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Spotify accounts for nearly a third of the music streaming market share, making it arguably the most popular app for listening to music. With over 100 million songs on the service, Spotify is convenient for listeners, but competitive for artists. Spotify for Artists is one of the best tools artists and their labels can use to expand their reach.
This platform for creators allows them to edit their artist profiles, add photos and videos, and find new audiences. While uploading new music to Spotify isn’t as easy as a platform like SoundCloud, Spotify isn’t just for artists contracted to a major label—independent and uncontracted artists can get their music on Spotify, too. Here’s what creators need to know about using Spotify for Artists and how to get their music on the service.
How to get music on Spotify
Spotify launched Spotify for Artists in 2017, on the App Store and Android, making it easier for artists to manage their profiles, evaluate stats, and reach new listeners directly from their smartphones. Artists can claim an existing profile or upload their music through a distributor. Spotify uses third-party services to handle licensing, distribution, and royalties.
The company has a preferred list of distributors, which can be found on the app. Examples include DistroKid, CD Baby, and EmuBands. According to Spotify, DistroKid is “the easiest way for musicians to get music on Spotify.” DistroKid doesn’t take a percentage of royalties—artists keep 100%. However, Spotify takes 30% and sets prices per stream.
What You Should Know About Spotify's Campaign Toolkit
Spotify’s Campaigns suite is a pay-per-click tool that lets artists run paid campaigns to get their music in front of audiences, with a budget of as little as $100. Features like Marquee, a full-screen pop-up, and Showcase, a smaller banner on the homepage, help artists find new audiences. Artists can also showcase their music on playlists, one of the most reliable ways for listeners to discover new music. Other features include the ability to add visuals to songs and sell merchandise and concert tickets.
Spotify
These features may be helpful for smaller artists, but not for all smaller artists. Spotify has removed monetization from content below a certain threshold, meaning artists with fewer than 1,000 streams in the past 12 months will not be paid. Spotify says this is to combat artificial streaming, but it could also hurt smaller artists who are still emerging. Additionally, Spotify no longer shows artists with streams below 1,000 in its stats tabs, and these artists can’t use Marquee or Showcase until they pass the threshold.
How to use Spotify Analytics
Analytics is one of Spotify’s most important features for artists, helping creators track streams, listeners, and playlist data. Audience segments break down where listeners come from into three categories.
Spotify
Categories include your active audience, or listeners who have searched for your music in the past 28 days; previously active audience, or listeners who were part of your audience but haven’t searched for your music in the past 28 days; and programmed audience, or listeners who have streamed your music via playlists and radio. These tools can help artists convert passive listeners into new fans.
Ready to get started? Learn more about Spotify for Artists and check out the campaign kit here.
