Spotify continues to deepen its presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as streaming reshapes the region’s music industry and drives new revenue streams for artists and creators.
According to International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s Global Music Report 2025, streaming accounted for 99.5% of recorded music revenues in MENA, with the region recording growth of 22.8% in 2024 — the highest globally.
Artists across the region are seeing increased returns. In 2024, Saudi artists generated more than $3.5 million in royalties on Spotify, marking a 76% year-on-year increase and more than double the total recorded in 2022, based on Spotify’s Saudi Loud & Clear report.
“We felt it was kind of a coming-of-age of an industry that had been sort of smaller before and less mature. Now it was really at the inflection point of being meaningful and we wanted to be part of that.”
Spotify’s Senior Vice President for Markets & Subscriptions, Gustav Gyllenhammar, noted that the report’s release in October 2025 reflected the growth of Arabic-language content and increasing revenues for Saudi creators.
The company’s recent partnership with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in January 2026 signals a broader strategic focus on talent development and ecosystem building.
“Working with an institution that puts creators and culture at the centre of its strategy feels natural to how we operate,” Gyllenhammar says. “We always want to collaborate, openly, to deliver for the creative community. Together, we’re focused on strengthening the local music ecosystem, supporting discovery, nurturing talent, and helping music coming out of Dubai reach audiences globally.”
Spotify’s Dubai hub now supports operations across MENA with a team of more than 50 employees.
The company’s long-term objective includes building international pathways for regional artists.
“A few years from now, we’d like to be talking about UAE music as an export in its own right, artists touring internationally and bringing that success back into the local creative economy. That’s when you know the impact has moved from visibility to real, sustainable music careers,” he explains.
Industry stakeholders view these developments as part of wider structural changes. Deloitte Middle East highlights the role of such partnerships in strengthening production, branding, digital monetisation, and rights management capabilities across the sector.
“The effects will be prominent in job creation across the ecosystem in roles such as production, marketing, digital content management, event organization, and more. All of this can further lead to numerous international collaborations, driving cultural tourism, bigger visitor numbers, and increased spending in the hospitality sector – thereby contributing to economic growth,” says Emmanuel Durou.
Market projections support this trajectory. The UAE music streaming market is expected to reach $2.33 billion by 2030, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 18.2% from 2025, according to Grand View Research.
Consumption trends have also shifted over time. While early usage in MENA was largely driven by Western artists, local content now accounts for a growing share of streams.
“As we embed deeper into the local ecosystem, we see a much higher degree of local content consumption over time,” Gyllenhammar shares.
Spotify’s 2025 Wrapped data highlighted regional reach beyond domestic markets, with artists such as Amr Diab and Sherine ranking among the most streamed MENA artists globally. Nearly half of all streams for MENA artists originated outside the region, with major listening markets including France, the United States, Germany, and Indonesia.
“Arabic is among the five fastest-growing languages on the platform globally,” says Gyllenhammar. “That shows not just obviously that there’s growth in the region that drives those numbers, there’s growth among diasporas of Arabs around the world.”
Spotify reported total monthly active users of 751 million in Q4 2025, an 11% year-on-year increase, with the Rest of World segment — including MENA — accounting for 37% of total users.
The company has supported this growth through initiatives such as RADAR Arabia, EQUAL Arabia, and Fresh Finds Arabia, aimed at combining local curation with global distribution.
“At the end of the day, it’s about turning casual listening into real fandom,” he shares.
Discovery metrics further reflect expanding reach. In 2024, Saudi artists were discovered more than 220 million times by first-time listeners, a 75% increase year-on-year, with more than 90% of royalties generated from outside the country. Similarly, Spotify’s Egypt Loud & Clear report found that over 80% of Egyptian music royalties came from international markets, with more than 480 million first-time discoveries in 2024.
Looking ahead, analysts point to continued regional expansion. Mordor Intelligence estimates the Middle East media and entertainment market will grow from $44.16 billion in 2025 to $48.43 billion in 2026, reaching $76.8 billion by 2031.
“The partnership sets a precedent for the region, encouraging Middle Eastern artists and institutions to form similar collaborations with global digital platforms, reaching larger audiences,” says Durou. “This exposure will help build a pan-regional creative identity that extends beyond the UAE. Over time, it fosters a more integrated Middle Eastern creative ecosystem shaped by diverse yet interconnected cultural influences.”
For Spotify, collaboration remains central to long-term growth.
“Public-private partnerships remain key to making that growth sustainable. Working alongside cultural institutions helps create the right conditions for artists to develop, connect with the right people, and build careers over time,” Gyllenhammar says.
As streaming becomes a core part of the industry’s infrastructure, the focus in MENA is shifting from access to long-term value creation and creative independence.
