How to get more streams on Spotify as a newcomer?

How do I generate more reach for my music on Spotify?

We show you in six simple steps how you can get more streams on Spotify as an unsigned artist.

INTRODUCTION:

Spotify generated revenue of about €7.88 billion in 2020 and had 165 million monthly active premium account users. It can be said that the entire streaming industry is growing from year to year. At the same time, your opportunities to raise your profile, generate fans and spread your music are also expanding. In the next six steps, we’ll explain how you can profit from the growing streaming market.  

• Upload your music to Spotify

To submit your music to Spotify, you can rely on numerous digital distributors. Most of the time, your song will be online on the most important platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or Amazon Music within a few days after the upload process and the costs are more than manageable. 

Some examples of digital distributors:

TuneCore

recordJet

igroove

believe.

spinnup

landr

• Spotify for Artists

At this point, it’s all about getting your profile verified. Your profile can be easily verified by claiming it to Spotify for Artists. 

Once you have completed this small step, you will receive the following benefits:

1. The blue checkmark, that makes your profile look more professional and authentic.
2. Access to the analytics tools on Spotify for Artists.
3. You have the possibility to upload pictures, add your biography or enter your tour dates.
4. You can submit your music to the editorial playlist curation team.
5. In general, it will help you to set up your profile on Spotify professionally.

• Build your own playlists on Spotify

Playlists have become an indispensable promotional tool in today’s world. Unfortunately, it is not very easy for small artists to get into the big editorial playlists of Spotify. Alternatively, you can start building playlists yourself.

Keep the following in mind when creating your own playlists:

1. Try to create playlists that fit you and your music, for example by placing artists from your genre in your lists.
2. Add variety and interaction by updating your playlists regularly.
3. Share your playlists on your social media to generate more reach and draw attention to them.
4. Create covers that match the moods of your playlists.

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• Submit your music to curators (Playlist pitching)

There are playlists in the millions on Spotify, created by algorithms, the Spotify editorial team, independent curators, and Spotify listeners. 

We have summarised some tips for you to get placed in playlists on Spotify:

1. Verify your artist profile
2. Submit unreleased music to the Spotify editorial team at least two weeks in advance
3. Submit your music to independent curators
4. Distribute your music through a label with well running playlists
5. Create your own playlists
6. Share your songs on your social media
7. Encourage your fans to follow you on Spotify
8. Publish only high quality music

Note: it will require a lot of work and perseverance from you if you want to get your songs into big playlists on your own. But don’t let that stop you, it’s worth a try.

• Promote your music on Spotify

You can take a shortcut and increase your streams by booking a promotional campaign. This will save you a lot of work. We will explain how a Spotify Playlist Promotion service provider works using BEFORE EIGHT as an example.

BEFORE EIGHT promotes songs with independent playlists. For this purpose, a network of curators is used to pitch your song. If the curator likes your song, it will be added to a playlist. All streams generated are organic and are generated by real listeners. Furthermore, your other interactions like safes, shares or monthly listeners will increase. This in turn makes Spotify’s algorithm more likely to notice you and add you to playlists like Discover Weekly. 

• Promote your music on social media 

Use all the popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to promote your music.

We have summarised a few tips:

1. Post the links to your new releases on Spotify on your social media
2. Generate a Spotify code, making it easier for users to share your music.
3. Keep your fans updated.
4. Parts stories that also give behind-the-scenes impressions. For example, you could show how you work in the studio or the everyday life as a musician.
5. Interact with your fans

We hope that with our 6 steps we could help you a little bit in promoting your music and that your streams will increase. Thanks for reading!