25% of artists earning $10K+ on Spotify are self-distributed, as total payouts near $40B

Spotify shared some stats at today’s Stream On event that independent musicians will find both sobering and hopeful.

Spotify shared just how much competition there is, but with 914,000 songs logging more than 1 million streams each, they also offered a sliver of hope.

When looking at income from just the last year, of the 10 million artists with music on Spotify, 57,000 earned $10,000 or more last year. Total per artist revenue from all streaming services is “about 4X times that,” estimates the streamer.

Spotify estimates that its 50,000th highest-earning artist generated over $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources. Put another way, about 7000 artists on the platform earned $50,000 or more last year.

200,000 Professional Artists

That represents “the largest number of artists in history making a living from their music,” Ek said during Stream On. Spotify estimates that about 200,000 professional and “professionally aspiring” artists are active on the platform.

Spotify says that nearly 70% of its revenue goes back to the music industry as all-time payouts to music rights holders approach $40 billion.  

Im addition to stats, Spotify added a batch of new features designed to boost streams, reward fans, and increase revenues.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.