Questions about Spotify for artists

[bandard]

So, i made some music and was thinking on uploading them in Spotify but the info is a little bit confusing.

If I am right, you can´t upload music if it is not trough a distributor. Is there any other way as an independat starting musician to upload them without that?

I read in the FAQ that musicians get paid for each stream of their songs but then i read that once a user listens to "my music" once in a 28 days period it won´t account for more than that: one time. Is this right? If someone listens to one of my songs several days in the 28 period I only get paid for one time? Does this applies to all my songs, or it accounts for each song-I mean: he listens to 10 of my songs in different days of that period and I only get paid for one of the songs and only one time for that period? Maybe I am getting it wrong and it all refers to the stats...

What about listeners with familiy accounts? If one of the users of that account listens to one of my songs, will that tagg the whole account as listener for one stream regardless the times or number of songs that family plays them?

I have also read that payments do not reach musicians until maybe three or more months later. Does this depend on the distributor or from Spotify?

Also, I think the information of Spotify for artists is a little bit short. Maybe a longer guide would be nice.

Thanks in advance

[Bethany_Dawn]

Hi @bandard and welcome to the Community! 🙂

Yes, you are correct that you would need a distributor/authorized company to add your music to the service. There is a helpful FAQ with some dist. services Spotify recommends under "How Do I Get My Music On Spotify"

You would be working with the one you chose as to what content is uploaded and to collect royalty distributions.

As for your other concern, I am not sure I understand it entirely...
But as for how Stats are counted - each song played for a continuous 30+ seconds is counted as 1 stream. No matter how many times a user streams a song, each continuous 30+ seconds will count as a stream stat. 

There's some more FAQ listed here for stats that you may find interesting.

I hope some of this is helpful and can make your decision a little easier. Feel free to explore the whole Spotify for Artists website or reply with any concerns and I will do my best to help.

Have a great day and best of luck in your musical journey! 😄

[Buí43]

I had these questions too , we started using distrokid and they are pretty helpful you are able to collect after about a 1 month and they will store your earnings until you want to collect them. 

Here's a referal code incase you decide to use them-it get's you 7 percent off. 

https://distrokid.com/vip/seven/698284

They have worked out great for us but obviously do your own research to be sure. 

Cheers!

[bandard]

So, If i get this right: each stream of songs for 30 seconds or more is accounted and you get paid for each, even if the listener streams the same song several days in the same period.

The doubt comes from this paragraph of the FAQ :

"Who are my listeners?

Listeners are unique listeners who stream your songs during the time period specified. If someone plays your music multiple times in the displayed time period, they only get counted once."

I think it talks about the stats, but not about the payment for each stream: same user likes my songs and plays several of them in different days of the same period and I get paid for each of his streams and each song, not only for one in the 28 period for this user, ain´t it?

Thanks again!

[bandard]

---

@Buí43 wrote:

I had these questions too , we started using distrokid and they are pretty helpful you are able to collect after about a 1 month and they will store your earnings until you want to collect them. 

Here's a referal code incase you decide to use them-it get's you 7 percent off. 

https://distrokid.com/vip/seven/698284

They have worked out great for us but obviously do your own research to be sure. 

Cheers!

---

Thanks for the info. Will check it out!

[Bethany_Dawn · Accepted solution]

Hi again, @bandard ! 🙂
Yes, you've got it! The actual stream counts will always be separate from the Users that are counted.
For example - I can put  1 song on repeat all day long. Each time that song hits the 30+ sec mark it counts as 1 stream play for that artist. However, my unique user will only be counted as 1 listener for that band's total.
So if the band shows they have 1000 monthly listeners, I am counted only once in that rolling time period.
But I can stream them infinitely and that song is counted for as many times it was actually played.

The distributor you choose will make sure you receive the royalties for each song streamed for as many times as it was streamed. 
Hope this clears it all up, but don't hesitate to reply if not.

Have a great one! 🙂

[bandard]

Nice! Thanks for the quick reply!

[BulletLove]

Hi. I'm an artist and I upload my music to Spotify with Distrokid. I highly recommend using it. It's cheap, accessible and you get paid. Here's a link if you want to check it out. It also contains a 7% discount on your first year.
https://distrokid.com/vip/seven/833066

[brucechamoff]

Hello Spotify Artist Support,

I have seen several posts on the Spotify Community board about artists losing monthly listeners or the monthly listeners not going up when we know there are visits to our music, playlists, etc.

I have several questions below, but here is my situation:

I have 57 original songs in 5 albums and singles. 20 of my songs are on a playlist. I am directing a new Facebook ad to this playlist of my original music.

My Facebook ad stats tell me that over 200 people clicked on my ad in the last 24 hours. Some from the US, Italy, and Australia.

However, my monthly listeners have not increased. Also, my Spotify For Artist reports no extra monthly listeners from any of those countries. How can this be?

I have read the FAQs on the 28-day rolling window of listens, but I also read that the number of monthly listeners changes on a day to day basis within the 28 day rolling window.

I feel like I am wasting money on Facebook ads, because my monthly listeners are not budging.

My questions are:

1. Can I get an increase in monthly listeners from a playlist with several of my songs?

2. Do people actually have to hit the play button for a specific song in order for it to register as a listen and increase the monthly listeners?

3. Is there a specific number of seconds of play time that each song needs in order for it to register as a monthly listener (like YouTube registers a view after 30 seconds)?

4. How long does it for the number of monthly listeners to increase after a new monthly listener has hit the play button for the first time?

Thanks for your help.

Bruce

Bruce 

[Kiril]

Hi @brucechamoff ,

Thanks for reaching out in the Community!

We understand that you need a detailed info regarding the functionalities of your artist profile. As here in the Community we're focused more on helping users with subscription accounts, the best thing to do is to contact folks at our Spotify for Artists help center. Feel free to reach out to them to get the right answers 🙂

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

[TackEm]

Hello, a quick question. Does anyone know if the same listener is counted for each song or for an artist? I mean that if a listener listens to one of my songs and then the following week this same listener listens to another of my songs will it be counted as 2 listeners (1 for each song) or as 1 only? I hope it's the first solution but I have a doubt, thank you