Tag: Spotify Success

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Expands Artist Wrapped Offerings

Spotify Royalty Rate 2020

Spotify’s year-end festivities continue to astound and amaze with exciting new data insights now available to artists worldwide.

It’s that time of year again. While you are wondering what you’re going to buy the people in your life for the holidays and how you will afford it, Spotify users are busy devouring their annual ‘Wrapped’ content. The long-running feature presents data about user behavior over the past twelve months through a series of colorful and easily sharable infographics. Users can learn their top artists, songs, and what genres they play most often. They also learn what song they played the most, as well as how many times it was played.

But subscribers are not the only ones who benefit from Wrapped. This week, Spotify for Artists launched its annual 2021 Artist Wrapped microsite, presenting artists with a custom experience and share card showcasing their success on Spotify over the past year. 


Artists can log in or sign up for Spotify for Artists to view their share card and microsite experience, now available in 31 languages. Sample highlights you might remember from years past include… 

  • Total hours streamed
  • Increases in followers, total listeners, streams, or playlist adds
  • Total number of top listeners
  • Total number of fans sharing the artist’s profile, albums, and songs
  • Info showing the journey of an artist’s top track: Number of streams, how it traveled around the world, the day when it had the most listeners at the same time, playlist adds, and more 

As well as some new bells and whistles, like:

  • Audio Aura, a visualization of an artist’s songs based on the moods, genre, and sounds associated with their music
  • Throwback Track that showcases an artist’s top catalogue track that is still going strong
  • All of the artist’s listed collaborators 

Since its inception in 2017, Artist Wrapped has become a moment that artists and fans alike look forward to all year and it has seen tremendous growth since its launch:

  • The number of monthly active Spotify for Artists users during the Artist Wrapped time period increased by 670% (more than 7x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Traffic to Spotify for Artists on the day of Artist Wrapped launch increased 933% (more than 10x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Visits to the Artist Wrapped microsite increased 1381% (more than 14x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Shares to social media from the Artist Wrapped microsite have increased by 285% since 2018.

Spotify also has Wrapped Share Cards available for podcasters who share their shows through the popular platform. A quick glance at the data available to us for High Notes, our recovery podcast, found massive growth over the last 12 months. Thank you.

Categories
News

Spotify Expands Its Promo Share Cards For Artists

Less than a year after launch, Spotify’s Promo Card tool is getting a major update that should help artists everywhere celebrate major career milestones.

Last fall, Spotify for Artists launched its Promo Card microsite, allowing creators to easily generate eye-catching, shareable social media assets to share with their fans on social media — including graphics to promote an artist, their songs, their album, or when they’re added to some of Spotify’s most popular playlists.  With hundreds of thousands of cards having been downloaded and shared thus far, it’s clear the Promo Card feature is popular among artists worldwide.

This week, Spotify is expanding the tool with some of the top requested features for artists including Promo Cards when they reach the Top 50 of the Top Global Weekly Songs chart, when they achieve a certain number of Spotify followers (1k, 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 500k, 1M, 2M, 5M, 10M, 20M, 25M, 50M, and 100M), as well as when they’re added to 30 new playlists including African Heat, K-Pop Daebak, Oyster, and Punjabi 101 (in addition to the 35 made available last fall). Additionally, the microsite will now be available in French, following the Spanish, Portugese, and German versions made available last year. 

Here’s an example of the cards in action:

Spotify is constantly expanding its tools for musicians. While some of the updates may seem silly or pointless, studies show that utilizing these features often leads to more streams and new listeners. That may be due to people loving things like Canvas, a looping video feature, or maybe it’s because the platform’s algorithm rewards the use of Spotify’s numerous features. We can’t be sure, so you might as well try everything and see what happens.

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Will Not Offer Penny Per Stream Royalties To Artists

Following massive global protests at the company’s many offices, Spotify has responded to demands that they make a significant increase to their per-stream royalty payments.

Artists everywhere rely on streaming revenue to pay their bills. That is more true now than at any other point in time. With touring still on hold for most of the world, streaming revenue makes up the bulk share of an artist’s earnings from recorded music. Demand for higher royalty rates will probably always exist, but recently, one such demand actually received a response from the leading music streaming service.

In March, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) organized the protests for higher royalty rates and additional transparency, including a demonstration outside of Spotify’s World Trade Center offices. Many individuals turned up at the latter event, photos and footage show, with the vast majority of the participants appearing to have either played an instrument or carried a sign.

Among the many demands being made, the loudest and most widely shared is a drastic increase in per-stream royalty payments. The current model offers musicians roughly $0.004 per stream, which many believe is too low. Artists present at the protest want that rate raised to $0.01 per stream. It’s a rate anyone can understand, but it would mean a significant hit to the streaming giant’s revenue.

In a response to UMAW, Spotify denied the request. 

The UMAW detailed the company’s formal follow-up in a lengthy chain of tweets, indicating first: “Spotify has issued a response attempting to address some of our demands. We are pleased that Spotify has recognized the legitimacy of UMAW and the artists around the world who are demanding better payment and treatment.

The union’s response continues: “However, Spotify has failed to meet any of our demands. The company consistently deflects blame onto others for systems it has itself built, and from which it has created its nearly $70 billion valuations.”

Spotify also responded with the launch of a new site aimed at increasing transparency. That site — Loud And Clear — provides insights into how the company works and how many artists earn a livable wage through the platform. 

Categories
Artist Advice Editorials Industry News News

What Artists Can Learn From DaBaby’s Success [Video]

After two straight years of radio and streaming success, DaBaby has created a blueprint for artists that everyone should follow.

It’s hard to find a more public figure in music than DaBaby. With almost half a dozen releases in a two-year span, not including guest verses and high-profile appearances, the North Carolina rapper turned superstar is a staple of pop culture conversation. He’s achieved a level of success where every single makes an immediate chart appearance, and every artist looking for attention asks for his help. In essence, he is the go-to creative for anyone trying to capture the pop and hip-hop spotlight.

But DaBaby did not reach his current level of success overnight. There was no singular event or track that catapulted the rapper from underground sensation to platinum-selling star. DaBaby’s achievements were earned over time, and it took years of scattershot marketing efforts to find an approach that could create a lasting impact. His tireless work ethic and constant fan engagement are now ushering in a new standard for artists in all genres that may seem insurmountable at first but is entirely within reach.

In the latest Music Biz update, host James Shotwell breaks down the four key elements of the DaBaby’s success and what other musicians can learn from each. He examines how transparency, storytelling, and thinking strategically about the streaming era of consumption make a difference in an artist’s career trajectory. He also touches on experimentation and how constant reinvention can hold the attention of increasingly distracted consumers. 

Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Reveals Creative Marketplace for Canvas Looping Artwork

Spotify is doubling-down on its latest listener engagement tool with a marketplace to connect artists and creatives from around the world.

One of the big questions facing Spotify and other music streaming platforms is how to raise engagement. With most platforms having the same catalog as every other streaming service, companies like Spotify are searching for creative ways to attract and keep new users. They also want to give artists something other services don’t offer to encourage musicians to prioritize sharing links to their platform.

Enter Canvas. The Spotify-exclusive feature allows musicians to add 3-8 second looping video clips to their song streams. These clips play on mobile devices alongside music streams, and Spotify’s data points show they play a big role in raising overall engagement. When songs have a Canvas, listeners are…

  • 145% more likely to share the track
  • 5% more likely to keep streaming
  • 20% more likely to add the song to their personal playlists
  • 9% more likely to visit an artists’ profile page

But there is a problem. While most artists have access to Canvas, not everyone has the talent to make interesting clips. Spotify hopes to solve this with the introduction of a new marketplace that connects musicians with designers, which is rolling out today (November 19).

A post on the company blog reads:

SoundBetter is the world’s premier music production marketplace. It’s where singers, producers, songwriters, session musicians, and mixing and mastering engineers go to buy and sell the collaborative services that make music come to life.

Now, as Spotify for Artists expands access to Canvas – enabling even more artists to add mesmerizing looping visuals to their tracks – we’re also expanding SoundBetter’s offering to include a Canvas designer category. So, instead of scouring the internet for a graphic designer to work with, now you can go to SoundBetter to find the right designer for your Canvas creation needs.

Categories
News

New Spotify Tool Pays Artists Less For More Promotion [VIDEO]

Boasting the promise of greater algorithmic consideration, the latest Spotify tool appears to be a modern ‘Pay 2 Play’ scheme.

On Monday, November 2, Spotify announced a new tool for artists that promises preferential algorithmic treatment for songs dubbed ‘priority.’ That is all good and well, as most artists would love more people to hear their music platform. However, the offer comes with a MAJOR catch.

“In this new experiment, artists and labels can identify music that’s a priority for them, and our system will add that signal to the algorithm that determines personalized listening sessions,” the statement reads. “This allows our algorithms to account for what’s important to the artist.”

Every song marked as priority will have a lower royalty rate. Artists will make less money per stream for songs that participate in Spotify’s new program. That’s a significant problem when you consider that the company typically only pays $0.004 per stream (on average).

To quote the company:

“Labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalized listening sessions where we provided this service.”

The company also adds that the new program “won’t guarantee placement to labels or artists.”

In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell breaks down Spotify’s latest offer. He weighs the pros and cons of participation in the ‘priority track’ promotion and what this development tells us about the company’s future. Check it out:

Learn more by subscribing to our YouTube Channel.

Just last week, over 4,000 independent artists in the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers presented a new campaign demanding that Spotify pay at least one cent per stream, among other requests for a more equitable streaming environment. “Music workers create all of the enormous wealth Spotify accumulates for its CEO, its investors, and the major labels,” the Union wrote in an open letter. “But we artists continue to be underpaid, misled, and otherwise exploited by the company.”

Categories
News

Spotify’s New Tool Revolutionizes Music Podcasts (And It’s Free)

Spotify’s efforts to become the premier platform to listen, discover, and create podcasts just took a giant leap forward.

Spotify just reinvented music podcasts. Starting last week, users worldwide can create podcasts using Anchor that includes music from the Spotify library. The music is available to creators without licensing fees, but artists will make money from the use. It’s a first of its kind development that stands to create a boom of new content for the popular streaming platform.

Anchor, which Spotify acquired in February 2019, is a podcast creation and distribution platform that is free to use. With a few clicks, anyone can upload and share their recordings with the world. The new feature, available in numerous countries, allows creators to add full songs from anyone with music on Spotify without fear of copyright claims or expensive licensing costs.

But there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

Shows featuring music from the Spotify library will only be available to Spotify users. That may frustrate some creators, but it’s a genius decision for Spotify corporate. The company is encouraging boundless creativity while still keeping the final product of that creativity within its ecosystem. As a result, more creators will move shows or make new ones exclusive to Spotify, and Spotify will have a constant stream of new content for its massive community of users to consume. All this, plus the fact musicians will make money any time people stream podcasts with their music, makes this development a winning combination for everyone!

In this Music Biz 101 update, host James Shotwell breaks down the newest Spotify development and the many ways it can potentially help artists everywhere get ahead while earning money. Check it out:

For more music industry news and advice, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Launches Tool for Artists and Creator To Make Promo Cards

Spotify promo cards make it easy for creators everywhere to make eye-catching sharable content that brings more listeners to their content.

Starting today, creators — both musical artists and podcasters — can easily generate Spotify promo cards to share with their fans on social media. Available through Spotify for Artists and Spotify for Podcasters microsites, creators can customize and share graphics featuring their artist profile, track, album, podcast, or episode. Additionally, the sites will allow creators to download special promo cards to share when they’ve been added to any of 33 of Spotify’s most popular music & podcast playlists. 

The microsite for artists is HERE and the one for podcasters is HERE. The feature is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German at launch. More language options are expected in the months to come.

A post on the Spotify For Artists blog outlines how the new tool works:

Introducing Promo Cards, easily customizable graphics that you can create to share with your fans to promote yourself, your songs, your album, or when you’re featured on some of our most popular playlists*. All you have to do is go to artists.spotify.com/promocards to get started. There’s no log-in required and the site is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Once you’re there, you can create your custom Promo Cards in three simple steps:

SELECT: Search for the content you want to promote. You can share your artist profile, a track, or an album. If one of your songs has been playlisted, you’ll see the option to share a customized Promo Card in the search results for the track.

CUSTOMIZE: How do you want fans to see the image? Will it be square, horizontal, or portrait? You can choose the aspect ratio and background color from a palette of complementary options.

SHARE: Download your new creation and upload it wherever you like with the link to your content the site generates. You can also choose one of the direct share options on the site to post it to social media.

Now, without having to spend time resizing and cropping you’ve created something fans can share to help spread the word about you and your music. And if you’re a podcaster (or if you guest on a podcast you want to help promote), we have Spotify for Podcasters Promo Cards available too.


*Playlists eligible for Promo Cards: African Heat, Are & Be, Esquenta Sertanejo, Exitos Espana, Fresh Finds, Future Hits Latin, Hot Country, Hot Hits Australia, Hot Hits Canada, Hot Hits UK, Indigo, Just Good Music, Lorem, Mansion Reggaeton, Modus Mio, mint, Most Necessary, New Boots, New Music Friday, RADAR, Pegao, POLLEN, Pop Rising, Rap Caviar, Rock This, Roots Rising, The New Alt, The Newness, Today’s Top Hits, Top Hits Deutschland, Top Hits Portugal, Viva Latino

Podcasters will follow similar steps for content creation.

All you have to do is go to podcasters.spotify.com/promocards to get started. There’s no log-in required and the site is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Once you’re there, you can create your custom Promo Cards in three simple steps:

SELECT: Search for the content you want to promote. You can share your show’s profile or an episode. If one of your episodes has been playlisted, you’ll see the option to share a customized Promo Card in the search results for the show or episode.

CUSTOMIZE: How do you want listeners to see the image? Will it be square, horizontal, or portrait? You can choose the aspect ratio and background color from a palette of complementary options.

SHARE: Download your new creation and upload it wherever you like with the link to your content the site generates. You can also choose one of the direct share options on the site to post it to social media.

Now, without having to spend time resizing and cropping, you’ve created something listeners can share to help spread the word about your podcast. And if you’re an artist (or if you guest on a podcast you want to help promote), we have Spotify for Artists Promo Cards available too.

*Playlists eligible for Promo Cards: Best Podcasts of the Week, Brain Snacks, and Crime Scene

Categories
Industry News News

Calculating Spotify’s Per Stream Payout is Harder Than You Think

The most popular streaming service on the planet has a bad reputation when it comes to paying artists, and the math speaks for itself.

No one denies the need for artists to make a livable wage. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that musicians cannot rely on tour revenue to stay afloat. Fans are often encouraged to buy music because it helps more than streaming, but who amongst us listens to physical media regularly? Opening Spotify on our phone or computer is easy, and more often than not, the easiest method of consumption is the one consumers prefer.

The per stream royalty rate at Spotify is mystery. Visit ten websites claiming to know the exact amount offered to musicians and you’re likely to find ten different answers, each more worrisome than the last. The reason for the confusion is in the math.

Spotify does not pay a flat rate per stream. Major labels and artists in a position to negotiate may get one price, but people using distribution platforms-which accounts for the vast majority of musicians on the platform-get another. The streaming company also factors in the total amount of plays on the platform in a specific timeframe against how many streams an artist receives during that time. So getting 100 plays in Q1 of 2020 could easily prove more or less valuable than 100 plays in Q2.

The two biggest factors, however, are listener type and location? Streams from premium users pay more than streams from listeners using the platform’s ad-supported tier. For example, streams from the United States pay more than streams from India because subscription rates and advertising levels are comparatively higher in the U.S.

Of course, Spotify doesn’t offer data related to the rates in each region or how payouts for streams from premium users compare to payouts from those using the ad-support free tier. Musicians, labels, and industry analysts often say they should, but Spotify has no reason to do so unless forced.

After gaining access to streaming payouts from multiple indie artists over the last six months, we’ve found that Spotify is paying, on average, between $.003 and $.005 (one-third of a penny to one-half of a penny) for each stream. Again, that number is likely higher for artists on major labels and other industry companies who have unique deals with the streaming giant. In some cases, that number could be much smaller. For example, premium subscribers from Indonesia pay roughly $3.51 per month for the service, so streams from that region earn less for musicians than streams from Denmark (where people spend more than $14 per month).

To put that figure into perspective, let’s consider that the minimum wage in the United States is defined at the federal level as being $7.25 an hour, which amounts to an annual salary of $15,080.40 when based on a full-time, 40-hour workweek. With an average payout of $0.004 per stream, solo artists need 3,770,100 Spotify streams to earn that amount. That figure is much higher for groups, especially when you factor in label splits, songwriter payouts, and management cuts.

The question now is what can we do? Streaming is here to stay, and even though growth may be slowing in certain regions, the fact remains that we now live in a digital world of on-demand listening that won’t be reverting to physical media consumption for anything less than an act of God.

Artists wishing for better pay need to band together. Not just on a national level, but internationally as well. The problem with streaming royalties effects musicians from all walks of life in every style of music. Just 10% of artists account for more than 3/4 of the total payouts, which means most creatives are earning next to nothing. That cannot continue, or at least, it should not. But who will be the first to take a stand, and what will make corporations like Spotify listen?

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Launches Real-Time Lyrics Feature in 26 Countries

The streaming giant is taking steps to make users better at karaoke with a new feature that will help fans everywhere learn their favorite songs.

Last November, Spotify began testing a new tool that would offer listeners access to song lyrics in real-time. The company has remained tight-lipped about the effort, but this week, the feature is being made available in 26 countries. It marks the first time lyrics have been offered in 22 of the 26 markets, as only Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico had some form of lyrics support in the past via other providers.

The new feature is possible thanks to a partnership between Spotify and Musixmatch, which was also involved in testing. The terms of the deal between the two companies are not public, but it’s probably similar to the ongoing collaboration between Apple Music and Genius.

Spotify listeners can access the new feature by tapping “lyrics” at the bottom of the “now playing” screen. The lyrics will then appear in the language in which the song is sung—no word about translation.

The following markets can now access the new lyrics feature: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

North America and Europe will need to wait a bit longer for the new feature, but we imagine the tool will be available in the near future.

Exit mobile version