The global rise of South African artists and music, particularly in the Amapiano genre, has brought significant opportunities to creators. Amapiano’s growth extends beyond South Africa, with over 1.9 billion streams in 2022, a 563% increase in streams from countries outside Sub Saharan Africa on platforms like Spotify.
Music streaming has democratised the industry, benefiting artists. Spotify’s annual report, “Loud & Clear,” aims to enhance transparency by sharing data on royalty payments. In 2022, South African artists earned nearly R200 million from Spotify alone, triple the increase in four years. Even though the data shared doesn’t specify which genres or artists bagged the most, the number of streams proves that Amapiano is the leading genre in this case.
On their 2022 Wrapped results, Spotify revealed that Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, Mellow & Sleazy, Blxckie, and Young Stunna were the most-streamed local artists.
Over 30% more South African artists earned over R50k and R500k from Spotify in the last year. This revenue doesn’t consider other sources like concerts, merchandise, or other streaming platforms. A quarter of artists who earned over R100k distributed their music on Spotify using platforms like DistroKid, TuneCore, and CD Baby.
Spotify generates revenue from Premium subscribers and advertisers on the Free tier, with almost 70% returned as royalties to rights holders, who subsequently pay artists based on agreements. Spotify’s commitment is to support artists in making a living from their work, exemplified by their transparency in disclosing South African artists’ 2022 revenues.
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