Spotify will let you pay to alter personalized recommendations

Spotify has announced that they are about to let labels and artists flag the songs they consider priorities in order for the songs selected to have a better placement in the Spotify’s algorithm.

If the artist or label flags a song, the track will have more opportunities to be recommended to Spotify users.

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL THE ‘DISCOVERY MODE’ COST?

This new tool, of course, will not be for free. Those artists or labels that want to improve the placement of a song in the personalized recommendations will have to pay in royalties. Yes, as you are reading, Spotify will not directly charge for this service, instead they will pay to the artist/label a lower recording royalty rate for every stream generated by the personalized recommendations.

WILL THE EARNINGS INCREASE FOR ARTISTS?

For now, it is not clear how much will they pay for those streams. Spotify is still testing this functionality and has not stated an specific amount. Until they do, there is no way to know if this strategy will or will not be beneficial for the artists who choose to use it.

The deal is to earn less for every stream in exchange of a song being recommended more to users.

According to Spotify, their intention is for artists and labels to ‘be able to earn positive ROI by using the tool’.