African music is really buzzing right now all over the world, and it’s also gaining significant traction on Spotify. Musicians from the continent are raking in some serious cash thanks to the Swedish company! But hey, Africa still gets a tiny slice of the royalties Spotify hands out each year.
In 2024, Nigeria and South Africa, two of Africa’s biggest music spots, pulled in just $59 million from a whopping $10 billion that was dished out. You won’t believe it, but around 250 million playlists made by users are rocking at least one Nigerian artist, and 220 million are giving a shout-out to South African artists too, according to the company’s data.
Hey, don’t forget that these countries have birthed some of the biggest music stars out there, like Tems, DJ Maphorisa, Tyla, Burna Boy, Rema, Davido, and Wizkid!
“What we’re seeing is an excellent evolution around more and more mid-tier or up-and-coming artists making a living,” says Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa.
What we’re seeing is an excellent evolution around more and more mid-tier or up-and-coming artists making a living,
Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy
During the review period, check this out on Reuters: musicians from Nigeria raked in over 58 billion Nigerian naira (that’s around $38 million!), which is more than double what they earned in 2023.
South African artists, on the flip side, scored 400 million rand (that’s about $21 million) in royalties, which is up a cool 54% from last year! A big chunk of their cash flow came from places outside their own markets.
In the past three years, Nigerian artists have seen their exports jump by 49%, while South Africa’s artists have totally outdone that with a whopping 104% increase! Hey, did you know that the number of Nigerian musicians raking in ten million naira a year has seriously skyrocketed and even tripled since 2022?
A ton more South Africans are now raking in between 100,000 and 500,000 rands—like, it’s more than quadrupled just in the last three years!
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Ghanaian artists will start getting a slice of the royalties Spotify dishes out to Africa soon!
