Spotify is loudly and clearly screwing over 99.4% of the artists on its service

Spotify likes to tell its story about the democratisation of music and money, but its strategy of rewarding only those at the top hides in plain sight.

Last week’s Loud and Clear report noted that 12 million artists uploaded music to Spotify in 2024, but only 0.6% generated more than $10,000 in royalties.

Let me be clear: artists who generate $10,000 in royalties do not earn $10,000 in income. They likely receive a tiny fraction of that after all their costs. And even if they did earn $10,000 outright, that still isn’t enough to sustain a career for a single artist, let alone a band.

But my aha moment hit when I thought about the 99.4% who generated less than $10,000. Previous estimates suggested that 86% of all artists earn nothing from their music on Spotify. I always assumed, perhaps with a hint of disdain, that most of these songs weren’t good enough to earn anything.

That may be true in some cases, but something more sinister is at play here:

Spotify designed its business model to reward only those at the top. It’s that simple, and the maths do not lie: 71,200 artists generated more than $10,000 in royalties, but 11,928,800 did not.

I’m willing to bet the vast majority of those artists spent significant money on Spotify as both premium subscribers and in a vain attempt to promote their music through ads or its Discovery Mode, which “rewards” artists with increased algorithmic exposure in exchange for lower royalty payments. Yes, their only path to finding new fans on Spotify requires them to lose more money on Spotify.

For indie artists, labels, and fans, it’s a battle you can never win. That’s why we’re changing the game with Sawtooth. We believe that:

1. If someone plays your music, you should get paid for it.

2. Your music should be discoverable without a gatekeeper, whether that’s a playlist maker, curator, or algorithm.

3. If your music finds an audience, you should be able to make a career and a living off it.

That’s only the beginning, and there’s much more to come.