Spotify paid $10 billion USD ($16 billion AUD) to the music industry in 2024, the streaming giant said this week. With last year’s total revealed—a new record for Spotify—the company has paid almost $60 billion to the music industry since its founding.

David Kaefer, the company’s Vice President and Head of Music, shared a blog post discussing how Spotify has helped grow artists’ careers and enter markets the company was told there was no money in.

Kaefer noted Spotify's ad-supported free tier, the app's ubiquitous nature and “local price points,” which make it accessible everywhere and generate “tremendous growth” in markets like India, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria.

“These are places where our investments are paying off,” Kaefer said, outlining Spotify’s goal of “getting the world to pay for music.” “That’s our blueprint, and it’s working.”

Globally, over 500 million people use premium tiers across all music streaming platforms. Spotify is aiming higher than that. Kaefer states, “A world with 1 billion paying listeners is a realistic goal we should collectively set.”

The streaming service estimates that in 2014, approximately 10,000 artists generated about $10,000 a year through Spotify. In 2024, Kaefer added that “well over” 10,000 artists generated over $100,000 per year from Spotify. The company will share its fourth-quarter earnings report on Tuesday (4 February).

On Sunday (26 January), Spotify announced its new deal with Universal Music Group that’s set to impact the company’s recorded and publishing royalties. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said (per Billboard), “Constant innovation is key to making paid music subscriptions even more attractive to a broader audience of fans around the world.”

That’s a sentiment echoed by Kaefer. “Our goal is to help artists get their work in front of existing and future fans, continue to innovate on their behalf, and deliver it in a way that inspires people to pay for it,” he said. “Onboarding people to paid streaming is precisely what has increased our payouts—tenfold—over the past decade.”

Kaefer continued, “Reaching 1 billion paid subscribers across all streaming services will be a collaborative effort, requiring innovation, strategic partnerships, and a continued focus on delivering exceptional value to music fans worldwide. It’s a goal we’re confident we can achieve together.”