Spotify Paid Out $11 Billion to the Music Industry

Spotify just dropped a major milestone: the streaming platform says it paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025, marking its biggest annual payout ever — and what it calls the largest single-year payment from any music retailer in history.

For dance and house fans, this is a reminder of just how much streaming now shapes the scene. Spotify’s Head of Music, Charlie Hellman, shared the numbers in a new company post, noting that payouts grew more than 10% year over year, bringing Spotify’s total payouts since launch to nearly $70 billion.

So where does that money go? Spotify says these payments flow to record labels, publishers, independent distributors, and royalty organizations — the groups responsible for getting music into the hands of artists and rights holders.

Hellman also positioned Spotify as one of the biggest engines behind the music industry’s growth right now. According to the company, Spotify accounts for roughly 30% of global recorded music revenue, and its payouts are rising faster than other income sources across the industry.

One standout detail: Spotify claims there are now more artists earning over $100,000 a year from Spotify alone than there were artists getting stocked in record stores during the peak CD era. In other words, the streaming model may be controversial, but it’s also creating new lanes for artists to build real careers — including in underground genres like house and techno that thrive on global discovery.

This announcement also arrives as Spotify continues to raise subscription prices in several countries, including the US, where Premium will increase from $11.99 to $12.99 starting in February. The company argues that as streaming audiences grow — now over 750 million paying subscribers worldwide across all platforms — payouts rise alongside revenue.

More clarity is expected soon when Spotify releases its Q4 2025 financial results on February 10. For context, in 2024 Spotify’s $10 billion payout represented about 60% of its annual revenue.

Spotify’s business is still expanding quickly: the platform reached 281 million Premium subscribers as of Q3 2025 and posted quarterly operating income of €582 million, up 33% from the year before. 2024 also marked Spotify’s first full year of operating profit.

For the house music world, these numbers underline one thing: streaming remains the main pipeline connecting club culture, global audiences, and artist income — even as the debate over fairness and sustainability continues.