There are a huge selection of independent artists and all of us need to concentrate on one thing: gaining new fans! Yes, even significantly more than money, we want people to hear us and tell their friends about the mind-blowing new band they discovered. Getting our music put on Spotify is just a critical part of this process.
Unless you've been living on Cloud 9, you've heard of Spotify and its "freemium" service. You've also heard how Spotify has taken the social network by storm. Each time certainly one of my friends listens to a song, it appears on my Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, and whatever other social accounts I have; ex: "Hey! Nicklas just joined Spotify and paid attention to Weasel... " You receive the idea.
So although the amount of money you make per stream (per play) is less than the usual penny, the exposure potential is really worth it. And fortunately for indie artists like yourself, it's pretty easy to get your music onto Spotify Promotion for Artists.
At the moment, perhaps you are signed to a label. In that case, your music might be on Spotify already. When it isn't, call your rep and ask if they've uploaded your music to the service. If they haven't and you want them too, supply the order! (in a great way). Also, ensure they send Spotify your press kit loaded with a bio, photos, contact info and anything else which makes you stand out. Simple enough, right?!
If you are an unsigned artist, that's okay because there are a great deal of approaches to upload your music with no label. However, Spotify cannot negotiate with you directly. Why not? I'm sure it's one of the stipulations of the agreement with the majors. But the solution continues to be fairly simple. You will need to decide on a distributor like Tunecore, CDBaby or DittoMusic. I've written a review of these distributors in order to save a while and keep rehearsing.
Once you've created an account with a distributor or signed a tag agreement, your music will be uploaded onto Spotify within 4-6 weeks. But there is still work to be done, which leads us to:
Organic Spotify promotion doesn't always receive your awesome press kit, so just as a backup, create a profile at allmusic.com. Spotify will check for you personally there if they don't be given a bio.
Now that most the tedious stuff is done with, it's time for you to let your fans know Spotify will be sporting your tunes soon! Develop cool promo posts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Make a coupon video for the YouTube channel. Just had a sweet idea: write a song simply for your Spotify release and connect it to your posts! Ex: "Can't wait to see our fans on Spotify. We've recorded a song simply for you guys! Visiting your Spotify account soon!" Fans will eat it up!
Okay, there are certainly a handful of tedious items to accomplish still. No site is complete anymore without clickable logos. Once your music is on Spotify, download the service's logo at iconfinder.com. Next, look for your band profile on Spotify (several options will come up, including "Top Hit, Tracks, Playlists"... you wish to select the web link under "Artist"). While hovering over your artist profile, right click and select "Copy Spotify URI." Last, combine the URI with the Spotify logo by adding it to your website or blog sidewall by creating an "Image Widget."
Another hip promo you should use for Spotify is the "Spotify Play Button." This feature allows you to post songs on your website and blog. First, right click any song, album or playlist in Spotify you desire to promote and once more select "Copy Spotify URI."
For example, let's post this URI to your blog. Start your blog, write something to your hungry fans in html mode: ("We all know you guys want a sneak peak of our upcoming album. Here's the very first track for you personally! Share it with friends and family!"). Next, post the web link and put in a salutation.
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