Spotify paid out a record $11 billion to musicians in 2025

Spotify paid out over $11 billion to the music industry in 2025. About this reports Bloomberg. According to the platform, this is the largest annual payment from a retailer in the history of the music industry. The payments increased by more than 10% compared to the previous year.

The Swedish streaming platform is actively competing for musicians with other big players – YouTube and AppleIn October, YouTube said it paid out more than $8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months from July 2024 to June 2025. Spotify surpassed its competitor in terms of payouts.

"Because Spotify pays out two-thirds of all music revenue to the industry – nearly 70% of what we earn – as Spotify’s revenue has grown, so have music payments," the company said in a blog post.

Spotify is reinvesting the rest of its funds into the platform's development. The company is expanding its content formats, adding podcasts, videos, and audiobooks.

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

At the end of the third quarter, the number of monthly active users was 713 million.

• On December 13, it became known that Russian artists will be blocked on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms by decision of the National Security and Defense Council.