Spotify have finally answered this much-needed question with their bold and brash new website – Loud & Clear – a detailed guide to its royalty payment system.

But is it any good?

We Hear You

Loud & Clear.

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“Artists deserve clarity about the economics of music streaming. This site aims to increase transparency by sharing new data on the global streaming economy and breaking down the royalty system, the players, and the process.

Artists want the opportunity to make a living from their work. We want that, too: Although more artists than ever are finding success through streaming, we’re nowhere near done, and we’ll keep pushing to grow the industry.”

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In an attempt to shine the light on royalty payments that artists receive, Spotify have launched a website Loud & Clear to show us just that. Where the global streaming site would usually speak in code, and attempt vague responses to how artists are paid – does this finally tell us?

Here are some important facts and figures we have learned from venturing into the website just one day after it’s release.

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Over 13,000 artists are generating $50k a year.

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Impressive number, compared to what we’ve been told surrounding the stigma of Spotify and their royalty payments.

But while this is good, it is also important to remember that Spotify is home to around a third of all paid music streaming subscriptions – which suggests that artists could earn double or even treble their earnings if they take into account all the other music streaming services …

The Loud & Clear website also represents the number of artists who are achieving over 100k a year.

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The $100k-plus-per-year club counted 7,800 artists in 2020.

The $500k-plus-per-year club counted 1,820 artists in 2020.

And the $1 million-plus-per-year club counted 870 artists in 2020.

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There are over half a million tracks with over a million streams …

There are a whopping 2,710,000 tracks with over 100,000 plays!

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Whether its dialled in as a mere publicity stunt or these figures are actually true to the fact, the Loud & Clear website is showing us all – artists and consumers included – how far Spotify has come since the streaming service first launched and the rise in tenacity to fix their royalty payment issues. You can see their strength over the years by the total royalty payments made back in 2020 …

Spotify has paid $23 billion in royalties to music rights holders – including over $5billion in 2020 alone, up from $3.3 billion in 2017. Regarding the sheer volume of artists Spotify houses and the sheer popularity for consumer consumption – are these figures fair and considerate in the current climate? Or do they still not represent the music industry fairly?