Spotify paid the music business more than $11 billion last year, the company revealed in its latest Loud & Clear report published Wednesday (March 11), bringing it to a total of $70 billion in payouts over the life of the streaming giant.

According to a post on the Loud & Clear website, that number represents a more than 10% increase year-over-year, which Spotify claims is “more than double the rate of other music industry income sources, which grew closer to 4%.” Half of those payouts, the company says, were generated by indie artists and labels versus “superstar artists.”

“These numbers reflect Spotify’s central role in today’s music economy: Not only as the largest platform for artists and the largest source of recorded music revenue, but also as the largest driver of the industry’s continued growth,” the post reads.

In 2025, more than 13,800 artists generated at least $100,000 a year from Spotify alone, nearly 1,400 more than last year, the company says. It adds that more than one-third of artists in the $100,00 club “have increased their royalties tenfold in under a decade,” while eight in 10 artists who crossed the $100,000 threshold in 2022 “have remained above it every year since.” Meanwhile, the company says 85% of artists at the $100,000 level are based outside the United States, adding, “The modern music economy is creating more career artists, in more countries, faster than ever before.”

At the $1 million level, the company says that more than 1,500 artists crossed the seven-figure threshold in 2025. “Many of them aren’t household names, and they may never trend globally,” the post reads. It adds: “The streaming era isn’t narrowing success to a few global stars. You don’t need global ubiquity to build a meaningful career.”

Speaking of global stars: The top 80 artists on Spotify all generated more than $10 million from the platform alone.

The company also highlights that it’s not just artists in the upper echelons whose Spotify earnings are growing. Last year, the company says, the 100,000^th highest-earning artist on the platform generated more than $7,300 in royalties from Spotify, whereas 10 years ago, the 100,00^th highest-earning artist generated just $350. That marks “a more than twentyfold increase in just a decade,” the post reads — a rate “three times faster” than the artist in the 10^th highest-earning spot.

Elsewhere in the post, Spotify trumpets its Fresh Finds playlist, which spotlights emerging artists, by noting that more than 10% of artists who generate more than $100,000 from the platform annually “were first playlisted” there. “That’s more than 1,600 artists who Spotify helped break early, and who have since gone on to build six-figure careers,” the post reads.

The company also touts the platform’s global reach, noting that just two years after debuting their music on Spotify, more than half of artists’ royalties come from outside their home countries, on average. The highest-earning artists on the platform are also geographically diverse: Last year, according to Spotify, the artists who generated more than $500,000 in royalties from the platform cut across 75 countries, up from 66 last year; while artists at the $10,000 level hail from more than 150 countries. Additionally, Spotify notes that last year, songs in 16 different languages reached the platform’s Global Top 50 chart, “more than double the number in 2020.”

On the songwriter front, Spotify says last year “marked the largest annual music publishing payout” in the history of the platform, with roughly $5 billion paid out “to the publishers and organizations representing songwriters” over the last two years.

You can check out all the stats at the Loud & Clear website here.

And then there were five.

In a new video message, KATSEYE fans got a preview of the quintet (for now) of Yoonchae Jeung, Sophia Laforteza, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj and Megan Skiendiel, following the announcement of Manon Bannerman’s hiatus from the Grammy-nominated girl group on Feb. 20. The five remaining members of the group recorded a video for their South American fans ahead of their performance Friday at Lollapalooza Argentina.

“Hola Argentina!” the fivesome says in unison while waving. “We can’t wait to see you at Lollapalooza on Friday!”

The video — posted to the Lollapalooza Argentina Instagram page — then continues with footage of KATSEYE performing “Touch” at last summer’s Lollapalooza, when they made their buzzy debut at the Chicago festival.

The social video appears to confirm what many fans had alreaady assumed: that Manon will not return for the group’s scheduled performances at Lollapalooza stops in Argentina (Friday), Chile (Saturday) and Brazil (March 20) over the next week and a half. But in the comments section, some EYEKONS were still holding out hope. “it would be so good if u can bring manon,” one wrote, while many others added in Spanish: “y Manon?” (and Manon?). Some simply commented with GIFs and photos of the sixth member.

Next month, the group is set to make their Coachella debut in back-to-back weekends at the Indio, California, festival. KATSEYE’s label home of HYBE x Geffen Records has not yet said when Manon might return from the hiatus.

The hiatus was announced on Feb. 20 in a Weverse post, which read in part: “After open and thoughtful conversations together, we are sharing that Manon will be taking a temporary hiatus from group activities to focus on her health and wellbeing. We fully support this decision. KATSEYE remains committed to showing up for one another and for the fans who mean everything to us. The group will continue scheduled activities during this time, and we look forward to being together again when the time is right.”

At the Grammy Awards last month, the global girl group was nominated for best new artist as well as best pop duo/group performance for “Gabriela,” and they performed “Gnarly” as part of the medley of best new artist nominees.

While many are applauding Chappell Roan for standing up to paparazzi harassment, Boy George decided to go another route.

On Tuesday (March 10), the former Culture Club singer took to X to share his thoughts on the recent viral video of Roan confronting paparazzi. In his post, George says that he’s been famous for a long time and that he’s learned that celebrities “don’t get a free pass once you turn yourself into a bird of paradise.”

He then tags Roan directly, advising her to “own your fame” and to “cheer up girl. The world is at your feet stop kicking it!” According to George, “boundaries are boring” and she should “break them with the magic of kindness.”

The response from Boy George comes a day after the video of Roan going toe-to-toe with paparazzi began circulating online. In the clip, Roan films herself selfie-style standing amidst a group of paparazzi shouting at and recording her as they hound her for autographs. Roan can be heard saying into her phone, “I’ve asked these people several times to get away from me,” before turning the camera on them. “These are all the people that are completely disregarding my boundaries,” she says later in the video.

X users were quick to defend Roan against George’s unsolicited opinion. “Why is everyone so eager to tell women to just take unwanted attention,” said one user. “Maybe she should handcuff someone to a radiator instead next time,” said another, referring to George’s 2009 conviction for false imprisonment. The singer was sentenced to 15 months in jail for handcuffing a male escort to a radiator and beating him with a metal chain in London in 2007.

Although George may not be aligned with Roan’s boundary-setting, several other stars are. On Tuesday, folk-rock singer/songwriter Noah Kahan took to his Instagram Stories to defend the “Pink Pony Club” singer. “Maybe they should just idk leave her alone?” Kahan wrote in his first post. In a follow-up video, he elaborates on why he does not like the behavior of the paparazzi and shared his own experiences with them.

“These people literally find out where you’re staying, where you’re flying in to, where your team, family, whoever is staying,” he says. “They are clearly not your fans, they just sit outside places so they can try to guilt you into signing sh– so they can sell it.”

This is not Roan’s first time setting boundaries with those around her. On the 2024 MTV VMAs red carpet, she confronted a photographer who allegedly told her to “shut the f— up.” That same year, Roan went viral for telling off another photographer at the premiere of Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour film for being rude to her on a previous occasion.

The effects of the pop star’s boundary setting have been appreciated by others in the industry. At the 2026 Grammys, Sabrina Carpenter credited Roan for how “quiet” the red carpet photographers were saying, “Chappell really started a movement.”

At the time of publication, Roan had not responded to Boy George’s perspective.

Alex Warren was one of several best new artist nominees to take part in a live medley at the Grammys this year — but the experience was sadly diminished after technical issues threw off his performance of Billboard Hot 100 topper “Ordinary.”

In an upcoming interview on Call Her Daddy, the TikToker opened up for the first time in depth about what led up to the mishap. “I’ve never talked about this,” he begins in an exclusive clip shared with Billboard on Tuesday (March 10).

“It was horrifying,” Warren continues in conversation with host Alex Cooper. “We had rehearsed it all week … it was perfect. To this day I don’t know exactly what happened.”

As far as the musician remembers, “Everything cut out” from his in-ear monitors mere moments before he was supposed to perform in between fellow nominees Leon Thomas and Lola Young. “They’re like, ’30 seconds.’ I said, ‘I can’t hear anything, I can’t hear myself,’” Warren tells Cooper in the clip. “The guy’s like, ‘It’s live TV. Twenty-five seconds.’ I go, ‘Guys, something’s wrong.’”

Ultimately, there was nothing the crew could do to fix the problem before Warren stepped out in front of the crowd at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles — and so he had no choice but to accept his fate. “In my head, I look up at the sky, and I go, ‘This is meant to happen,’” he says. “And I just go, ‘Let’s do it.’”

During the Feb. 1 ceremony, KATSEYE, Olivia Dean, Addison Rae, sombr and The Marías were also all involved in the best new artist medley, which preceded Dean taking home the prize. When it was Warren’s turn to sing during the segment, cameras followed him as he began at a popcorn stand in the venue’s concession area before walking out to greet the audience. As he took the stage, he visibly and audibly struggled to find his place in the song over the accompaniment, eventually recovering by removing his earpiece.

Later, Warren addressed the issue by posting a video of himself listening to the distorted, delayed audio track he’d been mistakenly fed through his in-ears on Instagram. “When you’re performing at the Grammys and all you hear is this in your ears,” he wrote at the time. “This would only happen to me.”

Watch the exclusive clip previewing Warren’s upcoming episode of Call Her Daddy above.