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While many musicians around the world question whether streaming truly works in their favor, Brazil is quietly building a powerful counter-narrative. According to data released via Spotify’s Loud & Clear report, the country’s music industry is experiencing its most dramatic period of growth in recent memory- growth that Spotify claims it is not only tracking, but fueling.
In 2024 alone, Brazilian artists generated over BRL 1.6 billion in royalties through Spotify – a staggering 31% increase from the previous year, and more than double the payouts seen in 2021. These figures, shared in Spotify’s newsroom, represent more than a record year. They reveal a systemic transformation underway, where homegrown artists are increasingly able to build viable careers within and beyond their national borders.
What makes these numbers especially striking is their local retention. Over 60% of royalties generated stayed in Brazil, with Brazilian rights-holders making up 84% of the country’s Daily Top 50.
“Royalties generated on Spotify for Brazilian artists are rising faster than Brazil’s music market as a whole,” said Carolina Alzuguir, Head of Music at Spotify Brazil, in a statement included in the company’s report. “Together, Loud & Clear and Spotify for Artists give musicians the confidence to turn momentum into the next single, a bigger tour, or an ambitious new project.”
This growth coincides with Spotify’s tenth anniversary in Brazil, a country where piracy once dominated and CD sales were slow to recover post-2000s. Now, more than 25 million hours of Brazilian music are streamed every day, both domestically and globally. Music in Portuguese has seen royalties grow 20% year over year, more than doubling since 2021.
What’s driving this acceleration? Spotify points to a few key factors: the freemium model, which converts casual listeners into long-term fans; a sharp focus on tools for transparency and self-monitoring via Spotify for Artists; and an increasingly borderless flow of Brazilian music across the global map.
Female artists in particular are seeing major wins. In 2024, streams of Brazilian women artists, including Anitta, MC STER, and Bibi Babydoll, increased by 51% outside of Brazil. And global discoveries of Brazilian artists have surged: 11.8 billion first-time listens this year alone, up 19% from 2023.
The results are tangible, and Spotify is eager to frame itself as more than just a distributor of content. Its messaging emphasizes partnership, empowerment, and long-term sustainability for artists. “Before the paycheck, there’s discovery,” said Alzuguir. “That feedback loop transforms curiosity into community, and community is what powers a career.”
Still, not everything is celebratory. Critics of streaming models – particularly independent artists and industry advocates – remain skeptical of royalty structures and opaque algorithms. While Brazil may be an outlier in terms of growth and localization, global questions around fairness, ownership, and equitable revenue sharing persist. Spotify’s claim to transparency, through reports like Loud & Clear, is a move to stay ahead of that criticism. But it’s worth asking whether transparency alone is enough, or if it simply quantifies inequalities without addressing them.
Nevertheless, the numbers from Brazil present an undeniable shift. In an age where algorithms often favor the viral and ephemeral, Brazil’s streaming success is rooted in consistency, fandom, and cultural specificity. Spotify, it seems, has not only found an audience there – it’s helped create one.
As the platform marks a decade in Brazil, it’s not just celebrating longevity. It’s making a case for streaming as a sustainable foundation for a local music ecosystem – at least, in the right conditions. Whether that model can be replicated elsewhere, or if it’s unique to Brazil’s complex, resilient musical identity, remains to be seen.
Explore Spotify’s full Loud & Clear report and the Brasil 10Anos feature at newsroom.spotify.com
