Spotify Paid Out $11B in Royalties to Music Industry in 2025, All-Time Payments Surpass $70B

Spotify paid out $11 billion in royalties to the music industry in 2025, the streaming platform said on Wednesday, $1 billion more than Spotify reported to have paid out a year prior.

The $11 billion payout brings Spotify’s all-time payments to the music industry to $70 billion, according to a post from Spotify’s head of music, Charlie Hellman, who added that half of last year’s $11 billion once again went to independent artists and labels, reflecting the indie music industry’s continued growth in the streaming era. Hellman called last year’s payout “the largest annual payment to music from any retailer in history.”

Hellman said in the post — available in full here — that Spotify’s 10 percent year-over-year growth outpaced other income sources by about 6 percent, though he didn’t specify what those other income sources were.

“That’s the real shift and extraordinary progress that these numbers represent,” Hellman said of Spotify’s royalty payouts,…