How Much Do Artists Earn From Spotify? Taylor Swift To Pocket $100M This Year
Taylor Swift is projected to rake in more than $100 million from Spotify this year.
Variety said the figure was derived from Swift's 2023 streams, which were revealed on the streaming platform's year-end "Wrapped" tally.
Swift has an astounding 26.1 billion streams credited to her name since the start of 2023.
Assuming an average payment of $0.0035 per stream, Swift's earnings until November alone hover around $91.35 million.
If she gets similar streaming numbers in December, her total Spotify income for the year could surpass the $130 million mark, according to the publication.
According to Billboard estimates, Swift's cumulative streaming revenue for 2023 might reach nearly $200 million if other platforms -- including Apple Music and YouTube Music -- are included.
Swift's staggering success on Spotify is not an isolated case, as other top earners like Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Drake and Peso Pluma also enjoyed substantial gains.
However, it's crucial to note that the streaming model pays based on a song or artist's total share of global streams, so artists who do not command a significant percentage of global streams like Swift likely get much less from Spotify.
Spotify has a 70/30 revenue split for streams -- 70% to music rights holders and 30% to the platform.
It pays rights holders between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream on average, Ditto reported.
According to its website, the platform generates music revenue from subscription fees from Premium listeners and fees from advertisers.
The streamer said it pays "nearly 70%" of that revenue is paid back as royalties to rights holders.
Spotify emphasized it "does not pay artist royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate."
"The royalty payments that artists receive might vary according to differences in how their music is streamed or the agreements they have with labels or distributors," the company said on its website.
Spotify claimed it has paid almost $40 billion to music rights holders since its foundation in 2006.
The streamer said that over 57,000 artists earned $10,000 or more from Spotify streams in 2022, up from 23,400 in 2017.
Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023.
