How to Upload Music on Spotify

Master the art of self-distributing your music on Spotify through a trusted distributor.

Today, one of the fastest ways to get your new music heard by as many people as possible is to get it on Spotify.

However, unlike platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud, artists can’t upload their original music on Spotify directly – you’ll have to go through a music distributor.

The good news is we’re here to simplify the process, helping artists confidently upload their music to Spotify while protecting their rights and earnings through trusted distributors. Here’s how:

Step 1. Create Your Distributor Account

Spotify’s music distributors take care of licensing, distribution, and royalties, among others. Here’s how you can upload music using one of the trusted Spotify distributors, DistroKid:

1. Create your DistroKid Account. This is a basic sign-up process wherein you’ll give your email and password or sign up using your Google, Apple, or Facebook account.

   

2. Choose your subscription plan.
   You can choose their simplest plan for unlimited song uploads or you can get extra features like daily stats and customized release dates for your music with the Musician Plus and the Ultimate plans.

   

Step 2. Upload Your Music

1. Proceed to uploading your music using their upload form. Don’t forget to choose Spotify from the list of platforms DistroKid works with.

   

2. Check your Spotify for Artists account found in your DistroKid account once your track goes live for stats and updates.

   

Three Best Spotify Music Distributors

As mentioned, there are lots of options for distributors if you want to get your music on Spotify. Here, we’ll take a closer look at three of them:

• DistroKid
• CDBaby
• Amuse

DistroKid

DistroKid offers a straightforward way for artists to distribute their music on Spotify, among other platforms. With a fee of $22.99 per year, you can upload unlimited albums and songs. They can also enjoy a quick distribution process, often faster than other distributors​​.

DistroKid also allows artists to retain 100% of their royalties, which is a significant advantage​​. Spotify recognizes it as a preferred music distributor, underscoring its reliability and effectiveness for this particular platform​​.

The service also extends beyond just distribution, providing artists with useful marketing tools like pre-save links, video generators, and playlist submissions to enhance their music’s visibility and engagement on Spotify​​.

CDBaby

CD Baby is a comprehensive option, making it a suitable choice for independent musicians looking to distribute their music on Spotify and other platforms​​.

Unlike DistroKid, which charges an annual fee, CD Baby charges a one-time fee of $9.99 per standard release, including albums and singles​​.

However, CD Baby takes a 9% cut of your reproduction royalties, and if you opt for CD Baby Pro Publishing, the cut rises to 15%​​. This is in contrast to DistroKid, which allows you to keep 100% of your royalties.

Yet, CD Baby provides a variety of promotional tools to artists. For instance, upon signing up, members receive 100 free plays. And, they can create and customize their own embeddable music players for promotional purposes.

They also offer a service called CD Baby Link-Maker, allowing artists to add buttons linking to their public CD Baby profiles on their websites​​.

Amuse

Amuse is different from other distributors in that it offers a free tier. This is a good option for artists with no budget for paid distribution. You can download their free app, upload your music from your mobile device, and track its progress from there.

However, there are limitations, like waiting 28 days to have your music on Spotify live, and you can only release one track per month.

You can choose to boost your tracks with more features and faster deliveries with Amuse’s “Boost” tier at $24.99 per year.

You can also go all-in with their “Pro” tie, with the option for ASAP releases, custom labels, 24/7 customer support, and other features. The “Pro” tier costs $59.99 annually.

How to Upload Music to Spotify Locally

If you simply want to upload music on Spotify locally, which means playing audio tracks legally saved on your mobile device or your desktop to your Spotify app, you can do so in a few simple steps:

1. Open Spotify on your mobile device or desktop.
2. Tap the gear icon on the upper right side of the home screen.
3. Scroll down until you see Your Library, then make sure the Show Local Files toggle is on.
4. Once you do that, all the audio files, even your audio recordings, will show up in your Local Files found in Your Library.
5. If the file isn’t showing in your Local Files, you can click on Add a Source, find the folder where your audio files are, and select it.

You can also choose to sync your mobile and desktop local files.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is it free to upload music to Spotify?
• Why can’t you upload music to Spotify directly?
• How much does Spotify pay per play?

Is it free to upload music to Spotify?

Most distributors charge either an annual subscription fee or a per-upload fee, but there are some that offer free plans, too. Some examples are Amuse, Bandcamp, Routenote, and Soundrop.

Why can’t you upload music to Spotify directly?

Spotify closed its beta program that used to allow artists to upload tracks directly on Spotify. This is because they deemed that the better way to cater to artists and labels is to work with distribution partners, who are capable of ensuring the quality of the metadata and protecting artists from issues like infringement.

How much does Spotify pay per play?

How Spotify calculates royalties is a little complex as Spotify doesn’t directly pay artists royalties on a per-stream rate.

What artists get as royalties varies depending on how their music is streamed and their agreements with their distributors. Spotify pays rightsholders, who then pay artists and songwriters. That said, a six-month analysis suggests artists could receive $0.0032 per stream.