Spotify to allow music artists to upload directly to streaming platform for free

[News]

In industry news, Spotify has launched a new system that allows music producers and music artists to upload directly to the streaming platform for free without the need of a distributor or label.

While in invite-only mode at the moment with a few hundred US artists, the streaming giant says it will “bring upload to even more artists, labels, and teams” in the near future.

The move looks to work as a two pronged approach in pushing for mass uploads without the sometimes prohibitive costs and also a way to knock out competitors such as Soundcloud – the traditional free platform as well as distributors such as tunecore, CD Baby and Ditto that aggregate music onto the platform for relatively low fees.

Another interesting take is removing the necessity of indie and major labels in providing the service, although being able to deliver to the platform is a big step up for artists isn’t the whole story with a much wider push from labels to music sites/blogs, Youtube and radio. really being the key in developing a brand or story for the artists.

It does proposition the idea of a single Spotify channel uploading artists content, much like the popular Youtube channels Majestic Casual, Proximity and Trap Nation but we’ll see about the legalities of that soon.

For now, it’ll create a further divide between Spotify and it’s free based approach versus Apple Music who are on a subscription based model only, with the later recently dethroning Spotify in the US for paying subscribers.

Will be interesting to see how this one pans out!

Via Music Business World Wide

 

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