Spotify Glossary for Independent Artists: 40 Terms Explained

Last checked: 8 October 2026 · How these guides are checked

Disclosure: MusicPromoLab sells music promotion. Every claim below links to its source at the end.

0–9

1,000-stream minimum

The 1,000-stream minimum means a track earns nothing on Spotify until it has 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months. In force since April 2024, it also requires a minimum number of unique listeners that Spotify doesn’t publish.

Source: “Track monetization eligibility”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How much does Spotify pay per stream? · Tool: How many Spotify streams make $1,000?

7-day pitch window

The 7-day pitch window means delivering and pitching an unreleased song in Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release. That gives Spotify’s editors time to listen and puts the pitched song in your followers’ Release Radar.

Source: “Pitching music and videos to Spotify playlist editors”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Music release plan template

A

Algorithmic playlists

Algorithmic playlists, which Spotify calls personalized playlists, are built for each listener by algorithms that study what they and similar listeners play. Discover Weekly and Release Radar are two well-known examples.

Source: “Types of Spotify playlists”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: What is Discover Weekly?

Artificial streaming

Artificial streaming means plays that don’t reflect genuine listening, such as streams generated by bots or scripts. Spotify doesn’t pay for these streams, removes them from public counts and can take the song down.

Source: “Artificial Streaming”, Spotify for Artists · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Song removed for artificial streaming?

Artist Pick

Artist Pick is the slot at the top of your Spotify profile where you feature a release, playlist, concert or merch. A Pick stays live for 180 days unless you change it sooner.

Source: “Managing your Artist Pick”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

B

Botted playlist

A botted playlist is one whose plays come from bots or scripts rather than real listeners, which Spotify treats as artificial streaming. If your song lands on one, Spotify asks you to tell your distributor and report the playlist.

Source: “Artificial Streaming”, Spotify for Artists · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How to tell if a Spotify playlist is botted

C

Canvas

Canvas is a 3 to 8 second vertical loop that plays in the Now Playing view instead of your cover art. It must be an MP4 or JPG in a 9:16 ratio, between 720 and 1,080 pixels tall.

Source: “Canvas guidelines”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Music release plan template

Clips

Clips were videos artists uploaded through Spotify for Artists, and new Clips uploads stopped on 17 June 2026. Clips already uploaded stay live, and Clips on Countdown Pages are now called countdown videos.

Source: “Clips”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026

Countdown Pages

A Countdown Page is a pre-release page where fans can pre-save an album or EP, preview the tracklist and watch countdown videos. The artist needs at least 3,000 monthly active listeners, and singles aren’t eligible.

Source: “Getting started with Countdown Pages on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Music release plan template

D

Daily Mix

Daily Mixes are personalized playlists that blend songs a listener already plays with recommendations based on their taste. Spotify’s Mixes are among the playlists where Discovery Mode can reach listeners.

Sources: “Spotify Mixes”, Spotify Support; “Discovery Mode contexts”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Is Spotify Discovery Mode worth it?

Discover Weekly

Discover Weekly is a personalized playlist of songs picked for each listener, updated every Monday. Spotify says it sparks more than 56 million new artist discoveries a week, 77% of them from emerging artists.

Source: “Discover Weekly Turns 10: Celebrating 100 Billion+ Tracks Streamed and a Decade of Personalized Discovery”, Spotify Newsroom, 30 June 2025 · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: What is Discover Weekly?

Discovery Mode

Discovery Mode is a Spotify for Artists tool that helps chosen songs get heard in Radio, Autoplay and Spotify Mixes. There’s no upfront cost, but a 30% commission applies to what those streams earn, and artists need at least 25,000 monthly listeners.

Sources: “Using Discovery Mode in Spotify for Artists”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Discovery Mode contexts”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Is Spotify Discovery Mode worth it?

Distributor

A distributor is the company that delivers your music to Spotify and pays out what your streams earn. Most charge a fee or commission, and some preferred distributors give instant Spotify for Artists access.

Sources: “Getting music on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Getting access to Spotify for Artists”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Does DistroKid promote your music?

E

Editorial pitch

An editorial pitch is a free request, sent from Spotify for Artists, for Spotify’s editors to consider one unreleased song. You pitch one song at a time, and a pitch doesn’t guarantee a playlist placement.

Sources: “Pitching music and videos to Spotify playlist editors”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Campaign Kit”, Spotify for Artists · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Spotify pitch template and examples · Tool: Is my song ready for Spotify?

Editorial playlists

Editorial playlists are curated by Spotify’s editors, who are genre, lifestyle and culture specialists, and carry Spotify’s mark in the byline. Spotify for Artists is the only way to submit new music to them.

Sources: “Types of Spotify playlists”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Playlisting”, Spotify for Artists · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How to pitch Spotify editorial playlists

F

Followers

Followers are people who follow your artist profile; you see the total, but not who they are. Spotify says that, on average, listeners who follow an artist are 3 times more likely to stream them in the next 6 months.

Source: “Understanding your listener and follower stats”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify monthly listeners, explained

I

ISRC

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is a unique code that identifies one sound recording. The same recording keeps its ISRC on a single and an album, while a remix or edit needs a new one.

Sources: “What is an ISRC?”, DistroKid Help Center; “Understanding ISRCs”, CD Baby Help Center · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Single vs EP vs album?

L

Listeners

Listeners are the unique people who streamed your music in the period you choose, so one fan playing ten times counts once. Streams count plays; listeners count people.

Sources: “Understanding your listener and follower stats”, Spotify for Artists Support; “How your streams are counted”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

Loudness normalization

Loudness normalization is how Spotify evens out soft and loud songs during playback, adjusting tracks to -14 dB LUFS. Spotify suggests mastering near -14 dB integrated LUFS, with true peaks below -1 dB.

Source: “Loudness normalization on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Is my song ready for Spotify?

M

Marquee

Marquee is a paid, full-screen pop-up in the Spotify mobile app that recommends a new release to likely listeners. It must start within 21 days of release, and the artist needs at least 5,000 monthly active listeners in the target market.

Source: “Getting started with display campaigns”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify Marquee vs Showcase

Monthly listeners

Monthly listeners is the number of unique people who played your music in the last 28 days, from any source. Monthly active listeners are the subset who played you on purpose, from your profile, your releases or their own library.

Source: “Audience segments on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify monthly listeners, explained · Tool: Spotify monthly listeners to money

P

Playlist curator

A playlist curator is whoever picks the songs on a playlist: on Spotify, that is an editor, an algorithm or a listener. Plays from playlists made by other listeners show in your stats as a programmed source.

Sources: “Types of Spotify playlists”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Source of streams”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: SubmitHub vs Groover vs Playlist Push

Playlist pitching services

Playlist pitching services charge a fee to send your song to independent playlist curators, who decide whether to add it. Spotify’s terms bar any service that sells a guaranteed playlist placement for money.

Sources: “Artificial Streaming”, Spotify for Artists; “Artificial streaming and paid 3rd-party services that guarantee streams”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: SubmitHub vs Groover vs Playlist Push · Guide: Is Spotify promotion legit?

Popularity score

Popularity is a 0 to 100 score Spotify gives each track, based mostly on its total plays and how recent they are. It can lag real plays by a few days, and the same song on a single and an album is scored separately.

Source: “Get Track”, Spotify for Developers · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: What is Discover Weekly?

Pre-save

A pre-save lets a fan save a release before it comes out, so it lands in their library on release day. Spotify’s Countdown Pages offer pre-saves, and distributor tools such as DistroKid’s HyperFollow collect them too.

Sources: “Getting started with Countdown Pages on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support; “What Is HyperFollow?”, DistroKid Help Center · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: What to post on release day

Promo Cards

Promo Cards are shareable assets from Spotify that highlight a song, album, artist profile or milestone on social media. Spotify also offers them to celebrate a placement on select playlists.

Sources: “Sharing your music”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Playlisting”, Spotify for Artists · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

R

Radio and Autoplay

Spotify Radio plays songs based on an artist, album or song, and Autoplay adds similar songs when an album or playlist ends. Both are places where Discovery Mode can help a song get heard.

Sources: “Spotify Radio”, Spotify Support; “Autoplay tracks”, Spotify Support; “Discovery Mode contexts”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Is Spotify Discovery Mode worth it?

Release date

The release date is the day your music goes live on Spotify, set and changed through your label or distributor. Since 2015 new music has come out worldwide on Fridays, the day Release Radar refreshes.

Sources: “Unreleased music in Spotify for Artists”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Frances Moore to step down as CEO of IFPI”, IFPI, 20 July 2023; “Getting music on Release Radar”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: How often should you release music?

Release Radar

Release Radar is a personalized playlist of new releases, updated every Friday, from artists a listener follows, plays or might like. Pitch a song at least 7 days before release to choose which one your followers get.

Source: “Getting music on Release Radar”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How Spotify Release Radar works

S

Saves

A save is counted when someone taps the plus button on your music, which adds it to their library. Spotify links saves and playlist adds to a 2.5x increase in streaming of an artist 6 months later.

Sources: “How we count saves”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Tracking display campaign results”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

Showcase

Showcase is a paid banner on Spotify’s Home and Browse screens that promotes a new or catalog release. It can run any time, for 14 days or until its budget is spent.

Source: “Getting started with display campaigns”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify Marquee vs Showcase

Single, EP and album

On Spotify, a single has up to 3 tracks and an EP has 4 to 6, each release running under 30 minutes. A release with 7 or more tracks, or over 30 minutes, counts as an album.

Source: “How do music stores define a Single, EP, Album, or a Various Artists release?”, CD Baby Help Center · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: Single vs EP vs album?

Source of streams

Source of streams is the Spotify for Artists breakdown of where on Spotify people played your music. Active sources are ones listeners chose, like your profile or their library; programmed ones are picked by Spotify or another listener.

Source: “Source of streams”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

Spotify Ads Manager

Spotify Ads Manager is Spotify’s platform for creating audio and video ads for listeners on its free tier. It was called Ad Studio until Spotify renamed it in July 2024.

Sources: “Promoting music on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Introducing the newly branded Spotify Ads Manager”, Spotify Advertising, 24 July 2024 · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify Marquee vs Showcase

Spotify for Artists

Spotify for Artists is Spotify’s app and website where artists see audience stats, promote their music and manage their profile. Artists who release through a preferred distributor get access as soon as they submit a request.

Sources: “Getting access to Spotify for Artists”, Spotify for Artists Support; “Promoting music on Spotify”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Spotify for Artists stats, explained

Stream

A stream is counted when someone plays a song or music video for at least 30 seconds. Plays of downloaded music count once the listener goes back online, which Spotify requires at least every 30 days.

Source: “How your streams are counted”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Tool: How many Spotify streams make $1,000?

Streamshare

Streamshare is how Spotify splits payouts each month: a track with 1% of all streams receives 1% of that month’s pool. That pool is roughly two-thirds of every dollar Spotify earns from music.

Source: “Track monetization eligibility”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How much does Spotify pay per stream? · Tool: Spotify monthly listeners to money

T

Targeted ads

Targeted ads are ads shown to a chosen group of people, selected by traits like age or location, or by shared interests. For music, the signals can include the genres and listening habits people already show.

Sources: “Targeted advertising 101: Make your message matter”, Spotify Advertising, 22 October 2024; “Audience targeting: Find your people”, Spotify Advertising · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How much does Spotify promotion cost?

U

UPC

A UPC (Universal Product Code) is a unique code that identifies a release, such as a single or an album. Spotify asks for it, with your artist link, to give you Spotify for Artists access before your first release.

Sources: “What is a UPC?”, DistroKid Help Center; “Getting access to Spotify for Artists”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: Does DistroKid promote your music?

User playlists

User playlists, which Spotify calls listener playlists, are the millions of playlists made by Spotify listeners themselves. When fans add your music to theirs, it tells Spotify what they like and what to recommend.

Source: “Types of Spotify playlists”, Spotify for Artists Support · checked 8 October 2026 · Guide: How to tell if a Spotify playlist is botted

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