Spotify made headlines this year with an impressive claim: over $10 billion paid out to the music industry in 2024 alone. The streaming giant’s latest “Loud & Clear” report paints a picture of booming payouts, with over $60 billion distributed since the platform’s 2006 launch and more independent artists earning significant sums than ever before.
And on paper, that’s worth celebrating. The report highlights that 1,500 artists made over $1 million from Spotify in 2024, with indie labels and artists raking in over $5 billion. The company is clear: 70% of its revenue goes to the music industry. In the last two years, a whopping $4.5 billion went to publishing rights holders representing songwriters.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: songwriters—those responsible for the very songs Spotify profits from—are still fighting for scraps.
Follow the Money Trail
Let’s break it down. Spotify pays rights holders (record labels, publishers, distributors), who then divvy up the revenue among the artists, producers, and writers involved. By the time a songwriter gets their cut, it's a fraction of a fraction.
MIDIA Research estimates that each Spotify stream generates roughly $0.004. Of that, only 14% goes toward publishing—which is then divided among publishers, performing rights organizations (PROs), and songwriters. Songwriters typically receive 68% of that 14%. But most songs today are written by 3 to 12 people, meaning that thin slice gets sliced even thinner.
Throw in managers and agents, and the take-home pay per stream for a songwriter can be practically invisible. You’d need millions of streams to earn anything close to a living wage—and that’s just for one track.
Outdated Systems & Backroom Deals
Much of the blame for the broken royalty system doesn’t lie solely with Spotify. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)—not Spotify—sets the publishing payout rate, and the process has long been criticized as slow, outdated, and heavily lobbied by corporate interests. The CRB did approve a 23% increase for the 2023–2027 period, raising the publishing share to 15.35% of U.S. revenue.
Still, Spotify’s recent move to bundle music and audiobooks—a clever workaround to reduce royalty payouts—sparked outrage. It’s estimated to cost music companies over $150 million in the coming year. Labels like Universal and Warner may have renegotiated their deals behind closed doors, but the lack of transparency leaves songwriters in the dark once again.
It’s true that more artists are earning more than ever before. Even lower-tier artists—those ranked around 10,000th in revenue—saw a jump from $34,000 in 2014 to $131,000 in 2024. That’s real progress.
But for the songwriters behind the scenes, the system is still skewed. While top artists can tour, sell merch, and brand themselves, songwriters rely almost entirely on backend royalties—and those continue to lag.
What We Think
At BUZZMUSIC, we believe in celebrating the wins—Spotify has helped rescue the music industry from the brink. But let’s not sugarcoat it: this system is still failing the very people who write the songs we stream, sing, and fall in love to.
The fact that Spotify boasts record-breaking payouts while songwriters are launching petitions, lawsuits, and side hustles just to survive tells us everything we need to know. We need transparency, fair splits, and a model that values the pen as much as the performer.
The music industry doesn't exist without songwriters. Until they're treated accordingly, these billion-dollar headlines will keep ringing hollow.