Image: APA/AFP/Hasselt
Their number grew by just 20 compared to the year before, according to calculations released yesterday by the music streaming market leader. From 2020 to 2021 there was a jump of 180 musicians and bands in this segment. There was even less movement among the top earners: the number of artists whose releases led to license payments of at least ten million dollars stagnated at 40. In the two previous years it had grown by ten each.
200,000 artists on Spotify
Spotify emphasizes that the license payments go to rights holders such as music companies and that the streaming service has no influence on how they are then distributed. Spotify gives almost 70 percent of the revenue from subscription fees and advertising to the music industry. If the proceeds increase, the payments also increase.
As a benchmark, Spotify estimates that, on average, artists generate about a quarter of their revenue from the market leader. According to their own statements, there are around 200,000 professional and aspiring musicians on the platform. 17,800 of them generated license payments of at least $50,000 last year.
Spotify is considered the number one in music streaming. The service, which originated in Sweden, recently had a total of 515 million users, of which 210 million were paying subscription customers. Last year, the company generated total sales of 11.73 billion euros.
Source: Nachrichten
