Money For Nothing

Spotify's founders have amassed a horde of wealth in large part by not paying artists. This year, the streamer even turned a profit for the first time. Musicians keep on paying the price.

It appears that 2024 will become the year that Spotify finally turns a profit. While the streaming behemoth has yet to unveil its fourth quarter earnings report, it had a tremendously sunny first nine months to begin the year. In the opening three quarters of the year, Spotify posted a profit of more than $1.2 Billion with more profits expected in the final three months of 2024. This will mark the first time in nearly twenty years of existence that the streaming giant has turned a profit.

Much of this financial turnaround has come via new customers to the Spotify platform. Between January and September of 2024, Spotify added more than 62 million monthly listeners. Paid subscribership in the first nine months of the year skyrocketed by more than 16 million new customers. That strong growth in users and paying customers is a key ingredient to Spotify’s recent profitability. But it is not the only factor.