How to Get More Streams on Spotify
I'm sure your music is on streaming platforms, but are you promoting it? Let's start with the most popular streaming service — Spotify: over 650 million active users and the world's most popular platform for listening to music. Paid subscriber statistics say so.
Spotify pays an artist approximately $0.7 to $4 for every 1,000 streams. That may not make you a millionaire overnight, but it can definitely become a springboard for your career. More on monetization on Spotify at the end of the article.
Today I'm going to share with you the 5 most relevant tips for increasing your streams on Spotify.
1. Set up your Spotify profile
A Spotify profile is your calling card. What stands out first? No, not the cover or the avatar, but the number of listeners per month. And that needs work. How — we'll talk about that a bit ниже. And now about what the user notices after the number of listeners — the profile design.
To customize your profile, you need access to Spotify for Artists. This tool allows you to:
- verify the official status of the artist account. This is indicated by the checkmark next to the artist's stage name;
- get detailed analytics on how your music is performing: which playlists the song is playing on, which countries are listening, even the number of listeners HERE AND NOW;
- update the banner, avatar, and image gallery;
- add a bio and links to social media;
- set an Artist Pick to promote a new release or merch;
- communicate with your audience.
Don't have access yet to your Spotify for Artist or Apple Music for Artists account? I have developed step-by-step instructions at this link.
Important: in 2025, the "Bio" section became even more interactive. You can add links to other songs or playlists directly in the bio text, turning it into a full-fledged navigation tool.
Remember the principle of “no plot holes.” Your visual and textual identity must be cohesive. If you sincerely project your image, the audience will follow your story through social media and music.
Example: artist Edwin Raphael shot a video for the album Warm Terracotta in the jungles of Costa Rica. His Spotify header reflected that journey, which immediately made his profile stand out and made the story unique. It makes the audience come back again to see where your musical journey will take them.
2. Music release and official pitching
To get your music on Spotify, you need a digital distributor. muzika.ua is the most interesting choice for an independent Ukrainian artist. And soon we'll present our own distribution platform. Want to test it among the first? – Leave a request.
After you've uploaded the mastered tracks, follow these key rules:
According to the latest news from streaming platforms, to ensure pitching, submit your music 4 weeks before release. So the track can enter subscribers' Release Radar and be considered for inclusion in editorial playlists. It used to be two weeks, yes. But now songs are reviewed longer because of high competition.
📌 What's new in 2025?
In the pitching form, it is now important to specify not only the genre, but also the emotional mood, key instruments, and references to other artists. Spotify editors look for максимально specific information. If you work with a PR manager, plan a tour, or use song promotion with bloggers, be sure to indicate planned budgets, reach, and your team's achievements from previous experience.
Add Canvas. "Spotify loves it when artists use their tools," — this rule is more relevant than ever. Canvas is an 8-second visualizer. You can add up to 3 Canvases to one track, which will cycle, adding dynamics.
Release music consistently. Instead of releasing the entire album at once, consider a singles-release strategy. This allows you to stay in your audience's Release Radar for a long time.
Example: artist Nicholas Cangiano released 4 singles before the album. Each single was pitched separately. This allowed Spotify's algorithms to "give the artist a boost." As a result, his album made it into editorial playlists, gained over 120,000 streams in the first 4 months, and his monthly listeners have steadily remained at 10,000+.
3. Promote music exclusively on Spotify
Promotion begins long before release.
Pre-Release (Before release): Create a pre-save link through your distributor. This is a great way to engage your audience.
Pre-save — a marketing tool that allows artists to create advance access to their upcoming releases on music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. When an artist's audience clicks the "Pre-save" button, they agree to add the upcoming song or album to their library on release day. Literally translating from English, the meaning of Pre-Save is clearly reflected —pre-saving.
Here are a few ways to use pre-save to increase the effectiveness of a release:
- Pre-promotion: Use pre-save as part of your pre-promotion of an upcoming release. Posts and stories on social media, personalized invitation emails with pre-save links to build anticipation among your fans for the upcoming release.
- Increase potential plays: Everyone who presaves your upcoming release is ready to play it on day one. This can significantly increase the number in the first days after release, which in turn can help the song or album get into music platform charts.
- Increase fan engagement: Pre-save gives the artist an opportunity to interact additionally with the audience. Exclusive content such as "behind the scenes," revealing details of the song creation process in exchange for saving the song via pre-save.
- Grow your audience: Pre-save can help artists attract new listeners. If you post Reels, TikTok videos, YouTube Shorts on social media with a call to go to Pre-Save, you can attract new fans and expand your audience. Even if it's just a few people, that's already a result.
In 2025, pre-save campaigns have become even more interactive, often with the option to add the track to a personal playlist or get access to exclusive content.
Curated Playlists
Find and learn about opportunities to get your song published in playlists with a target audience. What kind of playlists are these and who manages them? Spotify users who grow their listener count within their personal playlists monitor the quality and relevance of songs in order to retain a quality audience there.
At muzika.ua, we have a wide network of contacts to the most effective Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube playlists, reach out for a custom offer.
Post-Release (After the release): first of all, generate through your distributor a multi-link for sharing the song with your audience.
Multi-link (multilink) – a one-page website (mini landing page) that serves as the central hub for all links to the song, for convenient access to all resources, sites, and contact details for you.
Show your song and its multi-link to as many people as possible through the tools available to you:
- Music video: A full-scale video or visualizer, if you have the resources and inspiration for it. Although if you don't have the resources, you can shoot a creative and low-budget or no-budget video yourself or with friends.
- Content campaign: TikTok, Insta Reels, and YT Shorts are the main tools for viral promotion. Create creative and engaging video content for social media with the song and encourage others to create content to it.
- Place your song in playlists where you have previously agreed with their curators.
Important:
Analyze what works better / worse to identify the most effective tools for promoting this specific song. (for each one, the same actions may have a different effect)
If you see that the result is minimal, analyze why and how you can improve and optimize the result with a minimal budget? But do not submit content that does not work organically in targeting. That would be an ineffective waste of money. If people do not consume the content organically, you won't be able to force it on them either. Better yet, amplify what works best.
For example, a song is not being promoted at all on social media — this may be not only because people don't want to listen to the song, but because the concept through which you present the song has an extremely narrow audience. Get support from a marketing / PR specialist who, based on experience and analysis, can draw accurate conclusions and provide effective adjustments for further promotion of the song. Need such a specialist? Contact muzika.ua — we will help.
4. Collaboration
Duets with other artists are one of the most effective ways to get more streams. Spotify allows you to add up to three main artists, which expands the release's reach.
Why does this work?
Each track appears in the Release Radar of each of the artists involved in the collaboration.
Each artist can pitch the track to Spotify editors, increasing the chances of landing in playlists.
All streams are credited to the profiles of all artists, raising their overall rating.
Example: artist Pivovarov or Kalush Orchestra regularly do collaborations with other artists, including international ones, to exchange audiences. Because each participant has their own audience, their releases automatically get broad reach and more streams.
Collaborations can also take the form of remixes. The duo Flara K invited a British producer to create a remix. Thanks to the producer's existing audience, their song received over 500,000 streams.
5. The “Fair Play” Policy and Its Consequences
In 2025, Spotify has intensified its fight against fraud, especially against so-called "bots" used to artificially inflate streams.
What is prohibited: any artificial inflation of streams. Spotify actively monitors suspicious activity.
Consequences: If your music is spotted on bot services, Spotify may remove the release, block the profile, and payments will be frozen.
Advice: Forget about services that promise “10,000 streams for $10”. That is not only a waste of money, but also a direct path to problems. Real streams come from real people. If you invest in advertising, do it through trusted platforms such as Spotify Ad Studio or targeted ads on social media that lead to Spotify.
Remember that success on Spotify is not about quick money, but about building a career. Use these tips to create a solid foundation for it.
And now, to the numbers.
How much does Spotify pay?
As of 2025, the exact amount Spotify pays for 1,000 plays in Ukraine is not fixed, as it depends on many factors. However, an approximate range can be given.
On average, for 1,000 plays in Ukraine, Spotify pays from $0.7 to $4.
Why such a big difference?
This amount depends on several key factors that affect Spotify's payout system:
Listener subscription type:
Premium subscription (paid): Plays from users who pay for a Premium subscription generate significantly more revenue.
Free account (with ads): Plays from users on the free tier who listen to ads generate lower royalties.
Geographic location:
Royalty rates differ from country to country. Countries with a higher standard of living and higher subscription prices (for example, the USA, Canada, and Western European countries) generate more revenue per stream.
Unfortunately, Ukraine is in a region where subscription costs are lower, so royalties per stream here are also lower than in high-income countries.
Your distributor/label:
Spotify pays money to rights holders (distributors, labels). Then these companies distribute the income with the artist according to the terms of the contract.
If you work with an independent distributor that takes a small percentage or a fixed fee, you receive a larger share of the income.
Important changes on Spotify in 2024-2025:
The 1,000-stream threshold: Since 2024, Spotify has paid royalties only for tracks that have reached 1,000 or more plays in the last 12 months. This was done to combat fraud and to increase payouts for artists who truly have an audience.
Fight against bots: Spotify actively monitors and blocks payouts for artificially inflated streams.
Thus, while earnings for 1,000 plays may seem small, the main goal is not quantity but the quality of the audience and its engagement, so that you can build a career that will bring much greater income from concerts, merch, and other sources.
Author: Pavlo Striletskyi
