Not just that, royalties generated by Indian artists performing in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu have each more than doubled since 2021. Moreover, Indian artists gained big from Spotify’s global reach, with over 65% of the top 30 most exported songs coming from beyond the film industry.
Spotify’s latest report titled ‘Loud & Clear’ said that in 2024 alone, Indian artists were discovered over 11.2 billion times by first-time listeners, a 13% increase from 2023.
A closer look at the numbers reveals a thriving ecosystem for Indian musicians. As per the report, the number of Indian artists earning over Rs 50 lakh in royalties from Spotify has more than doubled since 2022, while those generating over Rs 1 crore have tripled.
Even more impressive, the count of artists earning over Rs 5 crore has also doubled. In 2024, approximately two-thirds of the royalties generated in India were attributed to Indian artists, marking a major evolution in India’s music scene and artists’ economy.
Remarkably, close to 50% of all royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify in 2024 came from listeners outside of India, a rise from 40% in 2023. Countries such as the USA, UK, UAE, Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka have emerged as key markets for Indian music, highlighting the growing global appeal of Indian languages.Vocal for regional?
Moreover, the diversity of languages and genres within the Indian music scene has played a pivotal role in this growth. This, too, was evident when tickets for Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s concert went sold out in seconds.
But, a twist in the tale is that royalties from music performed in Telugu have skyrocketed, witnessing a 39% year-on-year increase in popularity in 2024.
Genres like Hindi pop, Hindi hip hop, Punjabi hip hop, and Tamil pop continue to lead the charge, with artists like Arijit Singh, Pritam, Anirudh Ravichander, and Shreya Ghoshal becoming household names not just in India but across the globe. Other big emerging names, who have contributed to the surge, include Karan Aujla, Diljit Dosanjh, Hanumankind, Kalmi, A.R. Rahman, Sidhu Moose Wala, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Vishal-Shekhar, AP Dhillon, Badshah, and Alka Yagnik.
Over 9,000 Indian artists were added to global and local editorial playlists in 2024, up from 8,700 the prior year, indicative of Indian music and its dominance.
On a global scale, Spotify said that it has continued to set the pace in the music industry, distributing more than $10 billion in music royalties in 2024 alone.
This represents a tenfold increase in payouts over the past decade, with the total sum paid out since the platform’s inception reaching around $60 billion.
