Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) said it paid out more than $11 billion to artists, labels and rights holders in 2025, marking the largest annual payout to the music industry ever made by a single retailer.
The Sweden-based streaming group said in a blog post on Wednesday that total payouts increased by over 10% compared with 2024. Independent artists and labels accounted for around half of the royalties distributed during the year, underscoring their growing presence on the platform.
Spotify has been stepping up efforts to keep established artists engaged while attracting new creators, as competition intensifies with rivals such as YouTube and Apple in the global music-streaming market.
For context, YouTube disclosed in October that it had paid more than $8 billion to the music industry over the 12 months from July 2024 to June 2025.
“Since Spotify pays out two-thirds of all music revenue to the industry – almost 70% of what we take in – as Spotify revenues grow, music payouts have grown as well,” the company said in the blog post.
Spotify added that the remaining share of its revenue is reinvested into the platform to support the expansion of formats beyond music, including podcasts, video content and audiobooks.
The company has recently raised prices for its premium subscription plans in several regions as it looks to improve profitability and capitalize on its scale. Spotify reported 713 million monthly active users at the end of the third quarter.