South African musical artists generate more than R250M from streaming in the last year

In 2023, royalties generated by South African musical artists on Spotify alone reached nearly R256 million. This was revealed on Monday morning in Rosebank, Johannesburg where the streaming platform shared its numbers of the last year

The figure reflects a nearly 240% increase since 2019 and a more than 500% increase since 2017.

These numbers were part of The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) 2024 report; the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) music industry is the only region where revenues’ growth surpassed 20%, making it the fastest growing, spear-headed by Amapiano and Afrobeats.

Payment

Spotify launched its annual report, Loud & Clear, to increase transparency in the music industry by sharing data on Spotify’s royalty payments and breaking down the global streaming economy, the players and the process.

For the second year, Spotify is releasing the data on earnings specifically for South African artists on the platform

“We as Spotify cannot make deals with every single artist that uploads music to the platform. These lovely dignitaries are the ones who go out to the world with an A&R [artists and repertoire] and sign the artist and make the deals with the distributors, record labels, publishers,” averred Managing Director of Spotify Sub-Saharan Africa Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy at the media briefing.

“Whatever deals that they make with the artist, we then make the deals with them, the rights holders, and how the money is paid out is that we as Spotify pay two thirds of everything we make from streaming to the right holders,” she said.

IFPI revealed that South Africa is still the largest market in Sub-Saharan Africa, growing by 19.9% to contribute 77% of the total regional revenue.

There are a number of factors that have contributed to this growth, but key among them is internet penetration and in tandem, music streaming.

With streaming platforms like Spotify, musicians are able to cross borders, widen their fan bases and make a living from their art.

“South African artists’ streaming revenues on Spotify keeps growing every year, a true testament of their immense talent. It’s a privilege to continue supporting them, in keeping with our vision of ensuring all professional artists can make a living off their art,” said Muhutu-Remy.

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In numbers

Amapiano is South Africa’s biggest musical export, with its viral dance routines and catchy beats.

• There has been an uptick in local music consumption in South Africa, growing by 101% in 2023

• The industry is still male dominated but female artists are gaining pace. Average streams for female artists year on year increased by 49% in 2023

• Amapiano tracks have been added to over 14 million playlists. The 2023 vs 2018 growth is 566%

• In 2023, South African artists were discovered by first time listeners over 735M times on Spotify.

• The number of South African artists generating over 100,000 ZAR in royalties from Spotify alone has grown more than 5x since 2018.

• In 2023, nearly 2,800 South African artists were added to editorial playlists on Spotify.

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