Spotify will test a new service that lets artists weigh in on how they want their music to be discovered.
“Soon, we will roll out a test of a service that gives artists a say in how their music is discovered,” the audio streaming platform said in a blog post.
“In this new experiment, artists and labels can identify music that’s a priority for them, and our system will add that signal to the algorithm that determines personalised listening sessions,” it explained.
Spotify makes personal recommendations based on user patterns which are called ‘signals.’ This includes a user’s listening habits, what they are listening to and when, what songs do they add to their playlist, etc.
The platform will add music that is a priority for the artist as one of the signals to its recommendation algorithm.
“This allows our algorithms to account for what’s important to the artist,” it said.
The platform further said that it wanted to make the service accessible to all artists, no matter what point they are in their career. Hence, it won’t require any upfront budget for the service.
“Instead, labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalised listening sessions where we provided this service. If the songs resonate with listeners, we’ll keep trying them in similar sessions. If the songs don’t perform well, they’ll quickly be pulled back,” it said.
To begin with, Spotify will test this service with its Radio and Autoplay formats.
“As we learn from this experiment, we’ll carefully test expanding to other personalised areas of Spotify,” it said.