Spotify has released India-specific data from its 2025 Loud & Clear report, showing that royalties generated by Indian artists on the digital service provider (DSP) grew 29% year on year. That outpaces the platform’s global royalty growth rate of more than 10% for the same period.
The number of Indian artists earning more than Rs1 crore (approximately $105,400) in annual royalties rose 21% year on year. Artists earning more than Rs5 crore (approximately $526,900) doubled compared with 2023.
Streaming and discovery#
Indian artists were streamed more than 335 billion times globally in 2025. That total included 12.8 billion plays by listeners who had never heard those acts before, up 14% from 2024.
Spotify also reported that artists from India were discovered more than 11.2 billion times by first-time listeners, a 13% increase from 2023. User-generated playlists played a role: 112 million playlists featuring Indian artists were created globally, including nearly 59 million made by listeners inside India.
Around 90% of tracks on Spotify India’s Daily Top 50 Songs chart were by local acts, consistent with 2024. More than 40% of royalties earned by Indian artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside India, down from close to 50% in 2024 and in line with the 40% share recorded in 2023.
For the first time, Spotify shared data on Indian female artists. Streams of their music grew 27% domestically and 7% internationally in 2025.
Language-level royalty growth#
Spotify said every major Indian language contributed to the overall rise in royalty payouts. The fastest-growing languages by royalty earnings were:
- Telugu: over 120%
- Marathi: nearly 50%
- Bengali: close to 50%
- Malayalam: more than 30%
- Hindi: almost 30%
- Tamil: up 20%
Telugu also led in 2024, with a 39% year-on-year increase in royalties.
Executive and government comment#
Dhruvank Vaidya, head of music and podcasts at Spotify India, said the platform’s growth is becoming broad-based across the country. He attributed the trend to region- and language-specific marketing campaigns and partnerships with artists and films.
"As we’re growing deeper in the market, we’re seeing our growth being broad-based across the country. That has happened [because of] multiple reasons, [like, for instance] the kind of marketing [campaigns and activities] and the kind of partnerships we do with artists and films is much more region and language-specific."
Vaidya said Spotify curates playlists across ten Indian languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Marathi and Gujarati. He noted that within Malayalam, pop has seen a huge surge after hip-hop. In Telugu music, which remains film soundtrack-dominated, catalogue re-releases and milestones such as release anniversaries have been a big driver among top songs.
The data was released at an event in Delhi attended by Jayant Chaudhary, India’s Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
"The 29% growth in Spotify royalties, supported by strong gains across Indian languages, shows how digital platforms are enabling talent from every region to find audiences, build sustainable livelihoods and participate in the global creative economy. As technology reshapes the creative industries, we must continue to strengthen the skills, digital capabilities and enterprise opportunities that enable young creators to convert their talent into meaningful careers. India’s linguistic diversity is not merely our cultural strength; it is increasingly becoming an economic strength and a powerful part of our global identity."
