How Spotify mastered marketing to artists

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming apps for listeners, but the platform also wants to be a hub for emerging artists. 

The app has attracted 345 million active users as of February and projects it will grow to over 400 million by the end of 2021. 

Spotify offers a free, ad-supported tier and a premium, ad-free membership for a monthly fee. Spotify’s Wrapped has also become an annual staple for users, offering cumulative stats on people’s personal listening habits. 

As consumption continues to increase, the platform wanted to ramp up marketing efforts for Spotify for Artists, a digital toolbox to help musicians share their music and connect with fans. The platform launched in a limited beta form in 2015 and expanded the offering to all artists in 2017. 

Spotify for Artists became even more crucial amid the pandemic. Artists’ incomes took a hit when live music and touring was put on pause, leading many to wonder how they would make their next paycheck. 

“The team dropped everything they were working on and started building some tools to help artists during this time,” Sam Duboff, director of creator product and brand marketing at Spotify, told Campaign US. 

Spotify began offering artists the ability to list virtual events on the platform. Spotify for Artists also launched the Artist Fundraising Pick, a feature that enables artists to spotlight a fundraising destination. Artists could ask fans to help raise money to support themselves, their bands and their crews on their Spotify artist profile via Cash App, GoFundMe or PayPal. 

The streaming platform continued to release new tools to help artists expand their fanbase. 

Spotify Promo Cards help artists create custom assets for songs, albums and artist profiles that can be shared on social media. Another feature includes Marquee, a campaign tool that targets people based on taste profiles. Spotify will recommend a card to listeners who have shown interest in the same genre of music and link them to an artist’s latest release. More than 15% of people who see a Marquee stream the release within two weeks, according to Spotify. 

Other features include Canvas, a looping visual that plays in the background of any track to help artists share their vision with fans, and playlist pitching, which helps artists get their tracks on Spotify’s playlists. Spotify for Artists will also expand into 25 languages later this year. 

Spotify targeted artists directly in its spot celebrating the Best New Artists nominees at the 2021 Grammy Awards. The campaign shared the message that Spotify for Artists is a useful tool for every artist from the amateur to the A-list Grammy winner. 

“We're focused on providing access to those same opportunities for artists at every stage of their career, whether they're just getting started, or they're Grammy nominated,” Duboff said. “Telling the story of how Spotify for Artists can help your career, connect with fans and build a fan base was a really powerful way to showcase that and celebrate the nominees at the same time. A lot of the [nominees] use Spotify for Artists and can inspire other artists.”