You’ve uploaded your music to Spotify and are ready to set a new stream record. But.. how long does a song need to be streamed? What happens if you skip, pause, replay a song? Do I receive revenue for short plays? Do offline plays count?
These are some of the most frequent questions we get regarding Spotify streams. And of course these are important questions when motivating fans to go listen to your new release. So.. how long should some one stream your song in order for it to count as a play?
30 seconds
30 seconds is the length your track should be played on Spotify. It does not matter if a listener starts streaming from beginning, middle or end. As long as a song is streamed for at least 30 seconds, it counts as a play. And for every counted play, you receive royalties.
Offline plays are counted exactly the same as online plays. As soon as a device gets back online again, play counts are synchronised.
Play count delay
Are you playing your own song, but don’t see the play count increase? Not to worry! Spotify only updates the play count of your release about once a day. Adding to this, there can be some caching happening as well.
This means you won’t see your plays immediately. We know this can be frustrating and confusing in the beginning (you won’t be the first one to send u a mail about this). But sit back, relax, and before you know you can see your new total. 🙂
Can I play my own track?
Yes! Of course. Spotify generally does not know (or care) if the Spotify account you are logged in with belongs to the musician or artist a track is streamed from. So feel absolutely free to play your own music at home. Or in the car. Or throw an album listening party for your friends!
How can I make sure my track is streamed for 30 seconds?
Now you know at least 30 seconds of streaming are needed for it to count as a play, how do you achieve this? The answer probably can’t be more obvious: make sure your music is interesting!
Each part of your song should keep listeners engaged, so spend some extra time on that break. Or make that build even more epic! It’s also a good idea to remove any silence on the end of your track. Not only is this required by stores, but it prevents ‘skip’ actions too!
You now know everything there is to know about stream lengths on Spotify. Go and make some great music!