Because of this, we’ve seen artists actively pull all their music from Spotify, with many more wondering if they should do the same.

What actually happens if you remove your catalog from Spotify? Can you still sustain a career without your music on the biggest music streaming platform in the world?

The short answer is yes, but it’s not without consequences.

In this blog, I’ll cover what impact taking your music off Spotify can have on your career and what steps you should take if you decide to go through with it.

What You Actually Lose Without Spotify

1. Streaming Revenue From the Largest Platform

This one’s obvious. Spotify is the biggest streaming platform globally, so pulling your music means losing a nice chunk of your streaming revenue. There’s no exact percentage, as it will vary between artists, but you can expect to lose out on at least a third of your streaming royalties. This is a rough estimate based on how much market share Spotify has for the U.S., but it can be more depending on the country your listeners are in and what platforms they use.

For example, Spotify represents around 41% of the streaming royalties for one artist I work with. 62% of their fan base is in the U.S., while 38% account for the rest of the world, including top countries like the U.K., Canada, Australia, Germany and other European countries.

For some artists, this is not going to matter much. Streaming already pays so little that their real income comes from shows, merch, brand deals or direct fan support. In those cases, Spotify revenue feels more expendable.

For other artists, every dollar matters, especially those who are fully independent. There are some who need their streaming royalties to survive, feed their families and continue to create the art they’ve been fortunate to live off of.

Before making any decision, you need to take a good look at your numbers and know how much Spotify contributes to your monthly or yearly income. Everyone’s situation is different, so see if you can afford to live without Spotify.

2. Spotify’s Discovery Engine

One of the big benefits of Spotify is its discovery engine. Their algorithmic playlists, like Discover Weekly, Radio and Mixes, help introduce your music to new listeners.

There’s also Discovery Mode, where artists can opt in specific songs to let Spotify push certain tracks more heavily in exchange for a 30% cut of royalties on those streams. It’s controversial for being pay-to-play (payola), but for some artists, it helps to drive more streams.

That said, if you’re a newer or developing artist without much of an existing listenership and catalog, losing Spotify’s algorithm won’t really affect you.

The good news is you still have access to other powerful discovery engines on social media, like Instagram and TikTok. As long as you’re posting regularly and engaging with fans on social media, you’ll do fine.

3. Listener and Music Data

Spotify for Artists provides a lot of useful data about your listeners and your music releases. For example, you can learn what the top cities and countries your fans are listening in, age groups, gender, types of listeners, individual song performance and even the source of streams.

This type of information can be used to make important business decisions for artists. One of the most popular use cases is for routing tours and booking shows based on the number of listeners in each city.

If you leave Spotify, you’ll still have data from other DSPs and social platforms. However, since Spotify is the largest, you’re losing access to one of the biggest pools of listener data available for your business.

4. Spotify Followers To Notify About New Releases

When you drop new music on Spotify, your followers will find it on their Release Radar playlist. That’s a built-in way to share new music with your listeners and fans without doing anything extra.

If you pull out from Spotify, you lose your followers and the ability to push new releases to them.

This is not a big deal because Spotify followers are siloed. You have no way to see who your followers are or message them directly. Similarly with social media, you don’t actually own that relationship either. But at least you can see who follows you on platforms like Instagram and TikTok while having the ability to communicate with them through comments or direct messages.

If you already have an email list or you’re active on social media, losing Spotify followers isn’t the end of the world. You have plenty of other channels for updating fans on new releases.

5. Show Promotion (Bandsintown Integration)

Spotify’s Bandsintown integration is genuinely useful for touring artists. When you list shows on Bandsintown, it automatically appears on your Spotify profile.Spotify also sends emails and app notifications to followers when you’re playing a show in their city.

This helps to promote your upcoming shows to fans who may not be tracking you on Bandsintown, which is a big plus.

However, if you don’t play many shows or tour regularly, this feature won’t impact you much. And if your fans are already tracking you on Bandsintown, you’re still covered. Just make sure you have a link to your Bandsintown schedule in your link-in-bio page and on your website.

6. Shopify Merch Integration

If you use Shopify to sell merch on your website, Spotify lets you display your products directly on your artist profile< You can even link specific merch items to your releases so fans see them while listening.

In my experience, we’ll occasionally see merch orders come in from Spotify, but it’s nothing substantial. But of course, this will vary by artist.

If you don’t sell much merch or don’t use Shopify, this integration won’t matter for you. It’s a neat feature for artists who use Shopify, but not game-changing.

7. Editorial Playlist Pitching

Once you’re off Spotify and no longer push new releases to the platform, you lose the ability to pitch a new song to Spotify’s editorial team.

Getting a track on an editorial playlist can provide a nice bump in streams, discovery, and revenue, but it’s rarely something that makes or breaks a career. Not to mention,the odds of landing on an editorial Spotify playlist are already extremely low, considering over 100,000 songs are uploaded every day.

You can also pitch new releases for Amazon Music playlists, but it’s likely not going to have the same impact as on Spotify.

Pitching to Spotify editorial playlists is a nice feature, especially since it’s free, but it’s not essential for independent artists.

Should You Leave Spotify? Factors to Consider

The big question is, should you actually do it?

This is where things get personal. I fully understand that no amount of money or reach matters if it conflicts with your morals or ethics. At the same time, this is also a business decision. Streaming platforms may not pay well, but some independent artists rely on that income to get by. When a decision affects your livelihood, you owe it to yourself to be fully informed.

Ask yourself honestly:

• How financially dependent am I on Spotify?
• How strong is my direct-to-fan ecosystem?
• How loyal is my fanbase?
• What stage of my career am I in?
• What are my long-term goals?

Don’t let pressure from fans or other artists dictate your move. Some artists leave for moral reasons and to set an example. Others stay because they need the money to keep their business operating. There’s no judgment either way, so do only what makes sense for you and your family first.

If You Do Decide to Leave Spotify

Let’s say you decide to go through with it. What now? Here’s a list of steps and things to consider.

Contact Your Distributor

Spotify won’t remove your music directly, but your distributor can. You’ll likely need to contact your distributor’s support team to request removal.

The good news?You can always add your music back later.

Inform Your Fans

Never pull your music silently. That’s how you confuse and upset fans.

Give fans a heads up about your decision on socials and your email list. Briefly explain why, and let Spotify users know exactly how and where they can still access your music.

Suggest Another Streaming Platform

Most casual listeners won’t switch platforms for one artist, but loyal fans might. Do your research and only recommend platforms you actually feel good about supporting.

Offer Listening Alternatives

The fans impacted by this decision are going to be Spotify users, of course. Here are some alternative ways they can still listen to your music.

• Encourage digital downloads (Bandcamp): Bandcamp is hands down the best option here. Fans can buy and own your music and stream it through the Bandcamp app like they would on Spotify. The best part is that you get paid more for your music. I personally like Bandcamp because the platform and community there are very supportive of independent artists.

• Use YouTube as a free option: YouTube is universal, searchable, and free. You likely have your music distributed here in the form of art tracks when you uploaded your music for release. Almost everyone already uses it, so it’s a solid fallback for fans who won’t switch DSPs but still want access to your music.

• Sell USB flash drives with your music: USB or USB-C flash drives are a cool, collectible option. Fans get files they own forever, and it adds a tangible, meaningful layer to the fan relationship. If fans have a newer smartphone with a USB-C connection, they can just connect the flash drive to their phone and transfer the files over. The big drawback is that music files can take up quite amount of space and be a little more inconvenient to use.

• Sell physical music formats (Vinyl & CDs): Although this option can be the most profitable for you, it’s also the furthest away from what Spotify users are used to when listening to your music through a phone app. Still, this should be mentioned as an option as one of the best ways to support you and your music in this situation.

Consider a Middle-Ground Option

For a lot of artists, taking down their entire catalog from Spotify is not an easy financial choice. What some artists will do instead is leave their previous releases on Spotify, but no longer release new music there. This keeps some revenue and discovery flowing while funneling fans towards platforms, options and channels where artists can better monetize their music.

Reinforce Fan Communication Channels

When you lose the features and benefits of Spotify, you should strengthen other areas of your marketing and communications with your fan base.

Encourage fans to:

• Track you on Bandsintown
• Sign up for your email list
• Join your Instagram Broadcast Channel
• Favorite your Instagram account so your posts show up more often
• Follow you on Bandcamp

When you don’t own your fan relationships on Spotify or even social media, it’s always a good idea to have multiple ways to reach them.

Conclusion

Yes, artists can survive without Spotify. It may be the biggest music streaming platform, but it does not have a monopoly over your career. You still have other platforms and channels that can supplement what Spotify can offer.

This is not to say it won’t be inconvenient for you and your fans, but being able to adapt as an independent artist is a valuable skill to exercise. In an ever-changing technological landscape, this is likely not the last time you’ll have to learn to make adjustments to how you operate.

The post Can Artists Really Survive Without Their Music on Spotify? appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

Many musicians may not realize this, but there’s a lot of music royalties floating out there waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners. Over 424 million dollars in mechanical royalties generated from digital service providers (DSPs) were left unclaimed due to the lack of data or having the incorrect information to match and pay out the rightful copyright owners.

Thankfully for artists, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) officially launched in January of 2021 to help address this issue. How does the MLC help exactly?

In this blog, I’ll go over what the MLC is and what you need to do to make sure you’re getting properly paid when DSPs stream your music.

In case you’re not familiar with music royalties and some of the basic lingo, I recommend checking out this blog first to cover all the basics. It’s a complicated and confusing topic that all musicians need to know.
 

What is the MLC?

 
The MLC is a nonprofit created as a result of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) that was signed into law in October 2018. As the name entails, this legislation helped “modernize” copyright laws in the United States for the streaming era so that songwriters and publishers are properly paid.

The problem in the past was that songwriters and music publishers had not been paid accurately and fully by digital streaming services due to poor matching and reporting practices.

Simply put, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) helps songwriters, music publishers and rights holders get paid whenever their musical works are streamed online or downloaded on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

If you distribute your music through aggregators like DistroKid and CD Baby, you may have noticed you’ve received mechanical royalties directly from them. This is for the use of your sound recording, but not the mechanical royalties for the musical composition that the sound recording is based on. The MLC specifically collects and distributes mechanical royalties whenever a musical composition is reproduced digitally.
 

How does the MLC work?

There are 3 general things the MLC does that musicians should know.

Blanket Licensing

The MLC helps to streamline the music-licensing process by providing a blanket license for streaming services to legally stream songs or sell downloads for their customers on the platform. This blanket license covers mechanical rights in any songs not covered by a DSP’s direct deals with music publishers.

Prior to the launch of the MLC, the licensing process in the United States was not efficient and was done on a song-by-song basis under a compulsory license. Unfortunately, this meant DSPs were not being held accountable to properly pay out songwriters and publishers.

The MLC is allowed to issue blanket licenses to DSPs and it is their job to make sure the right people are paid based on usage reports they receive from DSPs.

Matching Usage Reports

Every month, the DSPs provide the MLC with usage reports of the sound recordings streamed or downloaded on their platform and the mechanical royalties to go with it. The MLC’s job is to match up that data in their database to pay the copyright holders of the musical compositions in those sound recordings accurately.

If MLC does not find a match, it will be put into an unmatched usage database where you can search and claim if it is yours.

Publicly Accessible Databases

The MLC has two publicly accessible databases so you can search. One allows you to see who has copyright ownership of musical compositions.

The other allows you to see unmatched musical works that never got paid out due to the lack of correct data.
 

What doesn’t the MLC handle?

 
The MLC focuses on tracking and distributing mechanical royalties when musical works are reproduced under their digital audio blanket license. They work with DSPs to make sure songwriters, publishers and right holders are paid out accurately.

Here’s a list of what the MLC does NOT cover:

• Physical Goods: The mechanical licensing or royalties associated with physical goods like CDs, vinyl, cassette tapes.
• Ringtones
• Cover Songs: The MLC does not handle the mechanical licenses required to do covers. The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) does.
• Audio Visual Media: Musical works used in audiovisual media, like video, are not handled by the MLC. They only track, collect and distribute royalties associated with audio-only digital usage. This means any audio-visual usage on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram is not covered by the mechanical blanket license.
• Usage Outside the United States: The MLC does not collect royalties from streams and downloads of musical works outside the U.S.

How is it different from a PRO?

 
A performing rights organization (PRO), like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, is similar to the MLC in that they both serve songwriters and publishers (the copyright holders of musical compositions). The main difference is that PROs focus only on public performance royalties while the MLC focuses on mechanical royalties.

For example, when a song is streamed on Spotify, there are two royalties that are paid out to songwriters and publishers. One is the performance royalty, which goes to a PRO to handle and payout rights holders. The other is the mechanical royalty, which the MLC is responsible for doing the same.

Both organizations issue and manage blanket licenses to make it easier for business entities to use copyrighted music without having to get individual licenses for every song they play in public or stream/download on a platform.

To be clear, the MLC does not replace PROs or SoundExchange.
 

What do I need to do to get paid from the MLC?

 
If you use a publishing administrator like SongTrust, you don’t need to become a member of the MLC as they will take care of all of it. When you register with them, they will send your data to the MLC and work with them to make sure you receive your mechanical royalties.

If you work with a music publisher, they will be the ones to register with the MLC to become a member so you don’t need to do anything in this instance either.

If you are a self-administrated songwriter, you will need to become a member of the MLC. This means you don’t work with a publishing administrator or music publisher.

The MLC only collects mechanical royalties generated with the United States, but you don’t have to live in the U.S. or be an American citizen to collect that money. If you live outside the U.S. and you release music that gets distributed to DSPs like Apple Music, the MLC will still collect that money for you. You will need to be registered with an Ex-US Collective Management Organizations (CMO) or register with the MLC directly to collect.

Now, it’s possible that you have a publishing administrator or music publisher, but you have songs that are not registered with them. If this is the case, you can register with MLC for the works not covered by them. Make sure all of your work is in the MLC’s database so you’re collecting all the royalties owed to you.

For example, you use CD Baby Pro service to put out a single. They will automatically register your work with a publishing admin to collect all the songwriting royalties associated with that song. The publishing admin CD Baby uses (SongTrust) will collect mechanical royalties directly from the MLC on your behalf.

If you decide to use a service like DistroKid to distribute your next single, that song will not automatically be registered with the MLC because they will not register your song with a publishing admin to collect those royalties. In this case, you would then have to register that song to MLC as a self-administered songwriter.

If you’re ever unsure about what songs are registered, use the MLC’s public search database. The MLC is fully transparent so you can log into their portal to see all of their data. It is free, but you do need to become a member.
 

Additional Resources

 
https://blog.songtrust.com/what-is-the-music-modernization-act

https://www.copyright.gov/music-modernization/

https://www.themlc.com/faqs/categories/mlc

The post Does Spotify and Apple Music Owe You Money? What Songwriters Need to Know About the MLC appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

One of the ways to reach new fans is through Spotify playlists.

Spotify playlists can potentially put you in front of the right people who are more likely to be into your music and turn into proper fans.

As an independent artist, it’s important to understand how Spotify works and how its playlist system can bridge the gap between you and potential fans.

However, the climate for streaming platforms like Spotify has become highly competitive, so just uploading your song will not be enough. Keep in mind that over 100,000 new songs are added to Spotify each day!

In this blog, I will go over the different types of Spotify playlists as a discovery tool to help you get more exposure for your music.
 

Why Spotify Playlists?

 
Spotify is the dominant music streaming platform with 602 million active users worldwide reported in 2023. As of April 2024, 236 million are subscribed to Spotify Premium.

Its main competitor, Apple Music, has only 92 million paid subscribers in 2024.

I’m solely focusing on Spotify in this blog because the playlist system they created gives you more opportunities for placement and exposure, which is what we are looking for.

There are thousands of playlists on Spotify that can be right for you and can help your song perform better on the platform.

Disclaimer: The Problem With Playlisting

 
Some may have this misconception that getting on the right playlist is all you need to be successful. At the moment, developing a profitable business model based primarily on streaming/playlisting is not possible for most. According to Spotify’s Loud & Clear report in 2023, 50,000 artists (out of over 10 million) generated at least $16.5K from Spotify.

I want to remind you that playlists are vehicles for exposure and discovery. It’s rare for even a major label artist to make a sustainable living off streaming alone.

As most people are aware of by now, streaming services don’t pay artists well. 1,000 streams pay you roughly $4 – $6 depending on the platform.

For a musician in the United States, this means that a stream is worth about $0.006 per song stream. To earn $12,000, which would be considered on the lower end of a decent income, you would need 3,000,000 streams a year.

With these low payout rates, you have to look at a Spotify playlisting strategy as a long term investment. If you spend $300 on social media ads to push a song on Spotify or you pay $500 for a playlist pitching service, don’t expect to make that money back in the short term. Most of the time, these paid efforts will result in a loss and you won’t see a return on investment.

These playlisting tactics may pay itself out down the line with a thought out plan, but don’t think of spending money towards Spotify playlisting as a way to profit off your music. In other words, even if you’re losing money, it’s not a total loss. You need to understand the specific benefits of investing in these Spotify tactics and how it fits within your overall goals and marketing plan.

With Spotify being the biggest revenue generator for the music industry, it is undeniable that they are a huge component of an artist’s career. With that being said, I will do my best to show you how to make the most out of with their playlist system.
 

Why Get On Playlists?

 
Getting on a playlist with a lot of activity and followers can help you be discovered by more people who have never heard of your music. It’s an opportunity to get more exposure, raise your brand awareness and build momentum for your career.

More specifically, getting on playlists will help your song’s performance in their algorithm and can lead to more exposure within Spotify in a way you may not be thinking about. Getting playlisted is an important signal for Spotify. They examine your song in relation to other songs on a playlist to better understand who may like your music. When people listen to the songs on the playlist, it collects this data to help make recommendations to other Spotify users.

Your main goal is to get more people to listen to your music, right? Spotify also uses listening behavior and engagement metrics in their algorithms to suggest songs to other listeners who have shown to like the same type of music. One of these metrics is the save-to-listener rate.
 

Different Types of Spotify Playlists

 
Understanding the different types of playlists on Spotify, how they work and how to be included in each of them will help your music get more exposure.

There are a total of 4 different types of playlists on Spotify:

• Algorithmic: Playlists created for a listener based on listening habits.
• Editorial: Hand-curated playlists from Spotify staff and associates.
• Personalized: Hybrid between editorial and algorithmic playlists.
• Listener (User Generated): Playlists made by Spotify listeners.

Getting your music on these different types of playlists requires a different method, which I will discuss below.
 

Algorithmic Playlists

 
Algorithmic playlists are created through a machine-learning process that Spotify created and is unique to every individual account. These playlists are the ones that will have the most impact based on the performance of your song.

There are several Algorithmic playlists out there, but the two most important ones are Release Radar and Discover Weekly.

Release Radar

Release Radar is a uniquely generated playlist of new releases, usually from artists that a Spotify user follows. It is updated every Friday and is one of the very few instances Spotify will notify followers about the new release through email.

Essentially, Release Radar is designed to give listeners new music they will most likely enjoy. This is the playlist where your Spotify followers will find your new releases, but your songs can also pop up in the Release Radar playlist from people who don’t follow you. It all depends on your song’s attributes and performance metrics within their algorithms. One of these metrics is Spotify’s ‘popularity index’. It is said you need at least a score of 20 out of 100 to get your songs into non-follower playlists.

It is important to note that songs on Release Radar are relatively new songs. Even though it pushes older releases down your playlist every Friday, you won’t find something released a long time ago in Release Radar.

If you are releasing an EP or album, Spotify will use the song you pitched for their editorial playlist consideration in Release Radar. Otherwise, they will randomly choose one song. If the user has already heard the song, another song from the release may be included. From my personal experience, it’s also possible to have multiple songs from a new album release be added to a follower’s Release Radar.

Discover Weekly

As the name of the playlist suggests, Discover Weekly helps Spotify listeners find new artists to check out based on their listening preferences. It is a uniquely generated playlist that is updated every Monday.

However, one of the key features of Discover Weekly is that it only suggests songs that the user has never streamed before. This is the ideal algorithmic playlist to get exposure for new potential fans.

A great thing about Discover Weekly is that the age of a song is not important and does not factor how popular you are as an artist. Although in order for a song to be recommended in a Discovery Weekly playlist, the song needs a popular index score of at least 30 out of 100.

What About Daily Mix?

Daily Mix is another Algorithmic playlist that is found on every Spotify user account. Every day, it generates up to 6 new playlists around the music you listen to. The songs Spotify usually recommends here are either songs you already have listened to a lot in the past or different songs from the same artists or very closely related artists.

For emerging artists, your music is not likely to show up on Daily Mix playlists as the recommendations are more contained. I wouldn’t focus on this algorithmic playlist.
 

Editorial / Curated Playlists

 
Editorial playlists are curated and created by Spotify’s staff and associates. Placements in these playlists are the most sought after since they tend to have larger followings and are more prominently visible on their platform.

There are thousands of them with different types of genres, moods, themes, sounds, events, situations, locations and activities. Although Spotify won’t acknowledge it, the big 3 major labels basically control the top playlists that have a lot of followers so the average independent artist has zero chance of getting on them.

Popular playlists such as “Rap Caviar”, “Hot Country”, “Are & Be”, and “Rock This” are playlists you should not focus on at all. (If any company tries to sell you guaranteed placement on these types of playlists, you know it is a scam.)

However, there are smaller editorial playlists that are more niched and specific. This is ideally where you want your song to be.
 

Personalized Playlists

 
Personalized playlists are basically editorial playlists, but with an algorithmic component to help “personalize” some of the songs around your music tastes. In other words, we can both view personalized editorial playlists (for example this) in our own accounts but see different songs that were algorithmically selected based on our previous listening habits.

Based on their data, Spotify finds that this new system helps to get certain songs to listeners that would be more likely to enjoy it.

However, it is important to know that if your song is added to one of these playlists, it doesn’t guarantee that your song will show up on everyone’s version of their playlist.
 

Listener/User-Generated Playlists

 
User-generated playlists (Spotify calls them Listener) can be created by any Spotify account user and shared with the world. A user can create as many playlists as they like.

Most listener playlists aren’t going to be of interest to you because they’re created for personal use. Some music fans do make them public and grow followers from making their playlists searchable on the platform.

On the other hand, some of these playlists are created by influencers, tastemakers, or curators that have their own followings. These playlists are what you should be looking for.

Unfortunately, this gave birth to the modern payola or “pay-to-play” dynamic. A lot of the successful playlists that could benefit you will still most likely be “pay-to-place”, which is actually against Spotify terms.

Although you shouldn’t pay to get on a playlist, there are ways to pitch your songs for these types of playlists.

How to Get Your Song on Listener Playlists

If you are looking to get your music on other people’s playlists, here’s how you should go about it.

Step 1: Start by searching in Spotify for certain playlists based on genre, mood, theme, activity, emotion, etc. You can even do a Google search.

You can use tools to find specific playlists like playlists.net and Reddit.

Ideally, you’re looking for playlists that have active listeners and followers that don’t have too many songs because you may not get a stream. A playlist with a few hundred songs may be pushing it.

Step 2: Follow the playlist you are pitching. Make sure it’s the right playlist with the right associated acts, not just because it has big numbers. Trust me, it is detrimental to the algorithm to be associated with acts that are not of your same vibe.

Step 3: Figure out how to contact the playlist owner. This will require some detective work. The only information Spotify provides is their username so search it on Google and other social media outlets until you can find a way to directly email or message them.

Luckily, there is a free tool you can use that will share the contact information of Spotify playlisters based on any genre or keywords you provide. It’s called Playlister by DistroKid. It’s currently in beta as of this writing, so you’ll need to enter the password “gravy” to use it. Hopefully, this tool sticks around as it makes the pitching process much easier.

Step 4: Pitch them. Start with a compliment. Keep it short and to the point. Include a Spotify link to the song. Be authentic.

You have to remember that the reason most users create playlists is to share their favorite music. It is part of their identity and is a blessing that they wish to share new artists with the world at no personal gain.

Even if your goal is to ultimately get their followers to see you, you have to be as authentic as possible in your intentions and figure out ways you can also help them.

Ultimately, if they like your music, they will want to help. But the way you approach them will take them to decide if you are for real or just trying to get something from them.

Step 5: Once you get placed, make sure to send an email thanking your curator, as well as sharing on social media. Developing a good relationship with the people who support you is always a good idea.

For DistroKid users, here’s a fun Spotify playlist called “Wheel of Playlist” where you can add your songs to by spinning a wheel. Log into your DistroKid account and click the link. Choose a song and click ‘connect to Spotify’ to start. You get to spin 3 times for the playlist position of your song. It will be added immediately, but you can only spin once every 24 hours. Even though there are over 50k followers, it’s not something to take too seriously since the playlist contains over 1,000 songs and you’ll be lucky to stay on there for a couple of days.

To get on more popular listener playlists, you will need to have an audience and following of your own. This takes time, but with a consistent plan that enables you to release music regularly and promote songs with social media ads, your numbers will surely grow.

Using Playlist Pitching Services

You may find that pitching individual playlists is a tedious process. If that is the case, you can hire a playlisting service to do the work for you.

Playlist pitching services often have built a large network of vetted playlisters. They’ve done all the dirty work upfront and you can pay them to reach out to them on your behalf. The money is not to pay the individual playlist owner’s themselves. Remember it is against Spotify terms to do that so be aware of that.

There are legitimate playlisting services out there, but even more shady people looking to take advantage of naive musicians. You have to be really careful and do your research. It’s easy to get scammed or taken advantage of in the world of music promotion.

Do diligent research because anything like testimonials and clients can be faked. Investigate which genres they focus on, their different deals and prices. Chances are you will have to invest somewhere over $500 if you truly want a noticeable, advantageous impact rather than just boosting your numbers.

Some other pointers:

• Be careful about people saying they can guarantee placement on.
• Editorial playlists. They can’t guarantee that.
• Beware of bots and click farms that boost your numbers overnight.
• If Spotify detects any unusual behaviors or finds out you’re trying to game their platform, you may risk getting your music removed.
• Find out which countries are most listeners coming from in a playlist. Listeners from countries like Saudi Arabia, Haiti, or Argentina are more likely to end up being click farmers.
• Never purchase those “10,000 follows for $10” deals. They are a scam and will hurt your algorithm.

How To Track Playlist Performance (Playlist Tools)

Spotify for Artists

If you haven’t already, sign up for Spotify for Artists to claim control of your artist profile. You don’t need it to get added to playlists, but it gives you access to certain tools and playlist data.

You can see who added your songs to their playlists in your Spotify for Artist profile under ‘Music’ – ‘Playlists’.

You can see what playlists currently have your song in them, the date it was added, how many listeners for the playlist, and how many streams are coming from there. It is categorized by playlist type: Algorithmic, Editorial, and Listener.

You can also view all the playlists your song is placed on. From the ‘Songs’ tab, click on a specific song and there should be a ‘Playlist’ tab next to the ‘Stats’ tab.

Advanced Playlist Tools (Paid)

Looking for my data and tools to help you with playlisting? Here are some other powerful tools that can help you:

• Monitor all the playlists your songs are on
• See what playlists other similar artists are on
• Find new potential playlists to pitch your songs to
• Access more relevant playlist and curator data to help you make better decisions

SpotOnTrack – They only offer a 14-day trial. Otherwise, you have to pay a pro or business plan to use.

PlaylistSupply – They charge $19.99 a month.

Chartmetric – You get a 7 day trial of a premium plan for signing up. They do offer a free basic plan with limited functionality.
 

Keep Expectations In Check

 
Getting your music on playlists can have a positive impact on your music career, but don’t expect miracles.

One of the biggest issues I’ve found with emerging artists is that desire to “make it” can easily be shadowed by impatience. This can lead to bad investment decisions around time and money. Expecting playlists will lead you to overnight success is going to actually lead to more disappointment.

There have been some stories over the years of how one song gets added to a popular playlist changed a musician’s life. Although it can happen, it’s very unlikely.

Don’t pay insane amounts of money for “successful” playlists just to be featured. In the long run, there is not much retribution for that.

Be aware that there are a lot of playlist factors to account for even if you do get placement:

What type of music or theme does the playlist curate? You don’t want to just throw your songs on any type of playlist. The other songs in the playlist matter and can affect your song’s performance on Spotify. Although the responsibility is on the playlister, adding a song that is out of place within the vibe of the playlist may lead to higher skip rates.

Are the playlist followers active? Is the playlist live with activity? If the playlist doesn’t have people listening to it or full of fake followers, placement is going to do anything for you.

How often does the playlist update? This is a sign of an active playlister which means the followers are more likely to be active and engaged.

How many songs are on the playlist? You may get added to a playlist with a bunch of followers, but if there are hundreds of songs and you’re at the bottom, you can’t expect action much from it.

Do you do background music? If you do a lot more instrumental/background music (i.e. study music), you might get streams but people rarely engage or investigate the artist for utility-based music.

Lastly, make sure to optimize your Spotify artist profile. If you have something special on a playlist, people will naturally stop to see who you are and want to learn more about you. To further build that fan relationship, make sure you make a good impression when they click on your profile.
 

New Spotify Features for Improving Discoverability (In Beta)

As of early 2023, Spotify is currently testing a new feature with select users called “Discovery Mode.” It’s a new marketing tool that helps artists gain new listeners, playlist adds and followers on Spotify at no upfront cost.

The way it works is you select a song from your catalog to create a Discovery Mode campaign and set a campaign length. During this campaign period, the Spotify algorithms will push your track to areas on Spotify that listeners are most open to discovery, which is currently Radio & Autoplay. According to Spotify, their statistical modeling shows that artists see on average +50% in saves, +44% in user playlist adds and +37% in follows during the first month of using Discovery Mode.

An artist I work with received early access to Discovery Mode

Instead of having to pay out of pocket, Spotify charges a 30% commission on the recording royalties generated from all streams in Radio and Autoplay of the song you selected. All other streams of the song in areas outside of Radio and Autoplay will be commission-free.

Although this feature is still in beta testing, it’s a nice feature to have if you’re looking for new fans and you don’t have a budget.
 

Conclusion

 
Spotify playlists provide many different discovery opportunities for you to get more exposure and new fans for your music. The different types of playlists on Spotify make it a more attractive streaming platform for musicians than its competitors.

Your best bet is to focus your energy on how to influence algorithmic playlists to push your songs to relevant listeners. Remember to leverage the save-to-listener rate and other engagement factors to help your song’s performance in Spotify’s algorithms. And of course, you should definitely take advantage of Spotify’s editorial playlist submissions since it’s free.

If you’re just starting out, your safest bet considering the time and cost is using a service like SubmitHub or Groover to get your songs on Spotify playlists.

Playlisting has its benefits as a discovery tool, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you use in your marketing/promotional efforts. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a playlist pitching service, I feel you can do way more with that money on Facebook or Instagram ads.

My Recommendation

If you have a few hundred to spend for promotion, create your own listener playlist and place your single on top. You can fill the other songs on the playlist with your own music and songs from other similar-sounding artists. Ideally, you want to choose songs from more popular artists who are more likely to share the same fans like you.

You can then drive traffic to this playlist through your ads to get people listening to these specific songs. This will do two things for you:

First, it will help you get followers for you and your playlist to establish a connection point for future releases.

Second, by placing your songs in playlists with other music similar to yours, Spotify uses this data to draw connections and better assess who would like your music. It is more likely that Spotify would recommend your music in their algorithmic playlists when a listener is a fan of these other similar artists.

Don’t forget to pin this playlist to the top of your artist profile with Artist’s Pick so it’s more visible. You can do this in Spotify for Artists by clicking on the ‘Profile’ tab.

Other Spotify Tips

• Getting to the chorus earlier or placing it at the beginning of the song since it’s what tends to hook listeners.
• Avoid uploading and pitching songs with very long intros. Consider breaking up the long intro into a separate track.
• Shorter songs are more optimal in today’s streaming world because a 2-minute song pays out the same as a 5-minute song. A stream is counted if a song is listened to for 30 seconds or more. This is not to say you should compromise artistry to intentionally make shorter songs either.
• Nothing wrong with explicit lyrics (make sure to properly label it when uploading to your distributor), but understand it can limit the playlist potential of your song.
• Don’t try to game the system by having people listen to one song on repeat as they will penalize.

The post Spotify Playlist Guide: How to Improve Discoverability for Your Music appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

Want your music to show up more on Spotify’s Discovery Weekly and Release Radar to get discovered by new potential fans?

Discover Weekly playlists have been streamed for over 2.3 billion hours between July 2015 and June 25, 2020. With over 600 million active users, you can imagine it being significantly higher in 2024. Getting on algorithmic playlists, like Discover Weekly, can be a powerful tool to get more exposure for your songs within the Spotify ecosystem.

Spotify’s goal is to make the best song recommendations for their users based on individual listening behaviors, habits and music preferences. They use several metrics to evaluate what songs get included in their algorithmic playlists for a particular listener. No one knows for sure what all the metrics are since Spotify doesn’t share that information publicly.

However, there’s strong reason to believe playlist adds, saves and popularity index are strong signals for Spotify. Generally, a lot of emphasis is on getting more streams and new listeners, but that’s only part of it.

In this blog, I will break down the save-to-listener rate, popularity index and other key factors you need to know about. Working on these metrics will improve your chances of getting on Spotify’s algorithmic playlists and get more exposure for your music.

Please Note: Because Spotify’s algorithm is continuously changing, it’s important to point out that the information I’m sharing does not guarantee everlasting success on Spotify. What is discussed in this blog is theoretical with some speculation based on the limited information Spotify has shared. I will be sure to keep this page updated with any new findings.
 

What is the Save-to-Listener Rate?

Before getting into what this rate is, we should break down the two key metrics. It is suspected that one of the core metrics Spotify evaluates when tracking the success of a song is the number of saves/likes. This makes sense, especially since they provide that information in the Spotify for Artist’s dashboard.

A Spotify save is when a listener adds a song to their music library. This is done by adding a song to their ‘Liked Songs’ playlist by pressing ‘+’ while the song is playing or any other playlists they created. A save is also counted if the user downloads the song for offline listening.

The other part is the number of listeners. In case you don’t know, a stream is counted when a song is listened to for 30 seconds or more. For our purposes, we only count ‘listeners’ and not the number of listens/streams because a single listener can stream a song multiple times. It would be more accurate to calculate the save-to-listener rate rather than the save-to-stream rate.

So the Save-to-Listener rate is basically what it looks like. It is the percentage of listeners saving your songs to their library. The higher the percentage, the more likely Spotify will deem your song “good” and give it more exposure to new people.

The Save-to-Listener rate can play a big role in Spotify’s algorithm. It can help determine not only how often it should recommend your song, but where and to whom.
 

How to Calculate the Save-to-Listener Rate?

 
First, you need to log in to Spotify for Artist and go into your music dashboard. From here, you can see your song titles and 3 columns of data: stream, listeners and saves.

For each song you want to calculate, take the total number of listeners for the song and the number of saves.

Save-to-Listener Rate = (Saves / Listeners) x 100

In the chart above, the song “Walk With Me” has 9,800 listeners and 1,700 saves.

Save-to-Listener Rate = (1,700 / 9,800) x 100 = 17%

I will say the performance for “Walk With Me” is higher than average. This was one of the best performing songs with Spotify’s algorithmic playlists out of all of the different artist data I have access to on Spotify.

Although what is shown below is definitely not reflective of what most will see (even with a higher save-to-listener rate), I wanted to share what it would look like.

Looking at the sources of streams, 48% of the song’s streams came from Spotify’s algorithmic playlists.

Of the 29k total streams the song has received since it was released two months ago, 8.1k streams came directly from Discover Weekly.
 

What is a Good Save-to-Listener Rate?

 
At this point, it isn’t known what is considered a “good” rate. This is not an official number Spotify talks about and no one has publicly investigated it yet.

I would say anything over 10% is a good percentage to aim for. This means that for every 100 listeners of your song, you’d want at least 10 of them to save it.

When looking at other songs that performed similarly to “Walk With Me” with about half the streams coming from algorithmic playlists, the save-to-listener rate was between 15% to 18%.

It’s important to note that this isn’t a hard metric where the song with the highest stream-to-save rate is going to be your best performing song in Spotify algorithms. There were plenty of other songs I calculated that had a rate as high as 40% but no love in the algorithms.

My reasoning is that volume of streams and the number of listeners should be important as well. A save-to-listener rate of 80% because you have 8 saves out of the 10 listeners isn’t going to hold much weight compared to someone with a 20% rate but with a hundred thousand listeners and streams.
 

Spotify’s Popularity Index Score

What many people may not know is that every song on Spotify has a popularity index score. What is it exactly? It is a hidden score from 0 to 100 that Spotify uses to determine how popular a song is. According to Spotify, the popularity of a song is calculated by their algorithm and is based, in the most part, on the total number of streams the track has had and how recent those streams are. This means a song’s popularity index score can change daily as it is measured relative to other songs on Spotify.

There are certainly other factors and signals that goes into calculating a song’s popularity index score, but we can only speculate. Things like the number of saves, skip rates, playlist adds and listening percentages would make sense.

Why does this score matter? It is believed that having a certain score increases your song’s chance to be included in Spotify’s algorithmic playlists. People have speculated that your track needs a score of at least 30 for Discover Weekly and 20 to show up on Release Radar from those not following you.

I did a simple experiment and looked up all popularity index score for all the songs in my Discover Weekly playlist. There were a couple of songs with scores below 20 and as low as 13. This is not to say popularity index isn’t impactful, but at least we know it isn’t the only factor. To be fair, the average popularity score of all the other songs were around 40.
 

How to Check Your Song’s Popularity Index

 
Even though Spotify doesn’t share a track’s popularity index publicly, you can use specific tools and apps to retrieve the score for your songs. For example, MusicStax is a free tool you can use to look up popularity scores for any track on Spotify. You can also see the history of popularity scores over time as well.

A music data tool like Chartmetric will also show your the popularity scores for individual tracks.
 

Other Engagement Factors to Consider

 
Like with any algorithm, there are going to be multiple factors we need to account for like the number of playlists your song lands on, the number of followers you have, how many times your song has been shared and conversations about your music across the internet. Spotify has pointed out that these are all important signals they use.

They went on to even say “the more followers you have, the more of these playlists you’ll get on.” Here’s a blog I wrote about how to get more Spotify followers.

It’s also possible the successes of your previous releases play a role. For the song “Walk With Me,” the same artists put out a song in the past that hit 758k streams with 30% (or 230.9k) of those streams coming from Discover Weekly.

Now there are other engagement-related metrics that matter, but Spotify does not share this data.

For example, I assume that the average listening duration (how often a user listens to a song the whole way through) and total listening time can be used to determine how good a song is to them.

Similarly, negative metrics like your skip rate (how often does a listener skip away from your song) are a big factor as well. Spotify has mentioned this is a factor, but they don’t provide these numbers for us. This is why you don’t want your song on playlists that are not a good fit for your genre.

Although the save-to-listener rate and popularity index isn’t the complete picture, it’s the best guideline we have to work with based on what is given to us.
 

How to Boost Your Song’s Performance (Listeners, Streams and Saves)

 
How can you improve your save-to-listener rate, popularity score and potentially other engagement signals to help your song show up in Spotify’s algorithmic playlists? Here is a list of things to try and incorporate into your music promotion efforts.

Make good music where listeners will naturally want to listen to and save.

It sounds obvious but this point cannot be overstated. If a song isn’t that great, Spotify will see it in the engagement stats (skip rates and average listening time) that you can’t see. Naturally, this would mean saves and how many times the song is playlisted would be lower as well.

Get on the right Spotify playlists.

Getting on Spotify playlists will increase the chances you will find proper fans and improve your song’s performance in the algorithm. Look for playlists that have songs from artists who share a similar sound and audience to you. We know that Spotify pulls data from playlists that your songs are on to help better understand who would like your music. It examines the other songs on the playlist, the order they get played and individual listening habits to figure out potential songs to suggest in their algorithmic playlists. Avoid having your song added to random playlists that don’t make sense for your music so be very selective.

Curate your own Spotify playlist.

Create your own playlist. It can contain only your music or a mix of other similar songs including some of your own tracks. Decide on a concept or theme for the playlist and brand it with custom cover art. Share it on social media and encourage fans to suggest songs to make it a collaborative playlist. To make the playlist more visible on your Spotify, pin it to the top of your artist profile using ‘Artist’s Pick’. You can do this in Spotify for Artists by clicking on the ‘Profile’ tab.

Run targeted social media ads to drive traffic to your Spotify release

Just make sure you’re targeting people who use Spotify! Instead of driving traffic to a single song on Spotify, create a playlist with your song on top. You can include some of your other songs, but it should mostly be focused on songs from other bigger name artists. These other songs from other artists need to share similarities of style, topic, theme, vibe or mood to your own music. For example, don’t include a traditional country or heavy metal song in a party hip hop playlist. Be aware that running ad campaigns can be expensive. The big problem is that when you’re running ads to gain streams, you’ll always be at a loss because streams don’t pay enough. This means you’ll need a bigger budget to move the needle and make this strategy effective.

Launch a pre-save campaign for an upcoming release.

Your music distributor will create a pivot page (DistroKid calls them HyperFollow pages) with links to various stores where your release will be available on. Spotify is often on the top of this list so it makes it easier for pre-saves. Asking your fans to pre-save may not be enough incentive because they don’t actually gain anything for doing that. Offer something of value in exchange for a pre-save. DistroKid will actually share the email addresses of those who pre-save so you can follow up with a reward.

Release music consistently.

The more good quality music you share, the more your audience will grow, thus your overall Spotify performance. The best to do this is through a singles release strategy. This will create more opportunities for fans to follow you on Spotify and get your new releases in their Release Radar playlist.

Keep your Spotify page up-to-date with a clean aesthetic.

This includes an updated bio, quality photos, social media links, etc. This way, if someone discovers you for the first time from listening to your song on a playlist, you’ll make a strong first impression when they look you up. This can help secure a follow and lead to a new fan. Brand presentation matters!

Encourage Spotify engagement from your current fans.

Once a song or project is released, be sure to promote it on other social media platforms to drive traffic and engagement from your current fans. Share it on Instagram Stories and your Broadcast channel. Asks fans to add the song to their playlists. Do this multiple times within the first few weeks.

Getting press and features in blogs with audiences in the right genre for your music.

This will also improve the metadata of your song and help Spotify target better where your song should be. A lot of bloggers also curate playlists so I put together a list of 44 music blogs you can submit your songs to.

Use Spotify’s Paid Campaigns

Spotify now has 3 paid options to boost streams and improve discovery for your music. Check out each one and see which one makes sense for you to try.

• Marquee
• Showcase
• Discover Mode

Discover Mode is something you should always be using whenever possible.

The post How to Improve Your Song’s Performance in Spotify’s Algorithmic Playlists appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

Looking for free exposure for your music? Getting on a Spotify editorial playlist could be a good way to get one of your songs out to a new audience. Editorial playlists are curated by Spotify’s team.

In late 2018, Spotify has allowed artists the ability to submit a song to be considered in their editorial playlists. It’s completely free! Although there are no guarantees you’ll get added, there’s no harm in trying.

If you prefer to watch a video, I created a full walk-through where I go through the process from the beginning of uploading a song to your distributor to being accepted onto a playlist. It is outdated but it should still cover the basic process for you.

You can watch that to see the process visually or just follow the directions below.
 

Getting Started

 

The first thing is you need a Spotify for Artist account and claim your artist profile.

If you’ve released music before on Spotify through a music aggregator / distributor (like DistroKid, CD Baby or TuneCore) but haven’t claimed your artist profile yet, here’s how:

https://artists.spotify.com/faq/promotion#how-do-i-claim-my-artist-profile-before-my-first-release-goes-live
 

Step 1: Upload Your Music

 

You need to upload your new song(s) to your music distributor (like CDBaby, TuneCore or DistroKid) and make sure Spotify is selected as an outlet.

DistroKid Users: You must have the Musician Plus or Label plan to schedule releases for a future date in order to submit to Spotify. If you have the basic Musician plan ($22.99/year), then you cannot submit your release for Spotify playlist consideration. The only way around is to upgrade your DistroKid plan or use another distributor.

Once you’ve received an email or notification that Spotify has received your music in their system and is scheduled for release, then you can proceed to the next step.

IMPORTANT

 
You have to have something new that is unreleased. You can’t submit a song that has been already released and live.

You need to submit the song to be considered at least 7 days in advance of the release date. I would do at least 10 days because it can take several days for Spotify to get your new music into their system from the distributor. However, for the best chances, I would give yourself 2 – 4 weeks before the planned release date to upload your music to your distributor.

It is possible to still get your track on a Spotify Editorial playlist if you pitch a week before release, but it is not recommended.

A song I pitched a week before the release was added to Spotify’s Editorial Playlist.

Step 2: Log into ‘Spotify for Artist’ account

 

Log in to your Spotify for Artist account on Desktop. You can only do this on desktop and not the Spotify for Artist app.

From the Home screen, go to the ‘Music’ tab and select ‘Upcoming’. Your songs should be listed here. It can take several days before it shows up. For one release, it took us about 2 days to get an email from Spotify that it was ready to go out on release day. On another release, it took about a week.
 

Step 3: Select a Song to Submit

 

From the home screen or the ‘Upcoming’ tab in Music, choose a song and click ‘Submit a Song.’

Couple Notes:

• You are only allowed to select one song per artist profile to be considered in each release. So if you are releasing a 6 track EP, you can only choose 1 song.
• If you have multiple releases scheduled, you have to wait one of the songs you submitted goes live first before you can submit the other song.
• So if you want to maximize your chances, you’ll want to release singles but make sure to schedule the releases far apart enough so you have enough time to submit. 2 weeks between scheduled releases should work.
• You also have to be the main artist so you can’t select a song you’re featured in.
• Spotify editors have the right to choose a different song from your release than the one you submit. Assuming you’re releasing an EP or album, they may choose another song that they feel fits better creatively for a playlist.

Step 4: Fill Out Form

 
Fill out all the details as completely and accurately as you can. This increases your chances of being selected.

Location – Confirm where the artist is from

Add song details

Add a description

 
For your convenience, I included all of the questions so you can see them ahead of time and prepare. Keep in mind, the questions could change, but I’ll do my best to make sure it’s up to date.

Step 5: Submit the Song

 

The last page will be a review of your responses. If everything looks good, hit ‘submit.’ You can always go back and make edits if you need. Not sure if it affects the process, so I wouldn’t do it too much, just in case.

If you change your mind, you can delete your submission and select another song.

If you have been added, you’ll get an email letting you know you’ve been selected, the playlist your song is on and how many followers are on the playlist. An artist I worked with back in 2019 got the email 5 days after the song was released, which was on a Monday. Spotify let us know it was added on Saturday morning. I imagine it will vary by artist.

In 2024, another artist that I submitted for got an email saying they were added to Spotify’s editorial playlist 2 days after the song was first released.

If you didn’t get added this time, don’t give up. You can keep doing this for each new release.
 

You’ve Been Selected, What Next?

 

Congrats! The next thing you want to do is to maximize this opportunity. There’s no set time that you’ll be on the playlist, so make the most out of it while you are on it. According to Spotify, how long you stay on the playlist depends on how it resonates with listeners, meaning based on their data and analytics.

Once your song has been selected for an editorial playlist, you can’t remove yourself from it or request a different playlist.

Here’s what you should do:

• Share the playlist and let people know you’ve been added to a Spotify Editorial Playlist.
• Build on the momentum by letting people know to listen to the song, share it, save it and even add the song to their playlists. These are important signals that Spotify’s algorithm monitors to determine how well a song is engaging with listeners on the playlist. Who knows, if it does well, they may add it to some other playlists.
• Keep releasing music. Chances are you’re going to get some new people who will like your song and possibly follow you on Spotify.

Conclusion

 
That is how you submit your song to be considered for a Spotify editorial playlist. As you can see, it’s a fairly simple and straightforward process. If you want to see a video walk-through, you can watch this.

Lastly, it’s important to keep expectations in check. Although it’s great to be added, it’s most likely not going to make you the next Lil Nas X or Post Malone. However, it will give you more exposure to people who would never have come across your music. Just make sure you’re promoting your music in other ways as well.

I know a relatively new artist who had 3 of his singles added to Spotify’s editorial playlists in a row. He now has over 60k listeners a month, with his top song receiving 149k streams because of this. For the average independent artist, getting 1,000 streams on a song is not easy. I’m sure there have been crazier stories of what being added to an editorial playlist could do to one’s career, but it’s still impressive.

Looking for more about Spotify?

How to Get More Spotify Followers (Tips for Musicians)

Spotify Playlist Guide: How To Improve Discoverability For Your Music

Amazon Music has also launched their own free playlist submission tool for their curated playlists. The process is very similar to Spotify.

The post How to Submit Your Song for Spotify Playlist Consideration appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

One of the biggest benefits of having Spotify followers is that fans receive email notifications when you put new music on Spotify or announce new shows (if you use Songkick.com). Your songs also show up in their Release Radar playlist and possibly other algorithmic playlists from Spotify.

Important Note: Before jumping into doing these things, I think it’s important to think about your fans funnels and where Spotify fits into your music marketing. For some artists, it may make more sense to build up your Instagram followers, YouTube subscribers or even SoundCloud numbers (assuming they stick around much longer). Yes, music streaming is the future and it is not going anywhere. But, I’m just putting this out there so you’re not blindly investing in Spotify because it’s the trend, but then later realizing it was a waste of time and money for your overall marketing strategy.
 

Claim Your Artist Profile on Spotify

 
Before doing anything else, the first step is to claim your artist profile on Spotify.

Learn more about what this is: https://artists.spotify.com/guide/spotify-for-artists

When I requested access to some of the artists I work with, it required me to verify through the artist’s Twitter account so keep that in mind that you may need to have that on hand.

Taking this step is not necessary to get more followers, but it’s still an important data resource that every artist should have access to. Tools that reveal more details about your audience, songs and playlists that your songs are on are very valuable so take advantage. Best of all, you get a blue checkmark on your profile that shows everyone you’re official!

Despite accusations of unfair royalty practices and payouts, Spotify has said they are committed to bringing artists values in other ways through data and tools like this.

Also, some of the tips mentioned below require tools or functions only available for those who request access to their Spotify artist profiles.

After you have been granted access and control over your Spotify profile, download the Spotify for Artists app (iOs).

Check out some of the tips below on how you can increase your followers on Spotify.
 

Add a ‘Follow’ Button on your Website

 
If you log in to Spotify for Artists, click on ‘Tools’ to access the Follow button widget. Placing this code on your website will create a button that makes it easy for visitors to follow you on Spotify with a click of a button.

You can also embed a playlist to your website next to your follow button. Create a playlist with all of your music, your best songs or maybe the latest releases on top. This gives visitors a clue that you’re on Spotify so they may be more likely to follow you. The only drawback with using Spotify as your website music player is they need a Spotify account to listen to. Ideally for your website, you want to use an audio player like Bandcamp or SoundCloud so visitors can easily listen to your music.

Ask on Social Media

 
One of the first things you should do is ask your fans on social media to follow you on Spotify. Just saying, “hey follow me on Spotify” may not be the best way so try to be a little creative. At the very least, you should explain why following you benefits them and helps you as well. The main benefit to them is that they can get notifications when you have new music on Spotify, so they can be the first in the know or not miss out on your new releases.

Lastly, don’t forget to ask your friends and family too.
 

Send an Email to your Mailing List

 
Assuming you’ve been building an email list on an online platform like Mailchimp, send an email out to ask your fans to follow you on Spotify. Again, just asking may come off a bit boring so be creative. You can tie in an incentive like, “if I get x amount of followers, I will release a new song or video for you.”
 

Ask at Your Live Show

 
At some part of your set, maybe in the middle or towards the end, let fans know that they can follow you on Spotify if they like what they’re hearing. You can incentivize them with a discount of your merch if they show you that they followed you on Spotify.
 

Keep Creating Music

 
If you’re constantly putting new music on Spotify, you can condition people to just follow you naturally to keep up with your releases. It gives more reason and benefit for fans to do so. After all, harping on fans to follow you on Spotify when you’ve only posted 5 songs for the past couple of years isn’t the most convincing or worthy of their time.
 

Playlisting

 
Create playlists around a theme where your own songs can be included in. Promote this playlist on social media and even your Spotify profile. Obviously, don’t fill it up with a bunch of your own songs, you want it to be a good mix that fits the theme. Share these playlists on social media and even tag some of the other artists you’ve included. The idea is to get others to like and share your playlists so it can give you some exposure to new audiences and ultimately some follows.

In addition to getting Spotify followers, you want listeners to save/like your song and add it to their playlists. These metrics help improve your chances of Spotify recommending your songs to new potential fans through algorithmic playlists (Discover Weekly and Release Radar), which can give you additional exposure. I wrote a guide about Spotify playlists where you can learn more.

You can also submit your song to Spotify to be considered on one of their Editorial playlists. This is a great way to get more exposure and potentially more Spotify followers for FREE!
 

Use Follow-gates

Here’s an example of what a follow gate looks like with Show.co

There are various tools out there that allow you to exchange a song download for a follow on Spotify. The value of a free download isn’t what it used to be in the current music streaming climate, so it’s really important to make the download enticing or special. If it’s a really good song or remix that people want, make it exclusive so that the only way they can download it is by either following you on Spotify or giving their email address.

Here are some tools to look into that can help you:

• Show.co
• followgate.com
• toneden.io
• click.dj
• hypeddit.com

If you use DistroKid to distribute your music, you can use their free tool Hyperfollow to get Spotify followers. For every new release that you upload to their service, DistroKid creates a HyperFollow page that contains links to various stores or digital outlets your music is going to be available. If someone clicks the Spotify button to pre-save or listen to your new release, they will automatically follow you.

Use Spotify’s Ad Platform (currently in beta)

 
Yes, Spotify has a self-serve ad platform that you can pay to get more exposure to your artist profile, playlist or album and hopefully get more followers from it. Their ad platform is still in beta as of this writing, but it looks like anyone with a Spotify for Artists account can use it. The minimum budget to push an ad used to be $250, but now it’s down to $25. I’m still new to it, but it’s relatively straightforward to use. I’ll eventually cover how to use it in a future blog.

Learn more here: https://adstudio.spotify.com
 

Pay for Social Media Ads

 
This is a more advanced way of getting followers that requires a bit more work. You have to be really careful doing it this way because it does require you to have a budget and invest money into buying ads. Your best bet for results is to spend it on Facebook and Instagram ads.

In order to do this effectively, you have to plan and be strategic. I will write a more detailed blog on how artists can use social media ads in the future. But for this segment, I will do my best to explain and go over some guidelines so you’re not pouring money down the drain with nothing to show for it.

I think the best way to approach buying social media ads for building your Spotify followers is to understand the three general types of audiences. You have cold, warm and hot.

Cold audiences are generally people who have never heard of you or your music.

Warm audiences are people who have heard or seen your name and maybe listened to a few songs.

Hot audiences are very familiar with who you are and are likely fans of your music. (I actually never hear anyone talking about “hot” audiences, but I’m just doing it to complete the scale of temperatures.)

Depending on the type of audience, you’ll want to approach buying ads differently.

Targeting cold audiences right off the bat is probably not a very cost-effective way of getting Spotify followers. Normally, this would be done by just targeting people with interests in similar artists to yourself.

To be effective, you’ll want to know what other artists your fans are listening to so you can target those artists with your ads. Having access to artist data on Spotify will actually give you some suggestions on what other artists your fans listen to. You can also click on an artist’s Spotify profile and see related artists as well. The only problem is you can’t target fans of less known artists with ads if the names don’t show up in the interest box.

A better strategy then this would be to push ads to convert cold audiences into a warm one by pushing them to an offer like a free download, showing a music video or sending them to a Spotify playlist of your music. The main goal here is to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website so you can build a custom audience with a Facebook Pixel and then push ads to them about following you Spotify.

For those not familiar with the Facebook Pixel, it’s a piece of code that you put on your website that tags your visitors and allows you to add them into an audience you create in Facebook Ad Manager. Then, you can target this specific group later to show ads. If you’re not tech-savvy, it’s a bit of a process to nail down but you can learn more about it here:

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/651294705016616

Now with warm audiences like website visitors, you should be more effective in asking them to follow you on Spotify with ads. If you don’t get a lot of web traffic on your own, having an offer like free downloads to cold audiences is one way you can drive traffic to your website. You don’t need to do any gating or requiring emails as long as you have the Facebook Pixel in place.

Lastly, a hot audience would be like your social media followers and fans. For this audience, you can get away with posting something on Facebook and boosting the post through Facebook’s Ad Manager.

There’s obviously more to consider when using social media ads to build your Spotify followers, like what marketing objective to use, how to organize the campaigns and what to say in the ad copy. I won’t cover that in this blog, but this bit on targeting and audiences helps to get the ball rolling.
 

Experiment with Spotify Codes

 
Spotify Codes is a relatively new feature that makes it easier for people to find your music. It’s basically like a QR code graphic that you can download and use so people can scan it in their Spotify app. It won’t directly get you more Spotify followers, but it may help.

This is something I’m still experimenting with myself. It’s not exactly a widely adopted feature yet, but I figure it has potential uses for marketing.

• Print the code on a flyer, business card or somewhere on the physical release (maybe the back cover or inside liner notes).
• Use in social media either as an actual post, a cover photo or Instagram Story. You can screenshot the Spotify Code and scan it later in the Spotify app.

Try scanning the two Spotify Codes below:

Here’s what I designed for Zion I to promote his mixtape/playlist specifically for reaching new fans while on tour with Rebelution. He got them printed out on 3.5 x 2 business cards and it worked when it was scanned in Spotify.

 
This is the artist Spotify code you would use to get people to your Spotify profile so they can follow you.

You can use Spotify codes to take people to specific albums, singles or playlists:

How to Scan a Spotify Code

The scanner is found in the ‘Search’ tab on the upper right-hand corner. Click on the camera icon to pull up the scanner.

How to Create a Spotify Code

You can create a Spotify Code for your artist profile, album or playlist directly in the Spotify app. Click on the ‘…” in the upper right-hand corner.

The next screen should show you the Spotify Code. Click on it and it will take you to another screen where you have the option to save the graphic to your phone.

The post How to Get More Spotify Followers (Tips for Musicians) appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

“I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music,” she told Yahoo. “And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.“

Likewise, Aloe Blacc stated that “…a system that allows digital streaming services to enjoy enormous profits while music creators struggle is imbalanced and broken.”

Even though these artists are clearly more popular than your average musician, the question is what does it really mean for smaller, independent artists?

It really depends on your perception as music streaming services are not solely positive or negative for independent artists. This new way of music consumption brings a more convenient way for fans to access and enjoy music. This shift will continue to grow as music streaming services battle for the rights to music stream exclusives and market share. Even Amazon has recently entered the arena with its own music streaming service called Amazon Music Unlimited.

Unfortunately, music streaming does not bring in much in the way of cash unless you get the volume of streams. In particular, the royalties paid out from music streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music, are minimal. The most lucrative method of selling music for independent artists is still CDs, but the change in consumer behavior has decreased the demand for a physical product.

In this blog, I want to provide some context on the music streaming industry and offer a perspective on how you should adapt to the growing trend of music streaming services.
 

The Meteoric Rise of Music Streaming

 
Music and technology have coincided and transformed the ways we share and listen to music throughout the years. Thanks to the internet, music has been made more accessible and transferable to audiences that otherwise would not have had the privilege of readily available music.

The current shift in technology has caused us to toss our cassettes, discs and downloads to the side. In this digital age, streaming music has become the method of choice for most listeners. Streaming audio has increased by 97% from 2015 to 2016. Almost 209 billion on-demand music streams were played in 2016 – and we aren’t even at the end of the year yet!

As a savvy early adapting millennial, you probably already know the nuances between streaming and downloading music, but just in case you need clarification:

Music streaming is a way of delivering sound without the need to download audio files. Music services (more to come later in the article on this subject) use this method to provide songs that can be enjoyed on all types of different devices. Streaming is used by music superstars and rising stars, like you.

While doing research on this topic, I assumed streaming and downloading were comparable with how much they were used. I was so wrong. In fact, recent data shows quite a one-sided distribution.

In 2015, over 317 billion audio and video files were streamed, while only 1 billion songs and albums were downloaded. This chart clearly indicates that listeners prefer to stream a song rather than purchase one. Streaming is a double-edged sword, especially for indie artists. This is because streaming has the benefit of attracting new fans, but it also results in less money paid out.
 

Residual Streaming Affects

 
The revenue artists receive from listeners streaming their songs is much less than if these same songs were purchased and downloaded. Likewise, even though you have to pay the costs of creating CDs (materials and related business expenses), each CD sale would net you a higher profit per song than a streaming service would.

Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done. Technology dictates how listeners want to hear their music, and they have unanimously chosen to stream. This is why it’s so important that you get your music on streaming services; to increase your music’s accessibility and discovery.
 

Music Streaming Monopolies

 
There are 6 key players in the music streaming business, but Spotify is clearly blowing past all the competitors. Spotify is doubling its second-closest competitor, Apple Music, in subscribers and has more subscribers than the 5 leading industry businesses combined.

It’s important to note that Pandora is a little different than the other providers. Pandora is comprised of radio stations and does not let users choose the specific songs they want to listen to. Pandora classifies songs through what they call their Music Genome Project. Each song is analyzed by a trained music analyst using up to 450 distinct musical characteristics. Pandora uses these characteristics to tailor radio stations based on the listener’s preferred taste in music and listening habits. The benefit of this method is it allows for more discovery of new artists that may be of interest to the listener.

Conversely, Spotify, Apple Music, Rhapsody, Tidal, and Deezer allow subscribers to choose exactly what they want to hear. As the two largest music streaming services, Spotify and Apple get to call most of the shots in terms of how much they want to pay artists and the cost of subscriptions.

If you’re wondering why YouTube and SoundCloud are not mentioned it’s because these sites do not offer paid subscriptions. (Actually, Soundcloud does now have their own subscription-based streaming service – SoundCloud Go.) While these are technically streaming providers, the information in this article focuses on subscription music streaming.
 

Music Streaming Royalties (or Lack Thereof)

 
Platforms that stream music for a monthly subscription claim to be putting the money back into the artist’s pocket, by converting pirates into monetized users; however, they are giving artists only fractions of a penny per streamed song. Each platform also takes a certain percentage of the revenue from each streamed song. For instance, Spotify retains 30% of the revenue. The remaining 70% is split between labels, publishers, distributors, digital distributors and… then finally the artists. That’s a lot of divvying up and explains why it takes almost 14,000 steams before you make $100. On the other hand, if you are an independent that is not signed to a label and own the full publishing rights to your music, you may see a more sizable chunk.

Some music streaming platforms don’t pay royalties per song. Instead, they calculate payouts based on many variables, such as the country in which people are streaming an artist’s music and the number of paid subscribers. You can use this formula to come up with a rate per streamed song. This helps to compare the royalty amount you can expect to receive based on the music streaming platform. The below chart depicts the approximate royalty rate for leading streaming providers.
 

The Future of Streaming

 
As more customers continue to choose steaming over purchasing specific songs, the disparity between paid downloads and streaming will continue to intensify. 2015 data has given us these takeaways for downloaded music:
• ‘Download Single’ sales dropped 14.9%
• ‘Download Album’ sales dropped 7%

While this seems like a lot of doom and gloom, there is some hope that royalty payouts will increase. The awareness of low payouts from many big name artists helped to change the royalty rate from Apple. And as more people stream through a paid membership, revenue for the streaming companies will rise, which will increase the pot of money they pay out to artists, so it doesn’t hurt to encourage your fans and followers to become subscribers.
 

Not all Doom and Gloom

 
Even with the lower than desired royalties streaming services payout, there have been some indie artists that have been able to earn sizable income and gain national exposure from music streaming services. Perrin Lamb is one such success story. He had been active on the local scene for more than 10 years when Spotify added one of his songs to a playlist. That’s what kick-started his success, and his song was streamed 13 million times, netting him approximately $56k.

It’s not all downhill for independent artists. The opportunity is definitely there to leverage music streaming services, but do you have the strategy and luck to capitalize on it?
 

What Should Independent Artists Do?

 
The key is to adapt. The music industry and technology are constantly changing so you have to know when and how to adjust. Making a living as a musician is always a concern when your sources of income are being threatened, but here are 3 actions to help you adapt to the rise of music streaming:
 

Put your songs on music streaming services

 
The changes in technology and consumer behavior show the importance for independent artists to adapt to the changing ways people listen to their music. If more and more people are turning to streaming subscriptions for their music needs, they will expect you to be there as well. Not having your music in places like Spotify or Apple Music could actually have a negative impact as you would be an inconvenience to your fans, which does not provide a good fan experience.

The fact is we are more dependent on word of mouth and streaming services to discover new music. As an independent artist, you need all the exposure you can get and make your music more accessible on streaming services will increase your ability to reach new fans with the right strategies in place.

While it’s unfortunate that streaming royalties are not as high as we’d all like, in my opinion, the effects of music streaming are actually not all that bad. Yes, it’s true that the growth of music streaming services has contributed to the decline in CD sales, but so has digital downloads for over the past decade. As society and technology become more integrated, this shift shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Knowing your audience is key. If your fan base tends to be older (over 45?) and does not stream music, a lot of this may not even apply. I still don’t think it hurts you to make your music more accessible on music streaming, but you should do what makes the most sense to how your fans consume music.

Be creative with how you sell and promote merch

 
At a recent show, I overheard someone talk about how they wanted to buy a CD, but they didn’t even have a CD player in their car to play it. I’m sure this sentiment is slowly becoming the norm. More and more new laptops and cars don’t have a CD drive, hinting at a decline in demand. From a practical standpoint, the demand for physical music is being replaced by the convenience and accessibility of music streaming. However, this doesn’t mean you should stop selling CDs or physical copies of your music. If your target market is willing to purchase CDs, then there is no reason to stop selling them!

If you think about CDs as merch, something that fans buy as a memento of the night or a way of showing support, then there should always be some demand it for, especially at live shows. You just have to be more creative and thoughtful about how you approach it.

Here are some starter ideas to get you thinking creatively:

• Do merch bundles to increase value
• 2 CDs for the price of 1 deals: It encourages people to share it with someone
• Offer CDs for donations: Sometimes you can make more this way than having a set price
• Announce during your live set that the best way to support you is to buy merch, like a CD. Even if they can’t use it, they can give it to someone who can.
• Offer to sign the CD and take a picture with the customer

Despite the decline in album sales, I truly believe that your real fans will support you and buy your records or branded products via one platform or another.
 

Improve your live shows

 
The fact is, the one thing that technology cannot replace or replicate is the live experience. This bodes well for music artists because the main source of income for most independent artists has always been live shows and tours. In order to make a living off music, live performance is the most practical method and will be so for the foreseeable future. Any musician looking to sustain a career in music knows that this is the technology-proof strategy, so invest in improving your live performances.

In other words, the strategy for making a living off music should be to really focus on branding and growing an audience to drive demand for people to pay to see you live and buy your merch. Music streaming should be viewed as a platform to make your music more accessible and not an obstacle because of the low royalty rates.
 

Conclusion

In my opinion, adapting to an ever-evolving industry is the key to success. That’s a constant theme you’ll see throughout my blog.

However, there are musicians who will refuse to adopt to music streaming based on principle. That’s fine too. It’s important to understand that you have options when it comes to finding the best music business model that works for you.

The post Does the Rise in Music Streaming Services Spell Doom for Independent Artists? appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.