Of all the music streaming services available worldwide, Spotify has the largest market share. It has unparalleled appeal and brand awareness. But how can you start making money using Spotify that doesn’t involve just getting streams?
This post will assist you in learning practical advice on how to monetize your Spotify account, as well as new strategies for boosting your earnings.
Sell Your Merchandise
Many musicians are able to make money selling merch online or during their tours. But how do you sell merch if you are on Spotify?
You can now market and sell merchandise to your Spotify listeners using the Shopify and Spotify Merchbar connection.
The Now Playing view, your artist biography, your album, and single release sites, as well as your artist shop page, are all places where listeners can find your merchandise. You can advertise your tour, mark the release dates of your previous work, and more whenever you release new merchandise by sharing it on Spotify.
A single item can have one or more music releases associated with it. The accompanying album and single release pages, as well as the Now Playing view for each song featured in the release, will then display tagged items. Additionally, Spotify will automatically link merchandise with release sites by scanning the titles of each piece of merchandise you publish from Shopify.
By adding merchandise to Spotify, you give your fans additional chances to find it when they are listening to your music.
Sell Tickets To Your Shows
You have decided you want to go on tour and need a way to advertise it to the people who would care most about it. Why not use Spotify to inform those listeners who gave you the motivation to plan your tour that you will be visiting their city?
Instead of sending users to partner sites like Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, Spotify has established a new website, Spotify Tickets, to sell concert tickets directly to customers from its platform. Customers must have a Spotify account to purchase tickets, although the company's new website does list upcoming events and allows customers to do so using a debit or credit card.
The goal is to discourage Spotify users from quitting the app to buy tickets from other websites by letting them know when the musicians they're listening to will be playing so they don't miss out on their shows.
The Spotify Ticket's home page shows events that can be reserved, and users can view their previous and forthcoming ticket purchases under the My Events area.
Right now, there are a limited number of artists who are able to use the site, but it could be a very valuable place to market your gigs in the future. For the time being, you can still utilize services like Ticketmaster, Songkick, Eventbrite, or AXS to have your upcoming gigs automatically posted on your Spotify profile.
Make a Music Podcast
Can you monetize a music podcast on Spotify? Absolutely! To make money off of podcasts on Spotify, you don't need to be a record label or an established business with a Spotify license arrangement.
One of the few streaming providers that offers podcasting monetization benefits, such as integrated ad programs and resources for fan support, is Spotify. There are several ways to monetize through listeners for podcasts, even if they don't give royalties for individual episodes.
As a musician, you have a lot to offer both fans and aspiring musicians. Your podcast could be centred on sharing tips to help make artists' musical journeys more successful, or your podcast could be focused on your band and giving fans behind-the-scenes info about how you create your music and what inspires you. A podcast is just another way for you to connect to the people who are going to be there to support and help kickstart your career.
Additionally, Spotify now offers a service called Spotify Premium for Podcasters. This is a fantastic method for podcasters to monetize their audience. Artists can use the program to make their material available only to paid subscribers. This is a great method to monetize your podcast and get more revenue.
To enroll in the program, simply establish an account and submit your podcast. You can start promoting your podcast to premium members as soon as it has been authorized.
Try Out Spotify Live
Spotify has unveiled a new initiative to reward Spotify Live users who are producers. The ability for musicians to host their own private rooms on Spotify is a feature that is currently being tested on the platform. This will allow devoted fans to engage with their favorite artists virtually and financially support them.
Artists can hold events in their Spotify Live rooms, such as release parties, and sell merchandise and tickets to live performances there. It's also the perfect way to get close to your hardcore fans and hear more about how they enjoy your music and what they want to see. Artists can also use Spotify Live as a real-time poll for things like where to host their next gig or deciding on the next merch design for their collection.
Spotify has only been testing Spotify Live with a limited number of artists up to this point, but if it is made available to everyone, it will be a fantastic extra source of both cash and exposure for musicians.
Use Spotify’s Fan Support Tool
Spotify offers musicians another opportunity to get paid besides royalties when they submit their music through a distributor: they can get paid directly by fans. The Artist Fundraising Pick, now called Fan Support, will help them with this.
Established in 2020 to aid artists, 200,000 artists have used the function since it was introduced. By changing the name, Spotify is urging fans to give to their favorite musicians on a regular basis rather than just in times of need. Artists can set up campaigns to either raise funds for a cause they believe in or give fans a way to support their music directly.
Spotify Allows Artists To Monetize Their Music Beyond Just Streams
While most artists think that streaming revenue is the major source of their income on Spotify, they will be happy to learn that there are many other channels that they can use to increase their income. From merch to podcasts, Spotify has been slowly building more resources for artists on their platform to make meaningful careers with their music. As an artist, you no longer have to rely solely on streaming revenue with Spotify and can instead choose the tools that fit your individual fan base to help financially support your music.
