The Culture · Creators

Nigerian Artists Made ₦58 Billion on Spotify. Most of the Deal Went Abroad.

Three foreign distributors control nearly seven in ten streams of Nigerian music, and six in ten African creators earn less than $100 a month from their digital work. The numbers behind the continent's culture boom tell a story about who actually captures the value it creates.

The Gridline20 June 20268 min read

Nigerian Artists Made ₦58 Billion on Spotify. Most of the Deal Went Abroad. — illustrative image — Photo: Steve Snodgrass (via Openverse) · CC BY 2.0

By the numbers alone, 2025 was a good year for Nigerian music: artists collectively earned roughly ₦58bn — about $41.48m — from Spotify streams, and the industry is projected to grow into a $1.03bn market by 2033, according to a Creator Economy IQ report cited by TechCabal. But look at who actually captured the plays behind that money, and the picture gets less flattering. Three foreign distributors — Empire, Sony Music and Universal Music Group — controlled 68 percent of Nigeria's Spotify streaming volume in 2025. Empire alone accounted for nearly a third of all streams, 1.2 billion of them, giving it a 32.88 percent share. UMG, boosted by Mavin Records acts Rema and Ayra Starr, held roughly 21 percent with 786.4 million streams. Sony, powered by Tems and Shallipopi's Since '93 label, held about 14 percent with 541.8 million. Two-thirds of the pipeline through which Nigerian music reaches the world runs through companies headquartered somewhere else.