Earning $800 / Month With Spotify
I'm making over $800 per month with my music— almost exclusively through Spotify. This is up from $400 per month last year.
I don't tour, I don't sell merch and I'm not on a major label. I'm just a small indie artist making music in my evenings— and Spotify is making that possible.
I’ve been releasing music on the internet since 2013 and it’s crazy how much music has changed since then. Here’s what I’ve learned about where music is at in 2020 and how it’s possible to carve out a niche as a small artist.
1. Spotify Is The Streaming Service That Matters
In terms of music streaming market share, Spotify is Google and Apple Music is Bing. At least, that’s what I see in my stats:
I get about 177,000 plays / month. Spotify is 96% of those plays.
I earn around $800 / month from music streaming. Spotify is 93% of that income.
2. Algorithmic Playlists (Like Discover Weekly) Are Enormously Important
Every Monday my music gets a spike in streams on Spotify. You could set a watch to it— it’s that consistent:
What makes Monday so special?
Well every Monday Spotify sends out a new Discover Weekly playlist. Discover Weekly is an algorithmic playlist— which means its personalized with songs Spotify thinks the user would like.
Discover Weekly is massively popular and it’s the reason for those Monday spikes in my streams.
This is what Discover Weekly looks like
Discover Weekly might not seem like much— after all, it looks like just another playlist— but its effect on streaming numbers is enormous.
And the effect of Discover Weekly isn’t limited to small, obscure artists like me— the same spikes are visible in famous artists too:
This is CRAZY.
No other promotional tactic in music comes close to Discover Weekly in delivering new listeners in such a low-effort, high volume way.
Back in 2013 I would spend hours cold-emailing bloggers. I would be lucky if I got a hit and got 1,000 plays on one of my songs. It was labour intensive.
Now algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly send 1,000 new listeners every week without any work on my part. This is amazing. Cold outreach sucks. It sucks for the artist and it sucks for the bloggers. Spotify deserves a lot of credit for here.
3. Songs Matter, Not Albums
Spotify's algorithmic playlists rank songs— not albums. It's just like in SEO: Google indexes pages, not websites.
This has elevated the importance of songs and made albums more irrelevant than ever— especially for small artists like me. (Of course famous artists like Drake and Billie Eilish can still get massive press from an album release— but most artists are not at that level of fame.)
These days it’s almost always better to release individual songs rather than albums. (Plus as an artist, you’re limited to pitching one song at a time to Spotify’s human editors— and I’ll explain why human editors still matter in the next section).
A 12-song album is better off being released as 12 staggered singles throughout the year.
I get why the growing irrelevance of albums bums some people out. Albums are big statements. Some of the most iconic releases in popular music have been albums.
… But things change and that’s okay. Plus I think asking listeners to listen to a full-length album don’t make sense in our attention-starved world. Asking listeners to listen to a single song might just be a more realistic ask.
4. Human Editors Still Matter— Just Not How You Think
The secret to getting your music on algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly is to get on human playlists first.
It’s similar to SEO: playlists are like backlinks. When a song is added to a playlist it's a vote for the quality of the song. Not every playlist is equally authoritative though— just like how a link from The NY Times is more authoritative than other links in SEO.
On Spotify, the most authoritative playlists are editorial playlists. These are playlists curated by official Spotify editors. In my experience, it’s only when I get on an editorial playlist that my songs get heavily featured on algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly.
Official Spotify editorial playlists have this icons in the top left.
So how do you get on editorial playlists? I sincerely have no clue. I've been on editorial playlists 16 times but I have no idea how to replicate that.
Note: In my experience, major label artists have an easier time getting on editorial playlists. This is discouraging— if major label artists have an easier time getting on editorial playlists, they’ll also get better placement in algorithmic playlists… But major label artists also only typically get 13% - 20% of streaming royalties… so there are still plenty of reasons to stay indie!
5. Algorithms Make For Looser Relationships Between Artists And Listeners
"Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity." - David Bowie
My most popular song 'Circles' has been played 1,350,00 times. And every month about 65,000 people listen to my music on Spotify.
Guess how many people follow me on Instagram? 480.
Just because people listen to me on Spotify, doesn’t mean they want a deep relationship. Most listeners just add 'Circles' to their library and move on with their life.
I’m definitely okay with this. I’d rather listeners follow me on Spotify rather than Instagram anyways. Plus only good things can come out of de-coupling fame from music. Make music because it’s what you love to do— not because you want to get famous. If you want to get famous I think you’re better off as a Youtuber or Tiktok influencer anyways!
I think this is just the nature of algorithmic playlists— they lead to a high volume of listeners with a very loose connection to you as an artist:
6. The Deepest Relationships Happen When Listeners Share Music With Friends
Listeners sharing music among their friends leads to the deepest connections in my experience.
For example: last month I was interviewed on a college radio station by three guys. I was blown away by how closely these guys listened to the music. They knew it so well and had spotted lyrical themes that I’ve repeated throughout songs that I thought I only noticed. It was clear there was a very deep connection.
Hearing from listeners like that is nourishing in a way that a graph on Spotify just can't be. It can be a very moving experience.
I’ve had similar experiences when high school students reach out to tell me everyone in their circle is listening to the music. Somehow they seem to just care about the music more— like their shared interest draws them deeper.
When you spend most of your time in an algorithmic world of music streaming, it can feel like magic when you meet listeners who found your music through friends. Sharing music between friends can’t much algorithms in sheer volume but it is by far the deepest way to build connections.
7. Small And Obscure Is Wonderful
I don’t tour, I don’t sell merch and I’m not on a major label. I just like making music. I'm an indie artist surfing the waves of the Spotify algorithm— and honestly… it’s been great.
Small and obscure is kind of wonderful: I get 3 or 4 people every week sending me an email or DM and it's all something sweet or kind— no one cares enough to troll or be a hater.
These kind of messages are really uplifting and mean a lot.
If I was super famous I might feel constantly judged and scrutinized. I think it would be very hard to make sincere art under those conditions. Instead I get to feel pretty accepted: I'm over in my corner, quietly making songs and every once in awhile someone pops by to say: "hey, that one sounds good!"
It feels right. That's all I need. I'm happy to quietly go about my music.
You can listen to me on Spotify. Circles and Purification Ritual are my most popular songs.
I’m really bullish on making Youtube videos to compliment the music. I’ve started doing that and I’m particularly proud of Lullabies for Little Crimes.
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