Spotify says it is testing a new service that lets artists and labels promote their tracks in users' recommendations while receiving a lower royalty rate
and get paid less in exchange Josiah Motley / KnowTechie : Spotify will now promote select tracks from artists for free, but that might not be a good thing Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide : Spotify is letting record labels influence personalized recommendations... so long as they pay for it in royalties Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard : TikTok Signs Licensing Deal With Sony Music, Hiking Payouts to Labels Stuart Dredge / Music Ally : Spotify's new artist tool could boost streams (with a discounted royalty rate) Salvatore Maicki / The FADER : Spotify to offer artists and labels the option to promote their music in your recommendations Declan McGlynn / DJMag.com : Spotify will prioritise your tracks in recommendations if you agree to take less royalties Dan Rys / Billboard : Spotify to Allow Artists and Labels to Prioritize Songs Inside Its Algorithm for Personalized Picks Eddy Lim / NME : Spotify to let artists promote music in user recommendations in exchange for different royalty rates Kris Holt / Engadget : Spotify will let artists and labels promote songs in recommendations Jem Aswad / Variety : Spotify Adds Artist and Label Input to Personalized-Recommendation Process Tweets: Ben Sandofsky / @sandofsky : For context, Spotify currently pays between $0.00331 and $0.00437 per stream. Apple Music pays $0.00783. https://twitter.com/... Jason Snell / @jsnell : Oh good, App Store ads for music https://twitter.com/... Riot Gene / @gchorba : So @Spotify is going prioritize music from artists that are willing to take a lower royalty rate. How is this not pay for exposure? They are making modifications to their discovery algorithm in exchange for money. https://newsroom.spotify.com/ ... @lilaaron911 : ya i just read the whole statement from spotify and this shit is so lame... theyre trying to spin it as being in pur favor too which is insane. just pay us and do ur fucking job. https://newsroom.spotify.com/ ... Hamza Shaban / @hshaban : A massive technology company is exerting its market power by changing algorithms and pricing: Spotify will offer artists and labels an algorithmic boost in exchange for a lowered “promotional recording royalty rate” https://www.theverge.com/... Ryan Reeves / @investing_city : Spotify testing out promoted songs “it won't require any upfront budget. Instead, labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalized listening sessions where we provided this service.” https://newsroom.spotify.com/ ... @12tonevideos : If you want to read the pretzel logic required for Spotify to make this seem like anything but a blatant cash grab in an already-exploitative system, you can check out their official statement here: https://newsroom.spotify.com/ ... See also Mediagazer