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Today’s episode is part 2 of data week. We did a deep dive on Spotify’s Loud & Clear report. I read through the report and had some questions. Spotify’s head of marketing and policy for music, Sam Duboff, joined me to talk about the report in more depth.
You can listen to us here or read below for one of my big takeaways from our talk.
Streaming economics: All streams aren’t equal
Let’s play a game. Here are three artists and the numbers of streams they put up on Spotify in 2024:
- Drake: 12.11 billion
- Bad Bunny: 12.08 billion
- Billie Eilish: 12 billion
Their stream counts are nearly identical, but the payouts are quite different! Artists don’t get paid per stream, but they do get paid based on stream share (the percentage of total streams on the platform that an artist accounts for within specific markets and subscription tiers). This can lead to a "40% difference in how much [an artist] may be making," according to Spotify’s Sam Duboff.
First, let’s discuss Drake. He’s a millennial hip-hop artist with an older fanbase than the others. Older listeners skew more to Spotify’s premium tiers, where payouts are higher. Also, hip-hop fans have a stronger footprint in North America than the rest of the world, which also skews to premium tiers. And given the rough year Drake had in 2024, to say the least, it’s likely that his music was more listened to by his diehard fans, not the casual listeners. If “Family Matters” came up as one of your algorithmic plays on Spotify, you might as well be working for OVO Sound.
Bad Bunny is Latin music’s biggest star. More of his streams come from Latin American countries, where Spotify is nearly 1/3 the price it is in developed markets, and a smaller percentage of users in those countries are on the premium tier. It was an off-cycle year for Bad Bunny in 2024, who didn’t release an album but did drop a few singles.
Billie Eilish had her biggest year yet. “Birds of a Feather” was the most streamed song of the year on Spotify. She’s a Gen Z pop star. Her listeners are younger, which skews them more to the free tier. Many might still be on student or their parent’s family plans!
I did some ballpark math to compare how different their payouts could be on Spotify alone in 2024 (before their rights holders take a cut). Here’s a high and low-range estimate for each artist’s 2024 payouts on Spotify in U.S. Dollars:
- Drake: $44 to $57 million
- Billie Eilish: $39 to $52 million
- Bad Bunny: $34 to $47 million
That’s a $10 million swing in payouts between three artists with a nearly identical number of streams. For context, Taylor Swift, who had 26.1 billion streams in 2024, likely generated between $95 to 125 million from Spotify alone, using similar calculation methods.
This disparity taps back into the value and volume difference we discussed with Will Page. North America and Europe make up 80% of the value of streams from 48% of the volume of streams, while LaTam and Asia (ex. Japan), make up 12% of the value from 46% of volume. This impacts which market an artist prioritizes, which markets are exports vs imports and more.
Note on calculations: These estimates factor in the average premium vs. free tier rates in each artist's primary markets, regional pricing differences, and approximate listener demographics based on industry data. Actual figures are likely within these ranges but are not publicly disclosed by Spotify.
You should listen to our full conversation about Spotify and Loud & Clear for more on:
- The $5 billion paid out to independent artists and labels in 2024, and what “independent” means today
- Why there are 225,000 emerging and professional artists on the platform
- How Spotify feels about YouTube’s goal to be the #1 contributor of revenue to the industry
Listen here: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast
Chartmetric Stat of the Week
Green Day may not have had a major hit in the last 15 years, but with 31 million Spotify monthly listeners, the band still makes good money on the platform. They are currently the 218th most-popular act on Spotify according to Chartmetric, which means they generated around $5 million on the platform, likely matching their 2025 Coachella headliner pay per weekend. Legacy acts like Green Day continue to thrive both on tour and on streaming.
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