📑 Sections (7)

1. Spotify

Spotify for Artists, pitching, Canvas, Countdown Pages, Discovery Mode, verification, normalization, payment requirements and artificial streams.

Your music reaches Spotify through a distributor, and what you do goes through Spotify for Artists. It’s free, and it’s worth claiming your profile before your first release.

The tools

Free and useful from the first song

  • Pitch to editors: do it at least 7 days ahead. The song also reaches your followers’ Release Radar. No one can pay to get into editorial playlists.
  • Canvas: a looping 3 to 8 second video that accompanies the song on mobile.
  • Artist Pick: pins a release, concert or your merch to the top of your profile.
  • Countdown Pages: a pre-save page with a countdown. It’s best published at least 7 days ahead.
  • Stats: who listens to you, from where and how they arrived.

Paid or with requirements

  • Discovery Mode: pushes chosen songs in certain contexts. There’s no up-front payment, but it keeps a 30% commission of what’s generated there. It requires at least 25,000 monthly listeners and 3 eligible songs.
  • Marquee and Showcase: in-app ads, in Campaign Kit.

To get paid

According to Spotify:

  • A song needs 1,000 streams in the last 12 months and a minimum of unique listeners it doesn’t publish.
  • It’s reviewed each month, and each recording (ISRC) qualifies separately.
  • It only affects recording royalties, not composition royalties.
  • Your distributor pays you, not Spotify.

Loudness

According to its normalization guide, Spotify adjusts songs to −14 LUFS on playback, without touching your file. It recommends true peaks below −1 dB, and below −2 dB if the master is louder than −14 LUFS. So a −10 LUFS master is worth testing with that ceiling.

🟠 Better to set it now· in distribution

The pitch can only be made before release. The rest, like Canvas or stats, can be added at any time.

Verification and protection

  • Verified by Spotify: a badge indicating there’s a real person behind the music. It assesses rule compliance, profile authenticity and sustained activity. Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated artists don’t qualify.
  • Artist Profile Protection: lets you review releases credited to you before they enter your profile. According to Spotify, it was in beta and would reach all artists by the end of 2026.

Artificial streams

According to Spotify, streams detected as artificial earn no royalties and don’t count toward recommendations. Penalties can include removal from playlists or taking down the song, and since 2024 it charges labels and distributors for severe cases.

Quick path: Spotify

Quick path

  1. Upload with 3 or 4 weeks' margin.
  2. Claim your profile on Spotify for Artists.
  3. Add a photo and bio.
  4. Pitch at least 7 days ahead.
  5. Add a Canvas if you have a simple video.
  6. If your master is above −14 LUFS, try a −2 dBTP ceiling.
  7. Don't buy streams.

Expected result

Expected result

A complete profile in your name, with the song sent to editors before release. If they don’t choose it, it still reaches your followers. Next is the other big platform: Apple Music.