Spotify distributes about 70% of its total revenue to rights holders. That money goes to owners of sound recordings and musical compositions, who then pay artists, performers, songwriters, and other participants according to their contracts.
The figure describes the broad flow of Spotify’s revenue, not a guaranteed payment to each musician. Spotify’s royalty system has no single fixed per-stream rate: payouts vary with factors such as a listener’s country, subscription type, and the rights holder’s agreement. The remaining revenue supports Spotify’s operations, technology, staff, marketing, and other expenses.
A common mix-up is treating the 70% figure as the artist’s personal share. Spotify generally pays rights holders—such as labels, publishers, and collecting entities—rather than handing 70% directly to performers. Contract terms determine how much eventually reaches an individual artist.
The split also covers different rights. Wikipedia describes roughly 58.5% of total revenue going to sound-recording owners and about 12% to musical-composition owners, illustrating why streaming royalties involve several layers rather than one simple payment.