Spotify Paid Over $11B in Royalties in 2025

Spotify said it paid out more than $11B in royalties to the music industry in 2025. "Big, industry-wide numbers can feel abstract, but that growth is showing up in tangible ways," said Charlies Hellman, Spotify's Head of Music, in a blog post. "For example, there are now more artists generating over $100k/year from Spotify alone than were getting stocked on record store shelves at the height of the CD era. That's the real shift and extraordinary progress that these numbers represent. Despite rampant misinformation about how streaming is working today, the reality is that this is an era full of more success stories and promise than at any point in history. Today, Spotify accounts for roughly 30% of recorded music revenue. Last year, our payouts grew by more than 10%, while other industry income sources grew by closer to 4%, making Spotify the primary driver of industry revenue growth in 2025."