Industry news & advice blog

This article originally appeared on the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance blog. ICMP, based in London, has been developing and delivering music education and training to students of contemporary music for over 30 years.


Spotify is one of the leading platforms driving the take up of digital and music streaming. As a consumer, it means you have thousands of tracks at your finger-tips, but as an artist, how can you use it to boost your career? We heard from Spotify’s Drew Lam on his essential advice for unlocking the potential of the platform for music creators...


Get Spotify for Artists

This is the first thing you need to do on Spotify. Gain control of your artist page, get verified and start build your brand as soon as you can. Visit Spotify For Artists.


Then use your artist page wisely

This is your home on Spotify. You can add banner and header images, social links, a compelling bio, ticketing apps so you can include links to your next gig and sell merch through it too.

"Think about it like you’re doing a dinner party for your fans ever day. Releases are food. Your playlists and merch are the drinks you serve to your guests. Without either of these people aren’t going to come."

Previously you’d have to leave your house to sell your music but with this, everything is in one place.


Connect with your fans

How do you build a following? The follow button is all important for new artists. Every week Spotify sends out millions of emails informing the people that follow you about your new music, any gigs, special merch or fan first events. We’re always thinking about ways in which artists can connect with their fans…

We urge you to build your following. This maximises your chances of getting in our Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists. These are powerful tools, organic playlists which connect your music with the right fans.


Use social to drive traffic to your artist page

"Think about a cohesive social media strategy and have clear calls to action on social. Embed your follow button on your artist, label and management social profiles."

Keep your fans excited

In the music industry, we’re no longer working in a retail model. It’s all about grabbing attention. Then, once you have it in the form of traffic coming to your website constantly, then you need to keep them engaged.

For example, a good way of doing so is by curating your own artist playlist, showing your influences and inspirations. It’s an extension of your brand and helps listeners understand more about your music and where it comes from.


Measure your noise

You need to assess your analytics. So use Spotify for Artists to see who’s listening. You can track your progress, how many listeners you had in the last month, how many times have people listened to your songs and much, much more.

The data also shows top cities and allows you to route tours more efficiently to ensure you play to your audience. You can see the size of the audience in each city which allows you to work out what size venue to book.

We believe that if you understand your artist at a deeper level, then you’ll be able to make better decisions about your career.


Use Spotify resources

The artist pick feature is next to the ‘latest release’ section and the first thing you see on your artist page. You can pin what you like in there.

There’s a new playlist pitching tool which allows you to submit your music for consideration in playlists too. Visit artists.spotify.com

ALSO READ:

Advice for moving up & not sliding off a popular playlist

Spotify share their advice on making the most of Spotify For Artists

How to get your music playlisted on streaming services