Spotify’s ‘Loud & Clear’ website used to involve a single data drop every year. However, in 2024 it’s been a series of releases focusing on payout stats for individual markets. Yesterday it was an entire continent’s turn: Europe.
“European artists generated almost €1.5bn on Spotify in 2023, an increase of 16% year-on-year – and more than 3x from 2017,” claimed the company. “In 2023, more than 15,000 European artists generated over €10,000 – with more than 25,000 European artists generating over €5,000.”
There’s more. “44% of all royalties generated in the EU were from EU artists in 2023, the highest level since these data records began (2017). Additionally, more than half of all royalties generated by EU artists were by artists who perform in a non-English language (55%).”
This, of course, isn’t just bragging for the sake of it. Spotify is making its case to European politicians about its importance to the music economy of its home continent.
These figures will be used to back up its arguments when it’s taking Apple to task in the EU, but also in any possible future scenarios where Spotify finds itself in the spotlight – with European regulators increasingly hawkish about examining big tech platforms’ impact.
On its website, Spotify has also now published breakout Loud & Clear data for countries including France, Germany and Italy within the EU, as well as Brazil and Canada outside it.
And yes, the latter also ties into regulatory issues: a new 5% levy on global streaming services in Canada has been criticised by DSPs – so Spotify’s data on payouts in the country will be part of that debate too.
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