We spoke to Niklas from Spotify this week, as we have been getting lots of questions regarding Spotify payments. Its best to remember that all deals Spotify make with labels are individual , so they cant give out a definite figure. Unless you are a major label , you will only be getting the standard PRS rate per stream.

As a distributor, we pay the same to distribute your music to a site like Spotify as  somewhere like iTunes. We still have the content delivery charge, server charges and accounting fees, as well as the free barcoding, ISRC codes and ongoing support that we provide to all of our customers. The £2 per month free upload package is there so that we can get you on Spotify as cheaply as possible, whilst still covering our costs.

If anyone has any other questions, or would like to add to the discussion, just drop your comment at the bottom and we will do our best to advise you.

Jay Kerr

What do you think are the benefits for an unsigned artist being on Spotify?

Spotify users have access to one of the fastest growing catalogues of licensed music in the world. Music fans get to enjoy their favourite artists, showcased in a high-quality application that’s a delight to use. The net result is an unparalleled user experience and a compelling legal alternative to piracy. Artists who have their music on Spotify can spread their music, allowing fans to listen to it anytime, anywhere. By having your music on Spotify you earn a royalty when your music is played. Also, since all the music played is tracked – all participating labels and artists access powerful and in-depth reporting from Spotify.

In general , how much can an artist expect to receive for a play on Spotify, or is that deal between you and the labels.

We have deals with labels, collecting societies and publishers in our launch countries. We don’t know what deals individual artists have with their counterparty, thus contact them for more information.

Have you seen any success stories of artists being featured on Spotify and going on to greater things.

We have seen that some artists have early on been big on Spotify and later become successes. Glasvegas became huge on Spotify in Sweden, they found out where they had a lot of fans. Another example is an artist called Nomy who isn’t signed to a label, makes his own music at home and has become one of the 100 most played artists on Spotify. He can now live off his music. Power of the Internet

Do you have any advice for unsigned artists trying to get their music heard on Spotify, linking to similar artists etc?

Do what you do best – create great music! Share playlists with your friends, place Spotify URI/HTTP links to your music in your blog – be creative. There are many great online services where your music can be spread to music lovers, one is Spotify.

Niklas.

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