How To Upload Music To Spotify: 5 Different Ways

How To Upload Music To Spotify: 5 Different Ways
"Do you have any resources on how to upload music to Spotify?"

This is something we've been asked about a lot recently, and it isn't surprising. Uploading your music to Spotify isn't as straightforward as uploading it to Soundcloud.

Having your music uploaded to multiple platforms can also be beneficial to you, let us explain why!

You’ve spent hours putting your blood, sweat, and tears into a track, and finally, your hard work pays off!

You LOVE your new track and are totally confident that you got a viral banger!

You upload your masterpiece onto Soundcloud and keep checking the plays, but no matter how long you wait and wait, the track barely gets any plays.

Why is that?

Well, the problem is relatively simple. You’re not distributing your music across different platforms!

Putting your song on only one streaming service is essentially like putting all your eggs in one basket.

That’s because the people who use Soundcloud might not be using Spotify and vice versa.

This is becoming more of a reality, since more users are signing up for “premium” accounts and committing to a single streaming service.

And the thing is, the people who are using these streaming platforms are usually there to discover new music, which means you could be missing out on thousands of potential fans if you limit which platforms you release on.

What’s even more shocking is that according to Vetro Analytics, Soundcloud isn’t even the most popular streaming platform.

To help you get a better scope on the situation, we included a chart below that ranks the best streaming platforms.

cymatics-chart-how to upload music to spotify

We recommend getting your music onto as many of these top ten streaming services as possible.

But for starters, we’d like to show you how to specifically upload your music to Spotify.

Right now, it’s the third most popular streaming site right now with an impressive 30.4 million monthly unique users.

So, just by adding your music to this platform, your outreach could improve tremendously.

Without further ado, here’s how to upload music to Spotify.


How To Upload Music To Spotify:


At first glance, uploading music to Spotify as an independent artist can seem overwhelming.

This is because Spotify has no “upload” option available to the common user.

In order to get your music onto Spotify, you have to use something called a “DSP”.

DSP stands for Digital Service Provider. A Digital Service Provider is a company which focuses on distributing media — such as your music — to various streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora.

These companies are fantastic, but there is a catch...

Most of the time, you’ll have to pay a fee.

But the good news is you'll also receive royalties from your song getting played on any streaming platform you upload it to.

If you’re not familiar with royalties, they’re the amount of money you’ll receive based on the amount of streams (plays) your song gets.

(For more info on how royalties work click here).

So there’s a small chance your fee could pay for itself!

And to give you even more budget friendly options, we’ve also included a free DSP in this article.

This might seem like the best option, but while deciding which DSP is right for you, there are some things to keep in mind.



Some DSPs operate on an invitation-only basis, while others require you to fill out an application that will then either be accepted or denied.

Luckily, there aren’t a whole lot of people who apply to these DSPs, so your chances of being accepted are higher.

And there are also quite a few that will accept all kinds of music!

Usually, you’ll get approved as long as your music is of good quality or if there’s an audience for it.

This may all sound a bit confusing, so to help you find the right DSP, we’ve put together a list with some of our favorites!

By using these websites to get your track uploaded to Spotify, you’re killing quite a few birds with one stone.

That’s because all of the DSPs listed don’t just upload your music on Spotify, but on several other platforms as well.

Check them out for yourself below:

RouteNote


RouteNote is the only DSP on this list that will post any original music onto Spotify for free.

This DSP will also post your music to 19 other platforms. Here’s the complete list of all of the platforms this DSP will post your track to.

The only downside to this platform is that you only receive 85% percent of the profits from each posted track.

cymatics-routenote-how to upload music to spotify

But if you’d like to receive 100% of the royalties from your track, all you have to do is pay a fee.

And you can decide to do this at anytime.

This works in your favor, because if a track is doing well, you can just pay the fee and reap the rewards on that track, while simply uploading the other tracks that aren’t doing so well for free.

This DSP is honestly a great option if you’re willing to part with 15% of your proceeds from the track.

TuneCore


cymatics-tunecore-how to upload music to spotify

TuneCore is another great option, because it distributes your music for a pretty affordable fee, and they also have a variety of packages available.

In regards to releasing your songs on Spotify, you could either pay 9.99 USD for a single release or 29.99 USD for 2 or more songs.

This fee renews once per year, per post.

And the cool part is, TuneCore will do more than just upload your music to Spotify.

They also distribute your music to iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, eMusic, Simfy, Deezer, Rhapsody, X-Box Live, MixRadio, MUVE Music, and many others.

And the perks don’t stop there. Here are some more awesome features this DSP offers:

    • You keep all the rights to your music

    • You get to keep 100% of your music royalties

    • You get access to Apple Music Trend Reports

    • You receive monthly music sales reports

    • You get custom cover art

    • You get a free media player


This service will take any song you choose to post as well.

The only real negative here is that you have to pay for this service, but it’s definitely worth it.


LANDR


LANDR is another multi-purpose platform that will do more than just post your music to Spotify.

In fact, they even offer a mastering service that prepares your music to be distributed!

(If you want to know the details behind the mastering process you can look more into it here.)

You can subscribe to this DSP for a monthly fee without a limit on the amount of content you can post (for most packages).

Below is a quick breakdown of the yearly price options:

cymatics-landr-how to upload music to spotify

There are a few cheaper options available to you as well and you can check them out here!

You can even get a low quality “mp3 only” membership for as low as $1 a month (with a limit of 10 tracks).

This is definitely one of the most cost effective options because of its low prices and no limits for monthly users.

Another thing worth mentioning is that LANDR’s mastering services are entirely automated. That means that there is no actual sound engineer working on your tracks, but instead, a complex algorithm.

This might seem alarming, because one might argue that a human audio engineer has more knowledge and experience than a program.

But many people have said LANDR’s mastering services have been great, and it’s completely free for your first two songs to be mastered.

So you can determine whether the mastering services are worth it for you before committing to anything.

This service doesn’t provide anything regarding promotion of your tracks, but if you’re just looking to get your music posted on Spotify and several other platforms, this might be the best option for you.

AWAL


AWAL stands for “Artists Without A Label”.

cymatics-awal-how to upload music to spotify

This DSP was set up to give artists all the perks of being on a label without having to sign away the rights to their music.

You can distribute your music to Spotify and many other streaming platforms with AWAL for no direct fee, but there are a few downsides.

First of all, they do take a 15% cut of your royalties.

They also require you to apply and be accepted, much like a traditional label. But the good news is, they aren’t quite as picky.

This is because their main goal is to simply distribute music. They don’t have a particular style or genre.

Another benefit of subscribing to AWAL is that they also provide you with several other resources!

For example, AWAL will also help you with A&R and marketing. Not only that, but they’ll even run campaigns to help you promote your music!

Playlist promotion is also provided. And this is a big deal since one of the biggest things people do to find more music they like is check out community playlists. So, landing your track on these can do wonders for your plays.

We’ll be covering how to land your music on playlists in another article so stay tuned for that as well.

Lastly, this service provides you with the opportunity to potentially receive funding through their A&R team!

That’s right, they’ll actually invest in you as an artist if they see potential!

There is also the peace of mind you get knowing that they protect your music from piracy, which can really hurt an emerging artist.

So, as you can see, you really get a lot of bang for your buck with AWAL, making the 15% cut on your royalties seems reasonable, in our eyes.

Believe Digital


Believe is pretty similar to AWAL because you have to apply and be accepted in order to use the service.

But there a few differences.

cymatics-believe-how to upload music to spotify

For starters, they don’t support as many artists as the other DSPs do.

Also, unlike other DSPs, they will work a deal out with you regarding what type of cut they will take on your profits. So it’s entirely subjective.

The way it works is this DSP will personally reach out to you if you are accepted and work out a deal that’s specifically tailored to you.

After that, they’ll definitely upload your music to Spotify and much more.

As you can see, this company operates similarly to an artist management agency, and you still get to keep the rights to your tracks.

Believe also has local product managers available to you that will help you promote your track.

They do this by pitching your music to playlists, labels, and campaign your track internationally.

This DSP will even handle all of your trade marketing, branding, and licensing.

And one of the biggest features, by far, is that they’ll even try to set up brand partnerships for you!

Believe is definitely for people who are looking for much more than just posting their music onto Spotify, so if that’s your goal we definitely suggest this one.


Conclusion


By now, you should know how to get your music onto Spotify and how to pick the right DSP to distribute your music.

But before we wrap this up, let’s recap some of the most important things you should consider while choosing a DSP to get your music on Spotify.

    • Know what’s happening with your royalties. Do they take a cut? Are you paying a fee in order to make sure you get 100% of the royalties? This is extremely important!



    • Consider what you want from your DSP. Are you just looking to get your music on various streaming platforms, or do you want the DSP to promote your content or even master your tracks?



    • Think about what you will want or need in the future and choose the provider that you think will best suit your needs.



    • Do your research! We encourage you to check out the websites of all of these providers prior to choosing which one you will use.


By picking the right DSP, you can enable yourself to grow as an artist, so choose wisely.

Now we want to hear from you!

Are you uploading your music to Spotify? Are there any DSPs that you would recommend that we didn't talk about?

Let us know in the comment section below!

Do you want better Serum presets?

Download our free Ultimate Serum Library and improve your sound library today.