Spotify test lets artists and labels spotlight songs in recommendations

Spotify plans to soon test a feature that will allow artists and labels to promote songs in the recommendation section of the music streaming platform.

Artists and labels will be able to use a flagging system to target the specific music they want promoted by the platform’s algorithms.

Artists can now use the option to spotlight one of their new songs, an older album’s anniversary or a song the artist is particularly excited about.

To make the feature accessible to artists at any stage in their careers, they won’t need an upfront amount, but will be required to “agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalized listening sessions where we provided this service.”

This essentially means money will come out of the royalties. If the specific song resonates with users, Spotify will start adding the track to similar sessions, and if the songs don’t perform well, the service will remove them.

Spotify says that it’s testing this experience with its Radio and autoplay formats where listeners are typically looking to discover new music. The platform will learn from the experiment and then consider expanding the test to other personalized areas of Spotify.

Source: Spotify