🎵 A Quick Dip into Spotify's Streaming Pool
I haven’t had a chance to go over Luminate’s data from how music was listened to and monetized in 2025 but I always appreciate Damon Krukowski’s analysis. Below is a handy graph which shows that only tracks in the top two sections (white and light blue) collect ANY royalties from Spotify. That means 88% of the tracks on Spotify are listened to less than 1000 times a year and are therefore exempted from payouts. This money is then reallocated to those above the 1000 play threshold in proportion to their percentage of total plays.
It boggles my mind that 250 million new tracks were uploaded last year. As a musician, I am actually part of the lucky tier that makes a small portion of my income from this system. But because it is “pro rata” (meaning that the total amount of money set aside for royalties is split in proportion to total listens on the platform) I am in direct competition with any new track on the platform since it dilutes the pro rata pool.
All of this makes me think about how when I started this band 18 years ago there was a separate “indie” ecosystem, often local or regional, with its own publications, venues, record stores, college radio stations. Part of being a non mainstream band was finding these networks and contributing as a performer and as a participant. Maybe I’m just old but I think there is something existential about the main place for listening to music pitting everyone against each other for a sliver of the royalty pie. For most of my life I didn’t have any reason to know or care about the billboard charts yet now, in a strange way, I feel part of that system. Not to mention Universal Music Group, the largest label in the world, has bought the company that publishes my music so now I have truly and unwittingly joined the major label system.
I know that exciting indie ecosystems still exist and I’m grateful for them but I think the main difference is that they don’t exist out of necessity anymore where in the past they were actually needed if you wanted to find literally anything outside of the mainstream. That being said, if you’re doing the good work of making/participating in different systems than the easy/default ones I appreciate you!
