Independent artists dominated the Brazilian scene on Spotify in 2023 | Culture

Independent artists dominated the Brazilian scene on Spotify in 2023. Unpublished data shows that, last year, 70% of the platform’s revenue in Brazil went to independent artists and record labels. Worldwide, it reached just over half, with revenues of US$4.5 billion. The values ​​related to the Brazilian market were not disclosed.

The Head of Partnerships with Artists and Record Companies in Brazil, Carolina Alzuguir, explains that the increase is due to the diversification of musicians and the ease of producing music today, compared to decades ago.

“Both the technology allows you to produce your music, so, nowadays, many more artists have home studios, they produce their music at home, and Spotify has provided this ease of delivering and promoting your music to your fans . And that’s significantly cheaper nowadays than it was back in the day, because back in the day you needed a major record company to do that. And then, of course, this democratization happens not only for artists, but it also happens from the user’s point of view.”

But there are artists with million-dollar investments in the industry and millions of listeners considered independent, as is the case of country singer Ana Castela. She was the most listened to singer in Brazil last year, and today has more than 16 million monthly listeners. But it is not represented by a record label in the traditional way, but by a distributor.

Carolina Alzuguir believes that the increase in revenue in this niche was offset by the diversity and number of people who fit into this category.

“When we talk about independent, we also talk about volume, scale. You have artists from all niches, from all segments. So, you can’t say that this number is being pushed up because of a few artists. These artists who have a structure behind them and who have sponsors, who have a team, who have a structure, etc., they continue to be an exception within the independent market.”

The public also got to know more national artists over the past year. The musicians were first listened to by users on Spotify nearly 10 billion times. Partly due to an active search, partly because they are increasingly present in the playlists offered to users – those separated by genres or by “moods”, different styles that tune in to the person’s mood at that moment.

So much so that, in 2023, more than 9,500 Brazilian artists were added to editorial playlists on Spotify. An increase of 80% compared to 2019.