Spotify pays the major record companies a 52% share of all net receipts attributable to streams of their artists. So if a group of artists is getting 90% of the streams, they’re also getting 90% of the money. Let’s use it to paint a conservative portrait of how many performers are actually able to “live off their art” - and how many cannot - on Spotify today.Īs covered previously, Spotify pays out its royalties on a pro-rata basis, meaning that, at the end of each accounting period, all of its royalty money gets virtually dumped into one pot, from which artists are paid according to their share of all streams on the platform. That prospectus reads: “Spotify provides a large stage for more than 3 million creators and artists to connect with existing fans and to be discovered by new fans.”Ĭonsidering that around 40,000 tracks are uploaded to Spotify daily, and that rival SoundCloud recently confirmed that it hosts music from over 25 million artists and creators, you’d expect that this 3 million figure would have ballooned considerably since Spotify announced it. The latest official statistic I could find for the total number of artists on Spotify arrived in March 2018, within the prospectus the firm sent to would-be investors before its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. I checked in with Spotify, which clarified that the second version (90%, not 10%) is correct ergo, 90% of all streams on Spotify are now shared between 43,000 artists. Then, a few hours later, a different version of the same letter was available on Spotify’s own investor site, complete with this subtle change: “Growth in the number of artists making up our top tier - those accounting for the top 90% of streams - is accelerating that cohort now stands at over 43,000 artists, up 43% from 30,000 one year ago.” Within the letter, the company revealed a startling statistic: “Growth in the number of artists making up our top tier - those accounting for the top 10% of streams - is accelerating that cohort now stands at over 43,000 artists, up 43% from 30,000 one year ago.” On Wednesday (July 29th), Spotify issued its customary quarterly letter to shareholders, revealing that its global subscriber base had grown by 8 million in the second quarter, up to 138 million. I’ve been intrigued, impressed, and surprised by Spotify’s earnings results over the years - but never quite so confused.
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