Spotify, a global online music streaming platform, says it paid more than N25 billion to Nigerian artists as royalties in 2023.

Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying this was double what was recorded in 2022, with a 2,500 per cent increase since 2017.

Muhutu-Remy said these details were contained in Spotify’s launched annual report ‘Loud & Clear’.

She said the report was meant to increase transparency in the music industry by sharing data on Spotify’s royalty payments and breaking down the global streaming economy, its players, and its process.

She further revealed that Nigerian artists earning over N10 million in royalties have quadrupled since 2018.

According to her, over half of these royalties went to independent artistes or labels, showcasing the democratising power of streaming.

“Spotify listeners discovered Nigerian artistes nearly 950 million times in 2023 and Nigerian artistes own over 80 per cent of the tracks featured on Nigeria’s daily top 50 chart in 2023.

“Over 1,400 Nigerian artistes added to Spotify’s editorial playlists in 2023. The significant growth in royalties earned by Nigerian artistes on our platform is a powerful testament to their talent, creativity and global appeal.

“We are proud to amplify their voices and fuel the Nigerian music revolution. As a leader in the streaming economy, we are committed to supporting African creators to make a living from their art and we’ll continue to invest further in African artists to ensure this momentum continues,” she said.

Muhutu-Remy noted that while Afrobeats remained king, Nigeria’s music scene was experiencing a genre revolution as Spotify data revealed an increase in popularity across local genres.

She said homegrown genres like Highlife have experienced a significant increase in listenership in the last 12 months by 224 per cent, Igbo Pop by 303 per cent, and Fuji by 187 per cent.

She noted that Highlife, Fuji and Igbo Pop also saw listenership increase in Q1 2024,  growing by 240 per cent, 175 per cent, and 270 per cent respectively compared to Q1 2023.

According to her, top artistes remained Fuji King K1 De Ultimate on top, while Highlife found new life with Umu Obiligbo‘s energy and Phyno for Igbo Pop.

For top tracks, Fuji gets a fresh spin with Adewale Ayuba’s Koloba Koloba, Highlife goes nostalgic with Chief Osita Osadebe’s Nwanem Ebezina and Igbo Pop gets a vibrant boost with KCee’s Ojapiano. Men dominate listeners of local music genres like Fuji (85 per cent), Highlife (89 per cent) and Igbo Pop (81 per cent).

“However, Gen Z, aged 18 to 24 is the leading age group across all the three genres, making up 32 per cent of Fuji listeners, 31 per cent of Highlife listeners, and 46 per cent of Igbo Pop listeners. 

Cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Katsina all top the charts for streaming these local genres (Fuji, Highlife, and Igbo Pop).

She said, “The top five exported music genres from Nigeria are Afrobeats, Nigerian Pop, Afropop, Nigerian Hip Hop, and Afro Rhymes and Blues.” 

(NAN)