Today, Spotify announced that it had paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025. It’s an impressive-sounding number that’s a full $1 billion more than it paid last year. And, according to Spotify, that accounts for roughly 30 percent of the entire recording industry’s revenue. And, according to Spotify, that accounts for roughly 30 percent of the entire recording industry’s revenue. This figure, however, is purely a measure of royalties paid to the music industry and does not include merch or ticket sales, nor does it include audiobook royalties or podcasting deals.

However, it is important to note that this doesn’t mean that Spotify paid out $11 billion to musicians and artists. That money went to “rightsholders.” That includes labels, distributors, publishers, and more.

Spotify says that it doesn’t have insight into how much of that money eventually finds its way into artists’ hands. Agreements for individual artists can vary greatly. However, it’s not uncommon for an act on a major label to see as little as 15 percent of their royalties. Though indie labels typically offer much more favorable deals, with 50 percent or more going to the artist.

Spotify says that once again, roughly half of those royalties were paid to independent artists and labels. That includes DIY acts that self-release music through distribution services like DistroKid or TuneCore, as well as those signed to indie labels. But it also potentially includes library content and some so-called “ghost artists,” which have been the subject of controversy. Spotify’s Global Head of Music Communications, Chris Macowski, says the company doesn’t have more detailed data on how payouts to independent acts break down.

Macowski did say that over 12,500 artists generated more than $100,000 in royalties in 2025. That’s up from 10,000 in 2024. Spotify claims that is more than the number of artists being stocked on shelves in record stores “at the height of the CD era.” However, The Verge was unable to independently verify this claim, and Macowski was unable to provide sourcing at the time of publication.

Because royalties are calculated by dividing up a finite pool of money, the more songs that are streamed, the lower the per-stream payments are to artists. Unless Spotify decides to take a smaller cut of proceeds (it currently keeps 30 percent), the only way to grow that pool is to either grow its subscriber base or raise prices. Artists with fewer than 1,000 streams still receive no payout from Spotify.

In its post announcing the $11 billion in royalty payments, Spotify also teased future plans that seem aimed at addressing criticism it’s received. For one, it promises that “new solutions” are in the works to address scams, artist impersonation, and spam content. It acknowledges that “AI is being exploited by bad actors to flood streaming services with low-quality slop”, in an attempt to steal revenue from real artists, so it will be introducing changes to artist verification.

The company also seems to be leaning more fully into human curation in response to growing backlash against the algorithm. It said it will “bring more of the human voice behind that curation into the listening experience.” None of that, however, is likely to quell the continued complaints from artists that Spotify pays less than its competitors.

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• Terrence O’Brien