How To Get More Streams On Spotify
Read this to know how to get more genuine streams on Spotify...
In recent years, streaming has become a reliable source of income for artists, producers and especially labels. Streaming numbers are a recognized metric for determining royalty payouts and a records level of success.
There is a tremendous amount of pressure to compete based on the data. With Spotify being the most popular platform for music streaming and discovery; artists and labels want to know, how do we get get more streams on Spotify?
In 2023 revenues from streaming services made up 84% of total recorded music revenues in the U.S., growing 10.3% to $7.0 billion. -RIAA
Getting your music on Spotify
The first step is to actually get your music on Spotify. If it isn’t already, you’ll need a distribution company like Tunecore, United Masters, or Ditto Music.
A good distributor will handle licensing, distribution, and streaming royalties. Each company will differ slightly in their pricing and the services, so do your own research to find the distributor that best fits your brand.
Spotify also provides a list of recommended distributors, all of which meet the standards for delivering music to the platform.
Don't buy fake streams
Buying fake streams and the use of stream farms are tactics artists and labels may use to artificially raise stream counts with the intent of tricking Spotify’s algorithm or producing more streaming royalties.
This is in direct violation of Spotify’s terms of services and could potentially lead to your music being pulled, or worse. Also, fake streams destroy your analytics data and make it hard to tell who really listens to your music.
To learn more about the problems related to fake streaming on Spotify,
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Taking advantage of Spotify for Artists
Between worrying about producing music, social media, putting out content, booking shows and more, independent artists often overlook the tools and resources that Spotify already makes available to help boost your visibility on the platform.
Claiming your Spotify for artists page
If you’ve already claimed your artist profile, skip ahead to maximizing your profile.
Using one of Spotify’s recommended distributors?
Your artist page may be claimed automatically. If so, your distributor will provide you access to your account or you can submit a request to Spotify for help. All requests are manually reviewed, so don’t expect a reply for a few days.
Once your music is live on Spotify, you can request access to, or claim your artist profile page. When you have access, log in to your artist dashboard.
This is where you can track your audience data, update your page or promote your music.
Looking to get verified?
Once claimed, your artist profile will display the blue verified check mark beside your name.
You can access Spotify for artists on your favourite browser by visiting artists.spotify.com or download the app.
Maximize your artist profile
How much effort has gone into your artist profile?
You’d be surprised how many people don’t fill out the bio or upload a good profile image and canvas. Like any other social platform, your profile is like a first impression. It’s how potential fans perceive you. It’s a determining factor in a new listener’s decision, whether to listen to or skip your track.
Write an engaging bio that lets fans know who you are and what they can expect from you as an artist, or highlight a recent accomplishment, album release or music video.
The idea is to give fans something more. Spotify even allows you to feature some of your available merch or a list of upcoming shows for your next tour.
Maximizing all the features on your artist profile increases your visibility across the platform and gives real fans what they are asking for, more.
Update your profile often
Your Spotify artist page is no different than any other social media profile.
By updating your artist page often, you’re letting Spotify know you’re active and looking to connect with listeners. This means regularly uploading music but also updating your bio, profile image, canvas or playlists.
Consistency is key. For example, on your next release you could update your profile image to display it’s cover art, the canvas to promote the release and include information about the release date, producer credits or features in your bio section.
Try using Discovery Mode
Discovery mode is described as “a tool for artists and music marketers designed to help you find new listeners when it matters to you most.”
When Discovery Mode is turned on, Spotify takes a small percentage of the streaming royalties generated as a result. With no upfront costs and average increases of 30-50% across saves, adds and follows - Discovery Mode seems like a major W for growing a global fanbase.
(on average, tracks in Discovery Mode are streamed in 100 markets during the campaign period.)
Run pre-save campaigns
The pre-save feature is something that currently can only be access through a distributor that offers it. Most distributors have the option, but double check just in case. I
f it’s not included, you won’t be able to benefit from running a pre-save campaign unless you switch distributors or Spotify offers something in house.
In fact, last March at Stream On, Spotify announced plans to do just that by rolling out Countdown Pages - a new destination for fans to pre-save upcoming releases and watch Clips (currently in beta) or a count down until your official release date.
Use Spotify’s promo card tool
The Spotify promo card tool let’s you create shareable “listen on Spotify” assets for artists, songwriters, albums, songs, podcast shows or episodes, even audiobooks to share online.
To get started head over to promocards.byspotify.com
Search for your artist name, latest release or album, then choose a focus, customize your colours and pick between landscape, portrait or square sized promo cards to share automatically or download for later.
Don’t forget to copy the provided link to your content for use with features like swiping up.
Use Spotify codes to promote your music
A Spotify code is like a QR code, a scannable tag that can be used to access or share links to your music. The codes are perfect for traditional marketing materials.
Print these codes on stickers, business cards, promo flyers or posters. I’ve literally seen Spotify codes on billboards downtown Toronto. The more creative your approach is the more likely people are to listen to your music.
To get a Spotify code visit https://www.spotifycodes.com/
Other Spotify for Artists resources
Outside of artist pages and streaming data, there are other invaluable tools provided through Spotify for Artists.
These include a full range of high quality advice videos from major artists like , industry reports, or access to songwriting studios in Los Angeles, Nashville or London.
The complete list of resources available through Spotify,
- Video
- News
- In Focus
- Fan Study
- Made To Be Found
- Loud & Clear
- Songwriting
Getting Your Music On Playlists
One of the most effective ways to increase your stream count is a placement on one of Spotify’s editorial or algorithmic playlists.
Besides the option of pitching your music through Spotify for artists, you’re going to need serious motion behind your brand before the official playlists will pick up your music.
A better strategy is to connect with independent curators or build your own playlists.
Use playlists to show love to similar sounding artists while throwing some of your music into the mix, or make a dedicated list of all the songs you’re featured on but don’t show on your artist page.
Independently owned playlists
Spotify’s official playlists are difficult to get your name on, especially if you’re an artist on the come up. A good strategy is to focus on independently ran playlists.
Using the search functions, you can find playlists in your genre that are ran by fans, DJ’s, curators, local companies etc.
Look for playlists with good numbers and available contact information, social media links or anything else that may help you track down it’s owner.
Keep all the contact information, so you can reach out to them.
To begin, you’ll need to know if the playlist is accepting submissions. Put together a brief pitch that introduces your project and explains why it’s a good fit for the playlist.
Remember, a lo-fi beats playlist isn’t going to respond to submissions for drill records, so don’t waste their time, or yours.
Some of the best placements happen organically, so start connecting with playlist owners in a genuine way. Find their social media profiles and engage with them.
Liking, commenting, or sharing content increases the possibility of a curator finding your music on their own.
Curating your own playlists
Getting on a big playlist is major, but most artists overlook the power of curating one of your own.
What makes a playlist so powerful is it’s ability to connect people to music. Curate a playlist featuring artists who have audiences and music similar to your own. Include some artists on the come up, some from major labels and mix in a couple of your best works.
When people come across your playlist there’s less pressure. You’re not asking anyone to listen, just letting them know what you’re listening to.
Spotify lets you create multiple playlists, create a list to showcase any music that doesn’t appear on your artist page, or to highlight artists from your city. Curate a playlist for crushing the gym.
Your playlist has the potential of growing to the point others reach out to be featured.
(link to playlist)
Paid Advertising on Spotify
With over 600 million listeners, Spotify has a massive audience to offer anyone interested in advertising. The best part about advertising on Spotify is your ads are reaching people already using the platform.
There are two ways to advertise on Spotify. First is Spotify’s Ad Studio, a self serve ad manager for launching audio or video ad campaigns.
The second requires access to Spotify for Artists, where you can can make use of Campaign Kit’s audience insights to run your campaigns based on metrics like streaming behaviour.
“target Premium and free listeners in 36 markets”
Spotify Ad Studio
Ad Studio is Spotify’s self serve ad manager, making it easy for anyone to launch audio or video ad campaigns with a minimum budget of $250.
advance data-driven targeting by demographics, interests, or behaviours.
The coolest feature, if producing your ad is an issue, supply a script and choose from licensed background tracks, voice actors, and get a professional mix, in house.
Spotify for Artists, Marquee
As part of Spotify’s Campaign Kit, the Marquee tools displays what looks like a pop up. It’s a full-screen recommendation showcasing your new release and inviting listeners to check it out.
In comparison to other ad platforms, Marquee has gotten a couple bad reviews. Some advertisers have been public about their concerns, claiming that other social ads are more cost effective.
Recent changes to Marquee could be in response to the criticism. These changes bring better access for artists, better costs and advanced targeting options that expose your music to new potential audiences. Further aligning Marquee with Showcase.
Marquee is only available to artists in Australia, Canada, US, UK and France. To be eligible artists need a minimum of 5K streams over the last 28 days or more than 1K followers in at least one of the target markets
For more detailed information about Marquee campaigns check out Spotify’s official support article,
Spotify for Artists, Showcase
Showcase is another Campaign Kit tool for promoting your latest or previously released music with a headline. It’s visible at the top of Spotify’s Home.
With Marquee artists are limited to pushing new releases but Showcase allows you to continue pushing music already in your catalog. Giving your old tracks new exposure.
This is one of the newer features available through Spotify for Artists so I haven’t had a lot of experience running them myself. I’m told they perform well and plan to utilizing Showcase in my next campaign.
Currently, Showcase campaigns are available to the US only and require a minimum of 1K streams in 28 days from at least one of the targeted markets.
For more detailed information about Showcase campaigns check out Spotify’s official support article,
Social Media Marketing (Paid & Organic)
In today’s digital landscape, social media is almost mandatory for any marketing strategy.
Whether you focus on an organic or paid strategy, using social media to grow your audience and connect with listers can have a drastic impact on your streaming numbers.
Running Paid Advertising On Social Media
Using social media platforms to advertise is another way to drive traffic to your Spotify artist page, playlists or latest release. Meta, Google, TikTok, even LinkedIn offer advanced targeting to help you reach potential listeners, brands or record executives.
The better understanding you have of your audience (analytics) the cheaper it is to reach the right people. This is where the analytics data comes into play. Providing you haven’t spent any money on fake streams or followers, your analytics data will invaluable.
Target your ads to show to the specific audiences who already respond to your music. When using any advertising platform it’s not a bad idea to try built-in optimization features for targeting.
Organic Social Media Strategy
Organic basically means you’re not paying for it but that doesn’t necessarily means it’s free. The amount of time needed to make it happen is an investment and serious commitment.
Creating an organic strategy is a lot more complex than running paid ads. It’s not about posting cool pics, its about content that helps push an artist towards their end goal, in this case more streams.
Sometimes its a simple plan, like encouraging your followers to listen on Spotify or making use of promo cards, codes and simple calls to action in your caption or bio.
More serious artists will plan calendars and strategically drop content to build hype for a release or grow their audience.
Regardless of your approach to strategy, make sure your consistent and using the right platform to reach your target audience.
PR & Blogs
PR is an older term, meaning public relations. The term was popularized pre-internet, when dealing with press, print, broadcast and TV were the primary means of reaching people.
In today’s environment public relations is more important than ever. Digital PR extends to include blogging, influencers, social media and digital reputation management.
Some distributors like Ditto or United Masters offer services to help artists with getting on playlists, editorials or traditional radio.
Press Releases & EPKs
A press release is your official statement regarding your next project that you send out to anybody in the media you can. It’s purpose is to inform, create an official statement, or for announcements meant for the public.
An electronic press kit or EPK is a strategic resume or pitch deck that helps communicate the highlights and important information about your career to record labels, managers, booking agents, blogs, brands, journalists, or investors.
Every time you drop new music, have a professional press release and updated EPK ready to go.
Working With Blogs.
Traditional blogging has lost a bit of it’s shine compared to social media. A few years ago, it was that blogs that pushed the music to new audiences.
Finding active blogs, like finding independent playlists requires some work.
Build another list with all the contact information you can. Networking, engaging with social media profiles or cold emailing are some of the ways you can begin to establish relationships with blogs.
Email & SMS List Building
One of the most powerful tools an independent artist or label can have at their disposal is an email or sms list. This is one of the tactics that made Nipsey Hussle’s proud to pay movement so effective. He had direct access to a list of supporters. When his mixtapes dropped, he sent off an email and text to a line up of people waiting to spend.
Multiplatinum selling producer Ryan Leslie has been outspoken about the power of SMS marketing.
Souljah Boy might have even done the SMS thing first, when he released his actual phone number on a song and allowed fans from all over the world to text him directly.
There’s a long list of services that offer free to low cost methods of collecting emails or phone numbers, some with automations, analytics and integrations with other popular platforms.
If you want to go big with SMS marketing and connect to fans on a deeper level, check out Community. I’ve been lucky enough to utilize the platform for projects in the past. Using Community lead to incredible engagement and enabled us to build a list that still converts 3 years later.
Street Team Marketing
Back in the 1990s-2000s record labels would put contact information inside the artwork of CDs and mixtapes looking for people to join their street teams. They would ship marketing materials to the people who signed up and let them hit the streets with it.
This helped maximize word of mouth marketing and establishing genuine connections with real world people. Fans felt involved in the artists process, even career and the labels were building a (mailing) list of people eager to support the artists next release.
Back when Tory Lanez was on the come up, he was literally all over the city of Toronto, meeting people, telling them how famous he was going to be and handing out his music. If you hung around any of the malls in those days there was a good chance you bumped into him.
Plan a trip to a mall in your city (or any city). Spend $50-$100 and print up some business cards with your Spotify code, social links and contact info. Spend the day introducing yourself, talk to people about your music and get them to scan that code or take a card. Do this for an entire weekend, or every weekend in a new city.
Plan ahead to document the entire thing and produce content for social media or stream it live to your fans.
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