German music on Spotify is growing more lucrative at a rapid pace, new data from the music streaming giant shows.
As part of its Loud & Clear initiative, which provides data on stream counts and earnings on its platform, Spotify has released Germany-specific numbers, which show that royalties paid on music from German artists jumped 17% YoY last year, to EUR €480 million, or USD $519.5 million at the average exchange rate for 2024.
That’s a considerably faster rate of growth than Germany’s overall recorded music industry, which grew 7.8% YoY in 2024 to €2.38 billion ($2.58 billion), according to German music industry trade group BVMI.
“Music performed in German was one of the top performing languages on Spotify in 2024, with an 18% YOY increase in royalties generated globally on Spotify alone in 2024, and more than doubling since 2020,” the streaming service noted in a fact sheet shared with MBW.
Germany is among the countries where local-language music has been growing in popularity in recent years, even as music tastes globalize amid the mass availability of global music in the streaming era.
A study last year by Will Page, former chief economist at Spotify, and Chris Dalla Riva of Audiomack found that Germany had the highest number of local-language songs in its Top 10 among European countries.
Nonetheless, on Spotify, music from outside Germany remains popular in the country, accounting for more than 60% of the revenues generated in the country, Spotify said.
The data suggests that German artists have an audience abroad as well.
“People around the world spent over 17 million hours listening to German artists in 2024,” Spotify said, though the company didn’t disclose how much of those hours were listened to outside the German-speaking world.
Users in the US created the most playlists featuring German artists – 302 million – exceeding even the number created by users in Germany (246 million).
That was followed by the UK (106 million), Brazil (55 million), and Mexico (54 million), out of a total of 1.48 billion playlists that include German artists.
“Music performed in German was one of the top performing languages on Spotify in 2024.”
Spotify
Spotify also said that “over half” of the royalties generated by German artists were from indie artists or labels.
As is often the case with its Loud & Clear reports, the streaming service highlighted its growing role as a source of income for artists. The number of German artists generating more than €50,000 in royalties on Spotify has grown fivefold since 2018, while the number earning over €100,000 has grown fourfold since 2018, the streaming service said.
Meanwhile, the number of German artists earning above €500,000 has “more than doubled” since 2019, Spotify said.
The most streamed genres from Germany in 2024 were rap, German hip-hop, dance, pop and EDM.
While Spotify’s numbers for Germany may be impressive, it’s worth noting that they aren’t a direct reflection of overall consumer demand for music; in part they reflect the shift to digital that’s taking place worldwide.
According to BVMI, the streaming market in Germany grew 12.6% YoY in 2024, and accounted for 78.1% of music revenue.
“The clear double-digit growth in streaming sales shows that more and more fans want to share in the benefits of this type of music consumption and are therefore taking out a subscription with one of the providers,” BVMI Chairman and CEO Dr. Florian Drucke said.
“In this respect, the trend that we are also seeing worldwide is continuing.”
