Spotify Paid $11 Billion to the Music Industry in 2025

Spotify paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025, as per a blog post by its Head of Music, Charlie Hellman.

Why it matters:

• Hellman says this was “the largest annual payment to music creators from any retailer in history.”

• He adds, “independent artists and labels accounted for half of all royalties,” and that “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.”

• These figures, he says, contradict the “misinformation” about streaming’s impact on the music ecosystem.

Facts and figures:

• The $11 billion payout figure is up 10% on 2024.

• Hellman says other industry income sources grew “by closer to 4%” over the same period.

• This, says the exec, makes “Spotify the primary driver of industry revenue growth in 2025.”

• He adds that Spotify accounts for roughly 30% of recorded music revenue.

Live impact:

• Hellman says Spotify has helped artists generate more than $1 billion in ticket sales “by connecting fans with live shows through our ticketing partners.”

Competition:

• As per Music Business Worldwide, Spotify’s nearest rival when it comes to publicly reported music industry payouts is YouTube, which in October reported it paid more than $8 billion from July 2024 to June 2025.

• That figure is up from $6 billion in the July 2021 to June 2022 period.

Moving forward:

• Hellman’s post addresses plans for 2026, which include introducing “changes to the systems for artist verification, song credits, and protecting artist identity” to ward off “bad actors” exploiting AI.