After years of study and practice, you have finally managed to fulfill a dream: composing a piece of music completely yours. It was worth it, especially when you feel the amazement of your friends and relatives who first heard your first single. And that’s when a friend puts a crazy idea into your head.
Why not expand yours following across the internet? Why not release your tracks to a music streaming service? All valid proposals, but how do do it? And above all, which platform to choose? Searching around, you come to know that Spotify, the main music streaming service out there, allows artists to publish their songs on the platform quite easily. However, the exact procedure behind this possibility remains unclear.
How to put your music on Spotify
Do not fear! Already to have arrived in this guide means that you are willing to learn and discover how to put your music on Spotify. Well, know that in this tutorial I will accompany you step by step in achieving this goal. Are you ready? Get your tools ready, your Spotify “career” is about to begin!
How to put your own music on spotify
Before starting and explaining to you concretely how to put your music on Spotify, I would like to steal a few more minutes of your attention to introduce you to what you are going to do while driving.
Joining the community of creators around Spotify is currently one of the best ways to get known as an artist. Whether you’re a professional songwriter or singer, or music and music creation is one of your favorite hobbies, there’s no better route to gain exposure.
At the time of writing, the well-known Swedish streaming platform hosts over 70 million songs, coming from users, amateur and professional musicians from all over the world and belonging to hundreds of different genres, such as pop, rock, metal music, and so on, thus offering the opportunity to experiment with the latter. And if we add the presence of random track listening functions such as radios, starting your career on Spotify allows anyone to gain a slight following.
In the remote case that you still don’t understand how Spotify works, you can read my guide on how Spotify works, where I dealt with the service from the listener side.
To start publishing your music on Spotify, however, having a user account is not enough. Contrary to what one might think, uploading songs is not one of the many basic services offered by the platform. This task falls to the so-called distribution services , i.e. third-party bodies responsible for reviewing, licensing and publishing audio content within the main streaming platforms, such as the Swedish giant.
There are different types of distributors and each of them specializes in offering a particular type of service. In the case of Spotify, you can get in touch with distributors who not only publish music but also podcasts . In this tutorial we will focus on how to publish music within the platform, however if you have a particular interest in publishing your radio broadcasts I suggest you take a look at my specific guide on the subject.
How to put your music on Spotify for free
Now that you know how and what to use to put your music on Spotify , it’s time to get to the heart of the guide. As anticipated, in this section I will show you step by step how to subscribe to some of the distributors currently in circulation, how to manage your albums and above all the waiting times before publishing the song on the platform.
The first thing to do is choose the distribution service that best suits your needs and wallet . You must know, in fact, that there are many distribution companies, each of which offers a different type of assistance and service from the other and at a cost that can vary according to their notoriety.
For example, services such as CD Baby allow you to publish your own single at a price of $9.95 per song or an album at a cost of $29 , allowing you to obtain a revenue of 70% and keeping the remaining 30% as a commission . For a better perspective of the most popular distribution services, I recommend you take a look at Spotify’s guidelines
on the matter.
See also Spotify suspends streaming service in Russia
Here, however, I’ll show you a cheaper approach to everything, showing you the main sites that offer Spotify distribution for free , suitable for budding artists and interested in trying their hand at publishing digital songs without spending a cent.
Amuse
Amuse is a music distributor based in Stockholm, Switzerland and active since 2015. They specialize in distribution and licensing free to anyone, giving artists the ability to earn 100% royalties for every song released. And I’ll tell you more, Amuse has been responsible for the distribution of songs like “Old Town Road” by rapper Lil Nas X , so we are talking about a rather important brand in the music world.
To register on Amuse, go to their main page, where you will be greeted by a general overview of its features , the artists and platforms involved and above all the various subscription plans . Left – click the mouse on the Get Started button to begin the registration process . Within this screen, enter your first name , last name , nationality , email address and telephone numberwithin the dedicated form. Remember to confirm that you are over the age of 18 by ticking I confirm that I’m over the age of 18 and click Continue to continue.
Once this is done, confirm the operation by entering a 6-digit code sent via SMS and click on the Verify button to go on to configuring your artist profile by choosing a suitable name. Remember to use an original and easy-to-search name, and especially that it doesn’t include existing names or emojis . In this case, answer the question dedicated to any external experiences with Spotify by clicking on No , click on the Create New button to continue and select the Free plan by clicking on the Choose Start option .
Then access your e-mail box , open the e-mail containing the verification link and click on the Verify your e-mail item to finish the registration procedure and enter the section dedicated to the control panel .
Within this page you can manage your artist profile , containing information related to the members of your musical group and the connected platforms; improve an account by paying a subscription ranging from 20 euros to 50 euros , with the possibility of removing the limits of the free account (e.g. 12 releases per year and publication in 4 weeks instead of 2); check your wallet containing any revenues obtained (the dollar sign).
By clicking on the gear-shaped symbol, however, it is possible to open the general settings of the account from where it is possible to manage one’s personal data , receipts and take a look at all the documents such as the terms of use of the service or receive assistance from the Amuse staff.
But let’s move on to the part that interests you the most, or rather the page dedicated to uploading your songs, accessible by clicking on the yellow Release button .
Right away, the site will ask you to enter the details of the song to upload. Don’t forget to enter the song name , genre and language using the appropriate text forms.
Then, click on the (+) button to upload the cover of your single. Remember to upload a photo that has a minimum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels and that does not include text or symbols other than the title and your artist name . Then click on the Next button to move on to the next phase.
In the second phase, click on the field marked Drag and drop or click to add your audio file to select the audio file to send. Remember that the site only supports files belonging to the WAV and FLAC formats and with a frequency of 44,000 Hz .
Once the file has been uploaded, click on the Add details option to add further details such as the name of the composers , the year of recording and confirm the presence of vowels . When you have everything set according to your settings, click on the Next button to continue.
The next phase is dedicated to the division of the earnings that will come. Nothing could be simpler: click the Add person button to add the data of one of your collaborators, use the arrows to modulate the percentage of earnings and save the settings by clicking on the Save splits for this track and Next buttons .
The fourth phase of the process is dedicated to the distribution settings , where you can choose the platforms on which to release the song, the countries that will be able to listen to it and check the date on which the song will be made available.
See also Apple Music, Spotify & Co: Streaming grabs half of the music market
Remember that the Amuse free plan allows you to publish your songs on Spotify, but also on Apple Music , Deezer , Amazon Music , YouTube Music , TIDAL , Shazam and Claro Mùsica . Once you are satisfied with the changes, click Review to move on to the last stage.
The last step allows you to take a last look at a brief summary of the previous operations. If you have followed my instructions to the letter, all you have to do is click on Release to send your request.
At this point, a team of experts will analyze your work over the next working days and will contact you if there are any problems. If your request is valid, you will receive a confirmation email which will inform you of the release date of your song. Remember that waiting times before publication could be up to 4 weeks after confirmation.
Indiefy
Unlike Amuse which specializes in music distribution mainly at a professional level, Indiefy is a service created by great artists in the sector and which promises to offer particular attention to independent artists , giving them the necessary tools to give an extra impetus to their business.
As mentioned earlier, you can create a free Indiefy account to start using right away. Alternatively, the site offers the possibility to take part in the Indiefy Pro subscription program , which allows the price of £ 14.99 / month to enjoy particular benefits such as the ability to create your own cover and get immediate assistance for any problem. However, here I will show you how to proceed with the simple free account.
To begin, go to the official Indiefy page and click on the Start now for free button , to start the registration procedure . Once you reach the login page, click on the Sign Up button to open the registration form, to be filled in by entering your email address , first name, last name, password .
Once this is done, tick the option I accept the terms and conditions and click on the Create an account button . At this point, open your mailbox and open the confirmation email sent by the system. Once open, click on the link provided to confirm your registration. You can also log in using your Facebook , Google and Twitter account through the dedicated buttons on the login page.
If you followed my directions to the letter, then congratulations! You’ve just created an account on Indiefy and you’re just a few steps away from the finish line.
Once you enter the dashboard , you are able to access different sections of the site capable of responding to different needs regarding the management of your account.
If on the one hand the main page of the dashboard shows a brief summary overview of your latest activities and to view the latest updates from the developer blog , by clicking on the icons on the left side of the screen it is possible to access the report of the songs distributed , the manage the artists saved on your account, view statistics and earnings , view promotion options or go to the Indiefy Pro subscription page .
At the top right, however, you will find the buttons dedicated to monetization , notifications , a quick link to the support page , changing the site language and managing your account , accessible by clicking on your profile image.
Finally, the time has come to talk about the most interesting and central part of the service, or rather the song loading procedure , accessible by clicking on the (+) button or the New version button on the right side of the dashboard. On your first access, the site will ask you to create a new artist by filling out a form in which to enter stage name , musical genre , email and the usual references to your Facebook , YouTube , Instagram and Twitter accounts , in addition to the usual profile image . Then click on the buttonSave to proceed with creating your first music release.
During the first step you will be asked to enter the main data related to the distribution of a digital release.
Therefore, use the drop-down menus and the text form to enter the artist name , title , genre , sub-genre and language of the song, as well as specifying the presence of any past experience with Spotify or other distributors.
Before completing the operation, you will be asked to set a possible release date , initially pre-set 3 weeks after sending the request. When you are satisfied with your choices, click the Continue button to move forward.
See also Spotify contracts expired: record companies want the same money as Apple Music
Subsequently, you will have access to the tab dedicated to uploading the actual file. For this procedure, feel free to upload any WAV and MP3 file you want, provided of course that you use original and non- copyrighted songs . Using the on-screen buttons you can notify the presence of explicit texts or materials or add additional credits dedicated to your collaborators. When you’re satisfied with the result, click the Continue button to move on to the next step.
In the third phase we move on to creating the cover of your album or single. It is possible to upload a self-produced file, by clicking on the gray space with the word Choose an Image , or use the internal editor of the site, selecting the background , the font to use.
Therefore, drag the sliders to increase the size of the latter and use the arrows positioned on the sides of the screen to choose the background that best suits your needs and click on Continue when you are satisfied with the result.
The next step concerns the selection of the platforms on which your song will be released. Since we are talking about a procedure performed with a free account, Spotify as well as other services such as Deezer , Apple Music and YouTube Music will be the only options that can be selected by clicking on the dedicated switches . Once the procedure is completed, click on the Continue button to move to the final stage of the procedure.
In the last step, you will be given the opportunity to take one last look at a brief summary of the previous steps before clicking the Submit button at the bottom of the page to finally submit your request.
A team of experts will verify your request and will contact you as soon as possible about the outcome. If the outcome proves to be positive, all you have to do is wait 3 weeks , after which your song will finally be available on Spotify and other available services.
Other services to put your music on spotify
In this guide I have shown you some of the main Spotify music distribution services out there. However, if you’re still not sure which service to use and want to experiment, here’s a short list of other distribution services that might be right up your street.
- RouteNote — free distribution service and which aims to offer all its users complete control of royalties and its functions. As previously mentioned, the service is free, but it is still possible to pay the Premium version , which starts from 10 dollars , for the publication of a single, up to 45 dollars for albums, or get in touch with the site staff to arrange payment for RouteNote All Access features and receive assistance and advice sessions for your account. Read more here.
- Sounddrop — affordable service dedicated to creators of content on the Internet. Registering on the site is totally free, however to release your songs you need to pay a small fee of 99 cents which will cover all distribution and licensing costs, allowing you to receive 100% of your royalties immediately.
- Freshtunes — it is also a completely free service that allows artists to publish their songs not only on Spotify, but also on platforms such as Apple Music and YouTube. Moreover, it is possible to invest in your project and allow the team behind Freshtunes to promote your music within their official channels.
How to upload music to Spotify
How do you say? Did you come across this tutorial because your intention was simply to upload music you have on your PC to Spotify and which is not included in the service catalog, so that you can listen to it offline on your devices?
In this case, if you have a Spotify Premium account, you can easily do it by following the instructions you find in my tutorial on how to upload music to Spotify.