised a few key areas where it, you might be surprised to learn, has massively increased the proportion of royalties paid out to a wider array of artists and rights-holders.
Spotify’s Loud & Clear reporting began back in 2021, as a way of demystifying the way its royalties and payouts are actually allocated – and stressing Spotify’s central position in the global streaming economy.
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Some have criticised Spotify’s previous Loud & Clear reports, arguing that the numbers provided headline figures and overall growth which actually buried the day-to-day struggles (and typical returns) of being an artist in the streaming eco-system. Loud & Clear, some say, has been more of a PR exercise than a genuine attempt to really dig into the granular detail that makes up most artists’ true experience.
That being said – and taken at face value – the numbers provided by Spotify in the report are undeniably impressive, and do much to build a more agreeable perception of the company as being concerned about widening economic distribution.
We’ve yet to fully scrutinise, but on paper these metrics certainly paint a picture of genuine progress in terms of making sure more genuine rights holders (including artists) are rewarded.
The key headlines from the new report are listed below, with Spotify’s own claims quoted beneath:
1. More artists making at least $100,000 a year
“In 2025, there were more than 13,800 artists who generated at least $100,000 a year from Spotify alone – nearly 1,400 more than last year.”
2. More millionaires
“A decade ago, the very top artist on Spotify reached $10 million in annual royalties for the first time. Today, the 80 top artists each generate over $10 million annually from Spotify alone.”
3. 50% more international listeners
“Only two years after debuting, artists already see more than half of their royalties coming from outside of their home countries, on average.”
4. More language variation
“Today’s biggest hits speak more languages than ever. In 2025, songs in 16 different languages reached Spotify’s Global Top 50 – more than double the number in 2020.”
5. The growth of the ‘100,000th’ artist
“In 2025, the 100,000th highest-earning artist generated more than $7,300 in royalties from Spotify alone. In 2015, the artist in that same position generated about $350. That’s more than a twentyfold increase in just a decade.”
6. Fresh Finds aiding financial rewards for artists
“More than 1 in 10 artists generating over $100,000 annually on Spotify today were first playlisted on Fresh Finds. That’s more than 1,600 artists who Spotify helped break early, and who have since gone on to build six-figure careers.”
7. More DIY artists finding success
“In 2025, more than a third of artists generating $10K or more in royalties from Spotify were DIY or started their careers as DIY (meaning they self-release their music through independent distributors)”
8. Spotify is the highest-paying retailer globally
“For another year, Spotify was the highest-paying retailer globally – paying the music industry more than $11 billion in 2025. This brings total lifetime payouts to nearly $70 billion.”
9. $1.5 Billion in ticket sales
“By the first half of 2025, Spotify had driven $1 billion in gross concert ticket sales for artists. That total has now exceeded $1.5 billion.”
10. More songwriter payouts
“2025 marked the largest annual music publishing payout in Spotify’s history. Over the past two years alone, Spotify paid approximately $5 billion to the publishers and organizations representing songwriters”.
One aspect that we were somewhat surprised wasn’t mentioned was Spotify’s efforts to tackle the scourge of AI artists flooding the platform, and the contributing issue of botted playlists artificially inflating stats and chart positions.
Despite it not being a factor in these headline Loud & Clear stats, Spotify has been cracking down on bots, hitting hard at streams that ‘don’t reflect genuine user listening intent’ and trying its best to prevent botted listens from contributing towards royalty payments or chart positions.
With regard to AI music, Spotify has recently began paying more attention to impersonation violations (AI voice clones etc) and a new ‘spam filtering system’ that cracks down on mass uploaders.
It has also enabled users to disclose that they’re using AI on their tracks with industry-standard credits. Whether these moves will ultimately lead to a reduction in AI-generated tracks on the platform – and a more human-weighted landscape – remains to be seen.
