Korean music is on top of the world with the Loud & Clear 2024 Report by Spotify.
The Spotify Loud & Clear 2024 report is packed with insights into global music streaming trends and Korean music is leading it.
Launched in 2021, Loud & Clear provides music for artists and fans with a deep dive into streaming economics. Notably, Spotify is the only streaming service offering such transparency on artist earnings. The report covers payouts, royalty structures, artist revenue, and more on its dedicated website.
Record-breaking revenue for Korean artists on Spotify
According to Spotify’s Loud & Clear 2024 report, over 3,600 South Korean artists were added to the platform’s editorial playlists in 2023. This exposure led to new listeners discovering South Korean artists nearly 2.2 billion times on Spotify throughout the year.
Korean artists earned their Spotify royalties skyrocket to over 180 billion Korean Won (approximately $138 million) in 2023. This represents a threefold increase from 2019 and a staggering 780% jump since 2017. The top 10 countries streaming Korean artists were the United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, India, Thailand, South Korea, and Canada.
Expanding opportunities for artists globally
Spotify’s data on global streaming economics highlighted the platform’s critical role in providing global artist support. More than $9 billion (KRW 12.2 trillion) to the music industry in 2023, the largest annual payment made by any retailer. Moreover, since its founding, Spotify has paid the music industry about USD 48 billion (KRW 65.1 trillion), which is a value that has nearly tripled over the last six years.
Independent artists thrived on Spotify in 2023, generating a record-breaking $4.5 billion (over 6.1 trillion Korean Won). This represents a quadrupling of their earnings since 2017 and makes up half of Spotify’s total revenue for 2023. Over the past two years, Spotify has paid out nearly $4 billion (5.4 trillion KRW) to publishers, rights organizations, and collecting societies for songwriters.
Notably, over half of the artists earning at least $10,000 (over 13 million KRW) on Spotify are from countries where English isn’t the primary language. Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, and Korean are among the leading languages for non-English music performances.
“The Loud & Clear report demonstrates Spotify’s significant and consistent role in transforming the global music industry,” said Jungjoo Park, Head of Music for Spotify Korea. “We believe artists everywhere deserve transparency regarding music streaming economics.”
“While we’ve only been in South Korea for a little over three years, our Loud & Clear data reflects our deep commitment to local artists and the music industry. We’re actively working to expand the reach of Korean music globally by championing Korean artists here and around the world,” Park added.
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