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Using Discovery Mode in Spotify for Artists

Discovery Mode is a tool for artists and music marketers designed to help you find new listeners when it matters to you most.

For: Artist team Admins and Editors on web. Ask your team's Admin to add you to the team or change your access level.

Which artists are eligible

Discovery Mode is in beta and isn’t available to all artists yet. We're working to expand access to eligible artist teams.

If you have access, you'll find a Discovery Mode section in the Open the Campaigns tab Campaigns tab in Spotify for Artists.

You may be eligible if your artist team meets all of these requirements:

  • You have at least 3 eligible songs
  • You have at least 25,000 monthly listeners. We’ve found that Discovery Mode works best with an audience of this size or above
  • You have an active Spotify for Artists team that’s registered in one of the countries below. Learn how to set your team's billing country

  • Africa

    Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Tunisia

    Asia

    Bahrain, Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen

    Europe

    Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine

    North America

    Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, United States

    Oceania

    Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu

    South America

    Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Which songs are eligible

A song is eligible for Discovery Mode in Spotify for Artists if it meets all of these requirements:

  • It's been released on Spotify for at least 30 days. If there are multiple versions, the earliest release date determines eligibility
  • It's been streamed at least 20 times in Discovery Mode contexts in the last 28 days. Learn more about Discovery Mode contexts
  • It met Spotify’s monetization eligibility criteria last month
  • The release has been approved if Artist Profile Protection is turned on
  • It's distributed by one of these licensors:

  • Licensor not listed above?

    If you’re a label or distributor, reach out to your contact at Spotify about enabling Discovery Mode for your artist teams in Spotify for Artists.

    Some distributors may have access to Discovery Mode outside of Spotify for Artists. If you're an artist and your distributor isn't listed above, contact them for more info.

We’re continuing to expand eligibility and will share more as Discovery Mode evolves.

Creating a Discovery Mode campaign

You can set up a campaign between the 11th of the month and 12 AM UTC on the last day of the month.

  1. Log in to artists.spotify.com.
  2. Go to Open the Campaigns tab Campaigns then Discovery Mode.
  3. Click Set up [month] campaign.
  4. Select the songs you’d like to include.
  5. Review your campaign and click Submit.

Campaigns start at 12 AM UTC on the 1st of the next month.

You can edit your song selections until 12 AM UTC on the last day of the current month.

If your song has multiple versions

Discovery Mode selections occur at the song level.

If your song appears on several releases (e.g. on a single and an album), it’ll have multiple track URIs for the same recording.

To maximize potential reach, we opt in all track URIs for all versions of that song. We also add any new track URIs for that song to the campaign when they’re released.

Understanding Discovery Mode cost

Discovery Mode doesn’t require an upfront budget.

Instead, a 30% commission is applied to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs and their related track URIs in Discovery Mode contexts. All other streams remain commission-free.

If a new version of a selected song is released during an active campaign, we'll opt in its track URI, and the commission will apply.

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