Spotify Loud & Clear 2024: royalty payments revealed

Spotify has published its annual Loud & Clear report, revealing details of royalty payments for 2024. The company previously said it paid the music industry $10 billion, but the new report contains more detailed figures designed to dispel doubts about fair remuneration for artists.

Key Data of the Report

• For the first time, artists with one audition per million earned an average of $10,000, which is 10 times more than a decade ago.
• The number of artists receiving royalties has tripled since 2017.
• In 2014, the top artist on Spotify earned just over $5 million, and today, more than 200 artists have surpassed that mark.
• 10,000th earning artist has nearly four times their income (from $34,000 to $131,000 in 10 years).
• 100,000th earning artist increased royalties more than 10 times – from less than $600 in 2014 to almost $6,000 in 2024.
• Most 1,500 artists received more than $1 million from Spotify alone last year. 80% of them were not in the Global Daily Top 50, indicating that not only stars but also lesser-known musicians are seeing an increase in revenue.
• Artists who earned about $100,000 recorded music in 50 languages, while those who crossed the $1 million mark recorded in 17 languages.

Criticism of payments and artist protests

Despite the positive numbers, many musicians continue to demand fairer pay. Recently, several Grammy-nominated songwriters boycotted a Spotify party to protest decreased royalties.

Last year, Spotify changed its payment system, which Billboard estimates will result in a loss of $150 million in songwriter revenue over 12 months.

In addition, a Duetti report (which Spotify has previously criticized) showed that the service pays artists less than competitors:

• Apple Music – $6.2 per 1,000 listens
• Amazon Music – $8.8 per 1,000 listens
• YouTube – $4.8 per 1,000 listens
• Spotify – $3.0 per 1,000 listens

Spotify denied the allegations, saying that «no streaming service pays directly for listening».

Fair Payments Claims and Bills

The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) has long demanded direct payments to artists, especially independent and little-known artists.

Congressmen Rashida Tlaib and Jamal Bowman last year introduced the Living Wage for Musicians Act, a bill that proposes increasing royalties to $0.01 per audition.

The UMAW said Spotify does not pay artists directly because the company is not subject to regulation requiring such payments, unlike radio, internet broadcasting and other platforms.

Total

The Loud & Clear report emphasizes that payments to musicians are increasing, but artists and songwriters continue to demand fair pay. The question remains: Will the royalty system change or will the industry remain on the side of the streaming giants?”