Spotify shares 2022 revenues for SA artists

The genre has been immensely popular beyond South Africa’s borders in the past two years, with streams outside sub-Saharan Africa growing by 563%. Outside the region, countries where amapiano is popular include the UK, US, Netherlands, Germany and Canada.

The Swedish streaming company says South African artists generated nearly R200m ($11m) from Spotify alone in 2022, three times what they made four years ago. According to the report, South African artists who generated more than R50 000 and R500 000 in royalties from Spotify have increased by more than 30% in the last year. This figure, the company said, represents revenue generated from Spotify alone, and does not take into account earnings from other services and recorded revenue streams, concert tickets or merch.

The report shows that 25% of all South African artists who generated more than R100 000 self-distribute their music on Spotify, using distributors like DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby, among others.

“Our continued commitment at Spotify is to ensure that professional artists can make a living from their art,” Spotify managing director for sub-Saharan Africa Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy said. “By releasing the revenues that South African artists generated on our platform in 2022, we are not only keeping ourselves accountable, but also showing artists that it does pay to put your art out into the world.”

Spotify says music streaming had democratised the music industry, which is why it is committed to ensuring that African creators are able to earn money from their works, by exposing them to over 550 million active users

Spotify’s Loud & Clear is designed to increase transparency in the music industry by sharing data on the company’s royalty payments and breaking down the global streaming economy.

“Spotify generates music revenue from two sources: subscription fees from Premium listeners and fees from advertisers on music on the Free tier,” the compnay said. “Nearly 70% of that revenue is paid back as royalties to rightsholders, who then pay the artists and songwriters, based on the agreed terms. These rightsholders include record labels, publishers, independent distributors, performance rights organisations and collecting societies.”