Music streaming giant Spotify has revealed that it paid over N25 billion in streaming royalties to Nigerian artists in 2023.
News About Nigeria reports that this figure marks an increase from the over N11 billion paid out in 2022.
The revelation came as part of Spotify’s annual Loud & Clear report, which focuses on the Nigerian market.
According to the report, royalties to Nigerian artists have surged by an impressive 2,500% since 2017.
While Spotify is just one of many music streaming services contributing to the revenue of the music industry, its impact cannot be overstated.
Artists also earn royalties from other platforms such as YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, among others.
This marks the second time that Spotify has released specific data on Nigeria.
By sharing its royalty payments and breaking down the global streaming economy, Spotify aims to provide insight into the process and players involved.
A global report released earlier in the year revealed that Spotify paid a total of $9 billion in royalties to artists globally in the past year.
The data released by Spotify also shows the success of Nigerian artists on the platform, with the number of artists earning over N10 million in royalties quadrupling since 2018.
Furthermore, over half of the royalties went to independent artists or labels.
Spotify listeners played a key role in driving this success, with the report indicating that Nigerian artists were discovered nearly 950 million times on the platform in 2023.
Commenting on the report, Spotify’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, praised the talent and creativity of Nigerian artists.
She noted that while Afrobeats remains dominant, Nigeria’s music scene is experiencing a genre revolution, with increased popularity across local genres such as Highlife, Igbo Pop, and Fuji.
These genres saw significant growth in listenership in 2023.
