Spotify CEO Defends Royalty Payouts in Response to Artists' Complaints

Spotify paid out more than $7 billion to the recording industry last year, more than other services “and more than any single retailer in history in a single year,” blogged CEO Daniel Ek Thursday. Major label streaming services “are healthier than ever,” said Ek, noting publishers earned over $1 billion from Spotify for the second straight year. Some 100 Spotify professional artists protested in Los Angeles this month about the music streaming service's payouts and priorities, the Los Angeles Times reported. Grammy Award-winning songwriter Kennedi Lykken, who has written for Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Britney Spears, said her last royalty check from Spotify totaled $432. “I’m not ungrateful, but I can’t live on that," she said. In 2021, over 1,000 artists generated more than $1 million from Spotify alone; 50,000 generated $10,000-plus, Ek said. Spotify generates more than a fifth of global recorded revenue, he said, saying multiplying those amounts by four gives an estimate of “how much the artist is generating beyond just Spotify.” Ek compared the music publishing business to the “hyper-competitive worlds of film or sports,” noting, “it’s difficult to make it in music. I get that." The streaming service's published royalty fixtures "show that Spotify is improving on the music industry of the past, and more and more artists are able to stand out in the streaming era,” Ek said. Among Spotify artists generating $10,000 or more from the service, 28% “self-distribute,” and 34% lived in countries outside the top 10 music markets, he said, noting the industry is “less concentrated” today than in the CD era when a quarter of sales went to the top 50 artists. At Spotify, 12% of sales come from the top 50 artists, he said. The service has paid out over $30 billion since its launch, he said.