How To Upload Music To Spotify As An Artist
Right, let’s get straight to it, shall we? Spotify’s basically the behemoth of the streaming world now, boasting more than 678 million users (including 268 million who pay for the privilege) spread across 180-odd countries. If you’re sitting there wondering how to upload music to Spotify, you’ve come to the right place, mate. We’ll walk you through the whole rigmarole of getting your tunes onto the platform, how these mysterious Digital Service Providers work, and crucially, how to actually make some decent money from it all in 2025.
“I probably wouldn’t be doing this without using Spotify,” says Chattanooga singer Paul Johnson. Back in 2016, Johnson was proper underground, barely scraping by with a low-key music career and a few part-time jobs keeping the lights on. Then suddenly, his folk-pop song “Firework” gets picked up by a Spotify playlist, and Johnson’s career exploded. At the peak of his streaming success, he was pulling in over £12,000 a month. Not too shabby for strumming a guitar, eh?
Other artists like Arizona Zervas, Lorde and Tones all built their fanbases initially on this platform. But why exactly is Spotify so bloody important to artists these days? And how do people actually earn money and build up a following on the thing?
Why Artists Should Put Their Music On Spotify
Many smaller artists have discovered that Spotify’s a brilliant way to reach an audience and actually earn a living from their music. Getting your song onto one of Spotify’s 3000+ playlists can properly transform an artist’s career overnight! The platform’s got tools for artists to get their music heard by the right listeners (like the playlist pitch tool), and Spotify for Artists gives musicians proper in-depth insights into their audience.
There are currently 675 million monthly active users on Spotify, and this number’s growing at a considerably faster rate. The platform’s an absolute goldmine for gaining exposure as an artist, but getting your audio files on there isn’t quite as straightforward as it used to be.
Artists should also remember that the music industry takes Spotify statistics very seriously indeed. A few thousand streams might only pull in a few hundred quid, but it could generate serious interest from a record label, manager, or booking agent. Spotify stats are one of the first things industry types will look at. Regardless of how you get introduced, their first question will almost definitely be “How’s your music doing on Spotify then?”
Creating a brilliant pre-save campaign before you release a track is also really important and helpful for building a fanbase and creating proper hype for your upcoming release!
Can You Upload Music Directly To Spotify?
In short, the answer’s no. However, there are still loads of ways to get your music library onto Spotify as an artist.
Back in 2018, Spotify introduced a new trial feature that allowed independent artists to upload their music directly to the platform. The tool lets musicians deliver music straight to Spotify and plan for the perfect release day. Unlike when someone downloads music, artists were paid every time someone streamed their music, and also received a report showing how much their streams were earning alongside other insights (a feature enabled through Spotify for Artists). This trial was also dead appealing to artists, as the platform didn’t even charge any fees or commissions, no matter how frequently you released music.
Sadly, Spotify scrapped the “Now in Beta” trial in 2019. Typical.
How To Upload Music To Spotify Now
So, let’s go through how to add songs to Spotify as an artist these days.
The trial feature that let independent artists upload their music directly came to an end in July 2019. Nowadays, artists can deliver music to the platform through working with one of Spotify’s distribution partners that have been serving the artist community since the platform was introduced.
Over the last few years, Spotify’s vastly improved its work with distribution partners to ensure metadata quality and protection for artists from infringement. They also provide their users with instant access to Spotify for Artists, and much more.
To get your music files onto Spotify, independent artists will have to use a Digital Service Provider (DSP). A DSP is a platform which focuses on distributing media to streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more.
Independent artists sign up to an online platform and submit their music via local files, which are then served to Spotify. Most major record labels handle getting their artists’ music onto Spotify, and often act as the DSP themselves.
Uploading Lyrics to Spotify With MusixMatch
MusixMatch is a proper, clever global music data firm that’s committed to enriching the musical experiences of fans and businesses around the world. Their vast data, innovative tools, and comprehensive services foster a dynamic and immersive global music environment. They offer a lyrics library for over 8 million songs in 80 languages, ensuring that music enthusiasts can engage with their favourite tunes regardless of their mother tongue.
MusixMatch’s time-synced lyrics feature enhances visual song exploration and the overall listening experience. Beyond just lyrics and translations, they provide detailed metadata such as moods, genres, tempo and instruments, among others. This wealth of information allows users to delve deeper into their preferred music while discovering new tracks that align with their tastes.
MusixMatch has established partnerships with industry giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, Amazon Music, Facebook, Tidal, Shazam, Vevo, and Google, along with numerous popular lyric websites. With an active user base of 80 million people worldwide, MusixMatch has significantly transformed how individuals explore, discover, share, enjoy, create, and consume music.
MusixMatch for Creators
MusixMatch offers a unique platform for artists, songwriters, and lyricists to showcase their work to a global audience:
Lyric Addition, Editing, and Syncing: MusixMatch allows you to easily add or modify the lyrics of your songs, helping fans sing along. You can also sync your lyrics to scroll with the music in real time.
Lyrics Distribution to DSPs: MusixMatch sends your lyrics to leading Digital Service Providers like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, as well as social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
Lyric Video Creation: Their top-notch lyric video tool enables you to animate your words effortlessly. By selecting a template and uploading your lyrics and a background image, an automatically generated lyric video is created within seconds, ready for social media sharing.
The Best Digital Music Distribution Services
Right, we’ve rounded up the best digital music distribution service providers to help you out! Before we get into it, here are the main things you need to know:
Music Gateway – Professional Distribution
Here at Music Gateway, we offer a comprehensive music distribution service to help artists get their music on streaming platforms. After submitting your songs, our in-house creative team in London and LA work directly with music supervisors, placing music in media.
Our incredible music distribution service gets your music onto all major platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. What’s more, you keep 100% of your sales.
We also master your music to make sure that you sound the best you can before your release. We can also promote your music and amplify your streaming presence, so why not do it all in one place?
Check out our music distribution services
How much can you earn?
Why not try out our streaming royalties calculator and see just how much you could be possibly making. And no matter how much it is, it’s 100% all yours. We will never take a cut. This calculator gives you an estimate of how much you could earn on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play.
We may be biased, but we think we have the best deal!
RouteNote (Free | 85% Royalties)
RouteNote is a distribution company focused on independent artists. Sharing to platforms globally has made them a prominent choice for many musicians. This DSP will post your music to loads of other platforms, including iTunes and Deezer.
The only drawback to this DSP is that artists will only receive 85% of the profits from each posted track. RouteNote also has another fee-based service that allows you to receive 100% of the royalties. You can choose whether to pay the fee at any time, which is quite handy if a track starts paying enough to justify it.
TuneCore ($9.99 | 100% Royalties)
TuneCore’s another great DSP, because of its affordable music distribution fee. This platform also has a variety of packages available to suit any budget and goal.
It costs $9.99 to post a single on Spotify using TuneCore. A discount is available based on uploading multiple tracks. Compared to other platforms, TuneCore does more to get your music listened to and played on Spotify and other streaming apps.
A few more great features this platform offers:
- Keep all the rights to your music
- Keep 100% of your music royalties
- Access to Apple Music Trend Reports
- Monthly music sales reports
- Custom cover art options
- Free media player
Many may see the fees as a drawback of TuneCore, but honestly, it’s definitely worth it!
LANDR (£7.25 | 85% Royalties)
Another multi-purpose platform that’ll do more than just upload your music to Spotify! LANDR even includes a mastering service that prepares your music for distribution.
This DSP works on a subscription-based service with a monthly fee. After paying this fee, you can upload as much content as you want (provided you have the right subscription).
LANDR offers many types of subscriptions. The four main types are Basic (£5.18 a month), Advanced (£7.92 a month), Pro (£15.84 per month) and Studio (£18.96 per month). For artists on a budget, this DSP’s worth considering.
How Do You Earn Money From Spotify?
Essentially, when songs are played on streaming platforms, the artist receives payment in the form of royalties (based on the number of streams).
Independent artists have agreements with physical or online distributors of music for a one-time set up fee (like TuneCore), an ongoing subscription fee (like LANDR) or a continuing percentage of net receipts.
There are 3 types of streaming payouts:
Mechanical Royalties: These are paid to songwriters and their publishers (the owners of the composition) for the right to reproduce the music.
Public Performance Royalties: Paid to songwriters and their publishers for the right to perform their music publicly. Since none of the music is technically owned by the listener, every stream is considered a public performance, even if it’s simply listened to on a phone.
Payout To Recording Owners: This stream, which makes up a substantial amount of the payout, goes to record labels and distributors who own the copyrighted music.
Recently, Spotify increased its payout per stream, although this increase still needs to be split up between different parties (publishers, writers, etc.). This is the subject of intense debate among many artists, including those signed to major record labels.
The answer for how much Spotify pays per stream isn’t straightforward. The cost depends on many factors, although it’s thought to be around £0.002 to £0.004 per stream.
The Importance of Spotify Promotion
Now, here’s where most artists completely balls it up. Getting your music onto Spotify is just the start; it’s like opening a shop in the middle of nowhere and expecting customers to magically appear. You need to tell people your music exists; otherwise, it’ll just sit there gathering digital dust with the other 60,000 tracks uploaded every single day.
Why Spotify promotion is crucial:
The Numbers Game: With millions of tracks on the platform, yours is basically a needle in a haystack. Promotion is how you stick a massive neon sign on that needle.
Algorithm Assistance: Spotify’s algorithm is like a moody teenager, it needs constant feeding with engagement to actually recommend your music to anyone. More streams, saves, and playlist adds mean better algorithmic visibility.
Playlist Placement: Getting onto curated playlists (the ones that actually matter) requires strategic promotion. You can’t just upload and hope for the best.
Building Momentum: Successful tracks don’t just happen by accident. They’re the result of coordinated promotional efforts across multiple platforms that drive traffic back to Spotify.
Industry Attention: A&R scouts, managers, and booking agents aren’t scrolling through random uploads. They’re looking at artists with genuine buzz and promotional savvy.
The truth is, brilliant music without proper promotion is like having the world’s best joke and telling it to an empty room. You need strategic Spotify promotion that includes playlist pitching, social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and proper release strategies.
Get professional Spotify promotion that actually works
Smart promotion isn’t just about shouting into the void either. It’s about understanding your audience, timing your releases properly, and creating genuine engagement that translates into long-term fans, not just one-off streams.
Conclusion: How To Upload Music To Spotify As An Artist
It isn’t an easy process to get your music listened to by millions! It can often take years (unless you can become an overnight sensation like our mate Paul Johnson). The good news is that many of the services that work alongside Spotify do loads to promote an artist’s music.
There are loads you can also do to entice listeners to your Spotify profile, like engaging with fans on social media or creating an artist playlist. When you know how to publish music on Spotify, you know how to push yourself in the right direction and soon will start to see royalties hitting your bank account!
Before you approach any DSP, ensure that your music is of high audio quality. The main reason why Spotify has more listeners compared to its competitors is that Spotify Premium streams at 320kbps, which is better quality than you get on most platforms. Album art and music video previews are also important elements to consider.
You also shouldn’t forget about free platforms like SoundCloud. These are a brilliant way to generate interest for your music initially, and you can direct listeners to your Spotify, as most people are already subscribed nowadays.
Ready to stop messing about and get serious about your Spotify game? Check out Music Gateway’s pricing and take the first proper step toward getting your music heard by millions of people who might actually give a toss about what you’re doing.
Most importantly, though, don’t forget us here at Music Gateway!