Today's music industry moves quickly, and independent artists are on the rise, making it difficult to differentiate out. One of the top music streaming services in the world, Spotify, realized this issue and unveiled a creative solution called Discovery Mode. Spotify understands that each artist has a unique story to tell, a distinctive style to share, and a specific demographic they want meaningful connections with.
If you're an independent artist looking for another great Spotify promotion tool, this article is for you.
A Guide for New Rising Artists:
As a new rising artist, from Indie artists to R&B artists, gaining exposure and expanding your fan base is crucial for your musical journey. Fortunately, Spotify provides a strong marketing tool called Discovery Mode that can help you increase your visibility and reach more people. We'll look at how it functions in this blog post, as well as how you can use it to promote your music and attract new listeners.
Spotify claims that this new technology leads to 16 billion new artist discoveries each month on its platform, with radio and autoplay features accounting for 33% of those discoveries.
How does Discovery Mode work?
Spotify Discovery Mode is a feature within the Spotify for Artists profile that enables artists and labels to promote their music to a broader audience and gain more streams. By participating in Discovery Mode, your songs gain increased visibility within Spotify's recommendation algorithms, increasing the chances of your music appearing in personalized playlists and recommendations, ultimately exposing it to a larger number of listeners.
spotify discovery mode works using sophisticated algorithms. These algorithms are the driving force behind the platform's ability to suggest songs, artists, and playlists that align with a user's musical preferences. The algorithms consider a plethora of factors to curate these recommendations, such as the listener's listening history, favorite genres, liked tracks, skipped tracks, and even the time of day they are most active on the platform.
This new marketing tool learns and adapt over time, continuously refining their understanding of a user's taste. For instance, if you're a fan of indie rock and frequently listen to bands like Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes, Spotify's algorithm will recognize this preference and introduce you to similar artists you might not have discovered otherwise. Algorithmic playlists might include your music based on your song genre and your tracks statistics.
Getting Started with Spotify for Artists:
To access Spotify's new feature, you'll need to claim your artist profile on Spotify for Artists (incase you haven't dont this already). It's a personal profile page on Spotify that provides you with valuable insights, management tools, and promotional features. Verify your identity and connect your music to start utilizing all the benefits it offers.
Setting Up a Discovery Mode Campaign:
Once you have access to Spotify for Artists, navigate to the Promote tab and access discovery mode. Here, you can set a budget and duration for your promotional campaign. Determine the amount you're willing to allocate to Discovery Mode, keeping in mind that costs can vary based on targeting options and regions.
Defining Your Target Audience:
You may use Spotify to target your campaign to particular audiences based on characteristics like location, age, gender, and musical preferences. It's crucial to comprehend your target market and choose parameters that are compatible with your music's genre and intended audience.
As an independent artist, reaching the right people increases the chances of connecting with engaged fans and new audiences on Spotify and other platforms like Youtube and Apple Music.
Submitting and Monitoring Your Campaign:
After configuring your campaign settings, submit it for review and approval by Spotify. They will ensure it complies with their guidelines and policies. Once approved, monitor the performance of your campaign through the Spotify for Artists dashboard. Some examples of track metrics are streams, more listeners, and engagement to gain insights into your campaign's effectiveness.
How Much Does It Cost?
The service does not have an upfront cost. If an artist enables Discovery Mode for a track, Spotify will levy a fee on streams of that song in sections of the platform where Discovery Mode is in effect. However, all streams of the same song in other parts of the platform are not subject to commission.
If listeners save your song, follow you, and then stream your music from your artist page, their library, or their personal playlists, you will receive your standard share of royalties.
Spotify has seen an average decrease of approximately 30% in artists’ royalties as a result of utilizing Discovery Mode. While a higher volume of streams can potentially offset this reduction, it is not guaranteed in every case. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully analyze your data and evaluate whether this tool aligns with your specific goals and requirements.
Maximizing Your Impact:
To enhance the impact of your Discovery Mode campaign, consider implementing additional strategies:
1. 1. Connect with Your fans and Audience through social media, email newsletters, or live performances. Encourage them to follow you on Spotify, save your songs, and share them with their friends.
2. Collaborate with other artists or influencers within your musical genre. This allows you to tap into their fan bases and reach new listeners. Additionally, cross-promote your music across different platforms and encourage fans to listen to your music on Spotify.
3. Create Engaging Content by developing compelling content that goes beyond just your music. Share stories, behind-the-scenes footage, and insights into your creative process. Engaging content helps you forge deeper connections with your following.
Are You Eligible For Discovery Mode?:
If you can see a Discovery Mode section in your Campaigns tab on Spotify for Artists, then you have access to this feature. You might be eligible for Discovery Mode if your artist team meets the following prerequisites:
1. If your Spotify for Artists team is registered in one of the countries: Australia, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, or the United States.
2. You have at least three tracks that abide by the track eligibility criteria
3. Your monthly listeners are at least 25,000. This size of the listeners performs the best with Discovery Mode.
To qualify for Discovery Mode, your song should:
1. Have a participating licensor as the distributor of the songs (currently Amuse, CD Baby, CmdShft, Dance All Day, DistroKid, Stem, UnitedMasters, Venice Music, and Vydia)
2. Be available on Spotify for more than 30 days
3. Have been streamed on Radio or Autoplay within the last seven days.
Spotify will continue to revise their eligibility standards to ensure product efficiency and will inform users with the latest details.
Logistics:
Discovery Mode is currently in its beta phase and is not yet accessible to all artists. However, Spotify is actively working and testing discovery mode to extend access to qualified artist teams.
Spotify's discovery mode, or Discover Weekly, uses a spotify algorithm machine learning to curate a personalized playlist for each user based on their listening habits. The algorithm considers factors such as the user's listening history, how often they skip songs, and what other users with similar listening habits are listening to.
Based on the data gathered from their initial test, it was discovered that utilization of Discovery Mode for a month leads to a 37% increase in followers for artists, a 50% surge in track saves, and a 44% increase in the frequency of songs added to playlists.
The playlist is updated every Monday with 30 new songs that the algorithm thinks the user will enjoy. Users can save songs from the playlist to their personal library or share them with friends.
Discovery Mode is designed to help users explore new music that they may not have found otherwise and keep them engaged with the streaming platform. Spotify has credited the function with helping to increase user engagement and retention.
Final Words:
Spotify Discovery Mode presents a fantastic opportunity for new rising artists to amplify their music and connect with a wider viewer base to get musicians' music heard around the world.
By using this powerful promotional tool can increase your visibility and sound, gain new fans, and take significant steps toward building a successful music career without being signed to a record label. Leverage Spotify for Artists, define your target listeners and create engaging content to maximize the impact of your Discovery Mode campaign.
Good luck.
For more information on How to get on Spotify playlists, visit our blog.
Read our blog post on how to get your song on the radio. Read how much does Spotify pays per stream in 2024