Spotify says its 2025 music payouts passed $11 billion
Independent artists and labels accounted for half of royalties, the company said. The total covers industry payments, not artists’ take-home pay.
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Spotify says it paid more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025—over 10% more than in 2024. The company’s January update also said independent artists and labels represented half of the royalties it paid through the service.
Who receives the payments
That is Spotify’s own accounting, and it describes payments to the music industry—not money each artist received in hand. Rights holders, labels, publishers and distributors may all sit between a platform payout and the people who made a recording.
