"And Nicki received $5 from it"—Internet reacts to Spotify's claim of paying a record $10B to the music industry in 2024

Netizens have reacted to streaming giant Spotify claiming that they paid over $10 billion to the music industry in 2024. With that, the streaming giant has now paid more than $60 billion to the music industry since its inception in 2006.

Founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, Spotify is an audio streaming service company and one of the largest music streaming service providers in the world. According to the company's website, Spotify currently has over 100 million tracks, six million podcast titles, and 350k audiobooks. The company also has around 640 monthly active users and over 252 million paid subscribers.

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Spotify's milestone has attracted the attention of several pop culture tabloids and fans on social media. X user @harryshouse3 joked in the comment section, claiming that Nicki Minaj would get a negligible amount from the $10 billion disbursed by the company. They said:

"And Nicki received $5 from it."

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"That's a massive contribution to the music world. Wonder how it impacts smaller artists though," opined another user.

"Wow, that's a lot of cash for those sweet tunes! 💸🎶 Spotify really knows how to keep the music flowing!" added another X user.

However, one user was critical of the statistic, claiming that almost no money from the $10 billion trickled down to struggling artists.

"This is just BS PR for @Spotify's BS. Most of this money barely goes to a majority of artists, as a large majority of this money goes to not only a tiny few of big artists but also the big labels who are parasites to many artists, including struggling ones," a netizen wrote.

"Raising prices and still no hi-fi, Dolby atmos or new useful tools + underground artists are getting harder to make money due to Spotify's new politics… it's a matter of time this app is gonna fall down in the next decade," commented another.

"Independent artists got paid like 30 dollars combined," declared another.

Some other reactions on X are as follows:

"That's an impressive feat for Spotify! It's amazing how they're contributing to the music industry and supporting artists with such significant payments," a user opined.

"WOAH! That is a lot! Hope the artists on Spotify are satisfied with their payouts!" claimed a netizen.

"And they're still screwing artists over who then over charge for concert tickets!" inferred another user on X.

Exploring the top artists, songs, albums, podcasts, and audiobooks on Spotify in 2024

"Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus (Image via Getty)

2024 was one of the most lucrative years for streaming giant Spotify. According to a report released by the streaming giant on December 4, 2024, creatives like tracks, podcasts, and audiobooks saw a significant increase in popularity in 2024 compared to previous years.

Pop stars like Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Shaboozey experienced a significant rise in popularit. The country music genre had a resurrection thanks to contributions by icons like Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey, Post Malone, and the like. 2024 also saw a notable increase in the popularity of female artists, especially in the top albums list.

With over 26.6 billion global streams, Taylor Swift took the title of the Global Top Artist for Spotify. Sabrina Carpenter's Espresso was the most-streamed global song while Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology clinched the honor of being the most-streamed global album.

The Joe Rogan Experience was the most-streamed podcast, while A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was the most popular audiobook of 2024.

Here is a comprehensive list of the top artists, albums, audiobooks, and podcasts for the streaming giant for the year 2024.