In 2020, this share of revenues was £4 billion.

So Spotify keeps a third of the royalty payments. It accounts for 20 percent of all recorded music revenue, far more than competitors. The rest provide cash for the company by listening to adverts.

Spotify now has 406 million users-180 million of whom pay.

From an inflation-adjusted peak of £18 billion in 1999, they dropped to £5 billion by 2014. The latter was becoming increasingly popular. At that time the options were to pay for a digital or physical album or song-or illegally download music for free using a file sharing service. And it’s set to make consistent profits for the first time since it was set up in 2006. Spotify recorded £9 billion in revenue in 2021. Podcasters get paid up front-£73 million in Rogan’s case. On Spotify musicians get paid a tiny fee per stream. Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over podcaster Joe Rogan’s Covid misinformation-but that won’t stop the platform’s profits. Musician Neil Young tells artists on Spotify to “get out before it eats your soul”.

Neil young spotify streaming numbers