That prospectus reads: “Spotify provides a large stage for more than 3 million creators and artists to connect with existing fans and to be discovered by new fans.”Ĭonsidering that around 40,000 tracks are uploaded to Spotify daily, and that rival SoundCloud recently confirmed that it hosts music from over 25 million artists and creators, you’d expect that this 3 million figure would have ballooned considerably since Spotify announced it. The latest official statistic I could find for the total number of artists on Spotify arrived in March 2018, within the prospectus the firm sent to would-be investors before its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek issued this mission statement in front of investors in 2018, and the company has continually published it in annual results: It wants “to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art.” Nitpicking over corporate slip-ups is rarely a productive use of time, but in this instance it matters, partly because multiple global media outlets are perpetuating the incorrect 10% number, but also because the true statistic (90%) gets to the heart of Spotify’s own grandiose mission statement - and its shaky relationship with reality. I checked in with Spotify, which clarified that the second version (90%, not 10%) is correct ergo, 90% of all streams on Spotify are now shared between 43,000 artists. Then, a few hours later, a different version of the same letter was available on Spotify’s own investor site, complete with this subtle change: “Growth in the number of artists making up our top tier - those accounting for the top 90% of streams - is accelerating that cohort now stands at over 43,000 artists, up 43% from 30,000 one year ago.”
Within the letter, the company revealed a startling statistic: “Growth in the number of artists making up our top tier - those accounting for the top 10% of streams - is accelerating that cohort now stands at over 43,000 artists, up 43% from 30,000 one year ago.”
On Wednesday (July 29th), Spotify issued its customary quarterly letter to shareholders, revealing that its global subscriber base had grown by 8 million in the second quarter, up to 138 million. I’ve been intrigued, impressed, and surprised by Spotify’s earnings results over the years - but never quite so confused.
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