Spotify paid out over $11bn to music industry in 2025; eyes artist-first push in 2026

SWEDEN: Spotify paid out more than $11bn to the global music industry in 2025, cementing its position as the single largest annual payer to music creators in history and setting the stage for a renewed push to help artists break through in an increasingly crowded market.

“I’m proud to share that, last year alone, Spotify paid out more than $11bn to the music industry,” said Charlie Hellman, head of music at Spotify, in a note published on the Spotify for Artists blog. The figure marks a year-on-year increase of over 10% from 2024, significantly outpacing growth across other industry income streams.

Independent artists and labels accounted for half of all royalties paid out during the year, reinforcing the platform’s growing role as a revenue engine beyond major labels.

“Big, industry-wide numbers can feel abstract,” Hellman said, “but that growth is showing up in tangible ways.” He pointed to a structural shift in music economics, noting that there are now more artists earning over $100,000 a year from Spotify alone than were ever stocked on record-store shelves at the height of the CD era.

Despite what Hellman described as “rampant misinformation about how streaming is working today”, Spotify now contributes roughly 30 per cent of recorded music revenue worldwide. In 2025, Spotify’s payouts grew by more than 10%, while other industry income sources expanded by closer to 4%, making the platform the primary driver of industry revenue growth.

That growth, Hellman said, is ultimately fan-led. More than 750 million people globally now pay for music streaming across all platforms each month. As audiences expanded, Spotify also raised subscription prices. With nearly two-thirds—almost 70%—of its revenue paid back to rightsholders, rising platform revenues translated directly into higher payouts for artists.

“The other third is our fuel,” Hellman said, referring to Spotify’s retained revenue. That capital is reinvested into product innovation designed to convert more listeners into paying subscribers and deepen fan engagement.

The challenge, however, is visibility. With more than 100,000 new songs released every day, emerging artists are competing not only with each other but with the entire recorded history of music. Spotify’s priority for 2026, Hellman said, is helping new artists “cut through the noise and form real connections with fans”.

A key pillar of that strategy is artist storytelling. As artificial intelligence floods the internet with content, Spotify is betting that human context will become more valuable, not less. The platform is expanding features that explain who artists are, what inspires them, and how songs come together.

An upcoming feature, SongDNA, will allow fans to explore the creative networks behind tracks—such as Addison Rae’s collaboration with Luka Kloser and Elvira Anderfjärd—and trace those links into wider catalogues, including Kloser’s work with Ed Sheeran and Anderfjärd’s with Alec Benjamin.

Video is another focus area, with Spotify leaning into authenticity over polish. Live takes, rehearsals and behind-the-scenes studio moments are being positioned as fan-building tools. For pop group Katseye, early backstage Clips on their Countdown Page helped drive momentum ahead of the release of Beautiful Chaos.

Trust and identity protection form the second pillar. Spotify is preparing new systems for artist verification, song credits and identity protection to counter impersonation, scams and low-quality AI-generated content designed to siphon royalties.

“AI is being exploited by bad actors,” Hellman said, adding that protecting authentic creativity is critical to maintaining trust among listeners and rightsholders.

Human editorial curation remains central to Spotify’s discovery engine. While algorithms personalise listening, editorial playlists offer cultural signals that can change careers. Leon Thomas, for example, landed on playlists such as RADAR and RNB X after pitching through Spotify for Artists, reaching listeners in more than 180 countries.

In 2026, Spotify plans to introduce new editorial programmes aimed at sustaining momentum for emerging artists, alongside greater visibility for the editors themselves through video and storytelling.

Live music is the final frontier. Spotify has already helped generate more than $1bn in ticket sales through its partners by matching artists with their most engaged fans. New tools launching in 2026 are designed to convert streams into sold-out rooms.

“You’ve built communities, taken risks, and kept going even when the path felt uncertain,” Hellman said. “It’s our job to make sure Spotify works as hard as you do.”

With unprecedented competition colliding with unprecedented opportunity, Spotify is placing a clear bet: scale alone is not enough. The next phase of streaming, it argues, will be won by those who help artists turn attention into careers.

And in 2026, Spotify wants to be the loudest ally in the room.