Music Industry

Astounding stats from Spotify’s Monday showcase event

On Monday (February 22), Spotify had a big online presentation that was essentially a state-of-the-union event. Here’s what we learned.

  • In 2020, Spotify paid out more than US$5 billion royalties.
  • Eight million creators (musicians, podcasters, etc. platform) at the end of last year, which is double the total of 2018.
  • CEO Daniel EK thinks that Spotify could be used by up to 50 million creators by 2025.
  • 60,000 tracks are uploaded to Spotify every single day.
  • In 2020, 76,000 artists were added to playlists.
  • 57,000 artists represent 90% of monthly streams on Spotify.
  • 800 artists generate more than US$1 million per year.
  • 7,500 artists generate more than US$100,000 per year.
  • 370,000 artists have used their Spotify platforms to sell tickets and merch.
  • A new high-res audio tier called Spotify Hi-Fi will be launched later this year. They need to catch up to Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon.
  • The Spotify tool known as Anchor is working with WordPress to make it easy for people to turn blog posts into podcast episodes.
  • Spotify will soon expand into 70 more countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. That means Spotify will be available in 173 markets, five more than Apple Music’s 167. (Deezer is available in more than 190.) Looking at it another way, Spotify could have one billion potential users.

In short, Spotify is big and getting bigger. Here’s the full presentation. (Via Sean)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39023 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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