Spotify made record payout of more than US$11 billion to music industry in 2025

[STOCKHOLM] Spotify said on Wednesday (Jan 28) it had paid out more than US$11 billion to the music industry last year, adding that it was the largest annual payment to music from a retailer in history.

The Swedish streaming platform said in a blog post that its payouts in 2025 grew by more than 10 per cent from a year earlier, with independent artists and labels accounting for half of all royalties.

The company has been prioritising retaining and bringing in new artists to the platform as it faces stiff competition from other major players such as YouTube and Apple in the music-streaming market.

YouTube said in October it had paid out more than US$8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months between July 2024 and June 2025.

“Since Spotify pays out two-thirds of all music revenue to the industry – almost 70 per cent of what we take in – as Spotify revenues grow, music payouts have grown as well,” the blog said.

The company reinvests the money it keeps into the platform, it said, as it looks to grow various content formats such as podcasts, videos and audiobooks.

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Spotify recently raised the prices for its premium subscription plans in several markets to boost profits and leverage its large user base to drive growth.

It had 713 million monthly active users at the end of the third quarter. REUTERS