The way we listen to music has changed and shifted significantly throughout the years. From record players to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s, each decade has come with different ways to consume music. When it comes to modern times, the music industry is all about streaming services. It has become no secret that in 2022, all artists need to know how to upload music to Spotify. If you are not convinced yet, or if you are just getting started as an artist, here are six reasons that every musician should be on Spotify.
1. Increases Accessibility of Your Music
Over the past 15 years (approximately), the music industry has shifted almost entirely to streaming services. When people started subscribing to these streaming services, they became their primary means of listening to and discovering new music. The convenience of these services makes listening to any music that is not on these streaming services considered difficult to access. In the age of convenience, this likely means that people will forgo listening to your music if it becomes too difficult to access. If you want to get people listening to your music, you need to be on all of the major streaming services.
2. Curated Playlists
Spotify has hundreds of curated playlists that users can choose from. This is how many people are discovering new music or artists. If your music happens to pop up on a curated playlist, people who have never heard of you or your music will have your song right in front of them. If they happen to like that song, then they can click over to your entire catalog of music. This is likely to happen as doing so costs the user no additional money, unlike with mp3s. Once the user has shown interest in your music, you are more likely to keep popping up in discovery mode or on curated playlists. This is a major advantage of being a part of streaming services if you are looking for new ways to get your music out there.
3. Decrease in Piracy
One study in Norway revealed that piracy rates are down by more than 80 percent. Norway has the highest digital revenue per capita in the world thanks to the rise of legal alternatives like Spotify. Additionally, when Spotify launched in Australia, piracy rates dropped by 20 percent. Since its launch in North America, file sharing accounts for less than 10% of total daily traffic. This noticeable decrease in piracy with the addition of streaming services like Spotify makes it all the more important for your music to be included in streaming services.
4. Free Promotion Via Social Media
Services like Spotify have a way to share music on social media built right in. Hundreds of thousands of people share their favorite songs, playlists, and artists with their followers daily. Depending on the size of the following your music is being shared with; this could account for thousands of dollars in free advertising. Spotify also has an integration with sites like Facebook, which allows friends and followers a way to see what their friends are listening to at any given second. It can also go as far as to recommend nearby concerts to the people who are fans of or who follow your music. Promotions like this can make a huge difference to smaller artists and is reason enough to have your music on streaming sites.
5. Built-In Notifications
Spotify has a system to automatically generates notifications to anyone who follows your music. This way, your fans and followers will be notified automatically when you release new music. These notifications include email alerts, push mobile notifications, and activity feed recommendations. This helps keep users up to date, especially if you have a longer period of time between music releases.
6. Streaming Counts Towards Music Charts
Since 2012, on-demand audio streaming has been factored into the U.S. Billboard charts. If you want a fair shot at charting as an up-and-coming artist, you have to be on all of the major streaming services. This allows your fans to have more of a say in your standing than ever, as their listening habits directly influence the chart’s rankings.
Start Streaming Today
In modern times it has become more important than ever that musicians include their work on streaming services like Spotify. If you want to get your music out there and have a real shot at success in an over-saturated industry, you need to play the game. And in 2022, that game involves streaming services. Get your work on Spotify to help further your success as an artist today.
Check out: Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which One is the Best Music App?