{"id":9094,"slug":"spotify-listener-year-through-nigerian-cascade-2026","title":"One listener-year of Spotify cost of revenue, run through a documented Nigerian distribution chain, 2026","source":"Computed from this desk's spotify-free-vs-paid-tier-shares-q3-2026 and nigeria-distribution-cascade-example","source_url":"","source_type":"computed","method":"free_listener_gross_eur_year and subscriber_gross_eur_year are the per-listener-per-month cost-of-revenue figures from this desk's spotify-free-vs-paid-tier-shares-q3-2026, EUR 0.26 and EUR 3.20 for the quarter ended 30 September 2026, multiplied by twelve. The arithmetic uses those published rounded figures so a reader can redo it from the table. artist_share_pct is each of the four scenarios in this desk's nigeria-distribution-cascade-example, which traces one documented Nigerian label and distribution chain. The two to-artist columns multiply the gross by that share. This is a structural illustration, not a measurement of Spotify payouts in Nigeria, and three things make it so. The cascade was measured on MTN Music Plus, Boomplay and Cloud9, not on Spotify, so the share percentages come from a different set of platform and distributor contracts. Cost of revenue is an upper bound on royalties rather than a royalty figure, so the gross columns are already generous. And it is one chain, one artist, one reported investigation, so the four shares are a range of documented outcomes rather than a distribution anyone can assume applies to their own deal. Confidence is marked low for those reasons.","unit":"eur","license":"Afrobeats Wire's compilation and analysis are licensed CC BY 4.0. Rights in the underlying source data remain with the source named above.","confidence":"low","retrieved":"2026-11-04 19:46:05","n":4,"first_party":0,"columns":[{"key":"scenario","label":"Chain","type":"text"},{"key":"artist_share_pct","label":"Share reaching the artist (%)","type":"number"},{"key":"free_listener_gross_eur_year","label":"Gross per free listener-year (EUR)","type":"number"},{"key":"free_listener_eur_year_to_artist","label":"To artist per free listener-year (EUR)","type":"number"},{"key":"subscriber_gross_eur_year","label":"Gross per subscriber-year (EUR)","type":"number"},{"key":"subscriber_eur_year_to_artist","label":"To artist per subscriber-year (EUR)","type":"number"}],"rows":[{"scenario":"Telco-bundled platform, through a label and manager","artist_share_pct":5.1,"free_listener_gross_eur_year":3.12,"subscriber_gross_eur_year":38.4,"free_listener_eur_year_to_artist":0.16,"subscriber_eur_year_to_artist":1.96},{"scenario":"App-based platform, through a label and manager","artist_share_pct":7.5,"free_listener_gross_eur_year":3.12,"subscriber_gross_eur_year":38.4,"free_listener_eur_year_to_artist":0.23,"subscriber_eur_year_to_artist":2.88},{"scenario":"Telco-bundled platform, artist bypasses the label","artist_share_pct":20,"free_listener_gross_eur_year":3.12,"subscriber_gross_eur_year":38.4,"free_listener_eur_year_to_artist":0.62,"subscriber_eur_year_to_artist":7.68},{"scenario":"App-based platform, artist bypasses the label","artist_share_pct":25,"free_listener_gross_eur_year":3.12,"subscriber_gross_eur_year":38.4,"free_listener_eur_year_to_artist":0.78,"subscriber_eur_year_to_artist":9.6}]}