What Musicians Need to Know, Campaign Kit, Tools

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Spotify accounts for almost a third of the streaming music market, making it by far the most popular app for listening to music. With over 100 million songs on its service, Spotify is convenient for listeners but competitive for artists. One of the best tools artists and their labels have to expand their reach is Spotify for Artists.

This dedicated platform lets creators modify their artist profiles, add visuals, and find new audiences. And while uploading new music to Spotify isn’t as easy as it is on a platform like SoundCloud, Spotify isn’t just for artists signed to a major label—independent and unsigned artists can also get their music on Spotify. Here’s what creators need to know about using Spotify for Artists and how to get your music on the service.

How to Get Music on Spotify

Spotify introduced Spotify for Artists in 2017 on the App Store and Android, making it easier for artists to take control of their profiles, evaluate their stats, and reach new listeners right from their smartphones. Artists can submit an existing profile or submit their music through a distributor. Spotify uses third-party services to handle licensing, distribution, and royalties.

The company has a preferred list of distributors that can be found in the app. Examples include DistroKid, CD Baby, and EmuBands. Spotify says DistroKid is “the easiest way for musicians to get their music on Spotify.” DistroKid doesn’t take a percentage of royalties — artists keep 100%. However, Spotify takes 30% and sets per-stream rates.

What You Need to Know About the Spotify Campaign Toolkit

Spotify Campaign Kit is a cost-per-click tool that lets artists run paid campaigns to promote their music to their audience, with a minimum budget of $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 promote their music in playlists, which is one of the most reliable ways for listeners to find new music. Other features include the ability to add visuals to tracks and sell merch and concert tickets.

These features can be useful for smaller artists, but not all smaller artists. Spotify has demonetized content below a threshold, meaning artists with fewer than 1,000 streams in the last 12 months won’t get paid. Spotify says this is to combat artificial streaming, but it could also hurt smaller artists who are still developing. Additionally, Spotify for Artists no longer shows streams below 1,000 in its stats cards, and these artists can’t use Marquee or Showcase until they meet the threshold.

How to use Spotify Analytics

One of the most important features of Spotify for Artists is analytics, which helps creators track streams, listeners, and playlist data. Audience segments break down where your listeners come from into three categories.

Categories include active audiences, or listeners who have searched for your music in the last 28 days; previously active audiences, or listeners who were part of your audience but haven’t searched for your music in the last 28 days; and programmed audiences, or listeners who have streamed your music through playlists and radio. These tools can help artists turn passive listeners into new fans.

Ready to get started? Learn more about Spotify for Artists and access the campaign kit here.