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Streaming
Spotify Reveals How Much Canadian Artists Earned on the Platform in 2025
The streaming service’s latest Loud & Clear report claims that homegrown acts are reaching new financial heights, generating over $544 million in royalties — an almost 60% increase in the last five years.
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Spotify says that Canadian artists have generated over $544 million in royalties from the platform in 2025 — a 19% year-over-year jump and a nearly 60% increase since 2021.
That’s according to the company's latest Loud & Clear streaming report, designed to provide "artists and fans insights and transparency when it comes to Canada's music streaming economy."
More than 370 Canadian artists have each generated over $100,000 on the platform in 2025, Spotify claims — a figure that has nearly doubled since 2018. In addition, over 100 Canadian artists surpassed $500,000, the report says, and nearly 70 artists reached $1 million.
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“It represents real income that helps artists build careers from the ground up, whether they’re in a bedroom in Calgary, a studio in Montreal or a basement in Halifax,” the report reads. “This growth shows that more artists than ever are building sustainable careers at every level.”
In comparison, Canada’s total recorded music revenue increased to 5.6%, reaching $957 million, per IFPI’s Global Music Report. According to the worldwide recording industry organization, streaming alone accounted for 4.5% of the country’s revenue, hitting $747 million.
The Canadian-centric Spotify data follows the global report released earlier this month, highlighting that over 13,800 artists generated $100,000 on the platform.
According to the streaming giant, artist discovery — at home and internationally — continues to fuel artist growth. Canadian acts were discovered by first-time listeners on Spotify more than 3.56 billion times last year. It’s only a slight drop, from 3.8 billion in 2024.
Notably, 92% of the earned royalties came from listeners outside of Canada, further highlighting how global audiences can contribute to an artist’s success.
The platform highlights rising country singer Cameron Whitcomb as a success story. Scoring over five million monthly listeners, the Nanaimo, B.C.-native has expanded his streaming success onto the charts, notching multiple hits on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, most recently with “You And Me,” his first-ever love song.
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“It's crazy: from living in a cabin on my first manager's property and just writing songs in the morning, and then posting them in the afternoon, to actually having some streaming numbers. It was crazy watching it go from my first five million streams, then my first 10 million, then my first 20 million and then my first 50 million,” he says.
The rise of streaming has allowed artists to go beyond their home country, exporting globally — Canada slots in as one of the top 10 countries exporting artists, known for francophone artists reaching audiences beyond Québec and diaspora-driven genres like Punjabi-Canadian music hitting a stride, led by artists like Karan Aujla.
Zooming in, music performed in French saw a 38% global increase in royalties since 2023. Last year, the streamer's touted that Francophone music was one of the platform's top genres.
Montreal-born, Paris-based artist Charlotte Cardin, who performs in English and French, has reached new heights and struck a chord with listeners in Europe and the U.S.
“It's always been natural for me to express myself and make my art in both languages," she says. "One thing that I absolutely love about streaming, and about how people consume music nowadays, is that people are so open to listening and being touched by a song or an album that's not necessarily in the language that they speak or understand."
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While streaming revenues are rising, they don't guarantee artists are always reaping the benefits. Royalties go to rights-holders, which means that even if an artist is generating a significant amount, the amount they see entirely depends on their recording and publishing deals.
In recent years, Spotify has faced criticism over its royalty share model, which pays artists based on the share of overall streams their music accounts for in a given period. Two years ago, the streamer altered its framework, stating songs with less than 1,000 annual streams would be de-monetized.
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The results come as Spotify joins other streaming services to oppose 'Streaming Tax' measures as part of the Online Streaming Act and pushes back against a new Quebec bill to prioritize French-language content on streaming platforms.
Find the full Loud & Clear Canada report here.
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