South African artists earned $30.69 million on Spotify in 2025. Most of it came from abroad.

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Spotify disclosed that South African artists earned R504 million ($30.69 million) on the platform in 2025, with about 74% of that income coming from listeners outside South Africa. Earnings for South African artists rose 28% year-on-year, first-time listener discoveries jumped 40% to more than 1.6 billion, and independent artists or labels received over half of the royalties. The data highlights strong international demand for South African genres like amapiano and notable growth in music performed in Zulu. Spotify framed the figures as evidence that streaming is lowering distribution barriers and turning African music into a growing export market.

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