(CelebrityAccess) — Spotify, the dominant on-demand music streaming platform, announced a new experimental program that will let artists pay for placement directly from their royalties.
The experimental program, announced on Monday, allows artists and labels to identify specific tracks they want to prioritize through Spotify’s recommendation algorithm, making it more likely the music will be featured in personalized recommendations to users.
In exchange, labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams where Spotify delivers the promoted music through personalized listening sessions.
Spotify did not reveal what the promotional royalty rate was and cautioned that they won’t guarantee placement to labels and artists but will only recommend music their algorithm thinks will match a listener’s taste.
The recommendation system will also account for other factors, including the time of day, or the order in which a listener is hearing songs or podcasts, and the release date of a particular song, the company said.
Spotify said by not requesting an upfront payment, the service would allow artists “at any stage of their careers” to take advantage of the experimental system.
According to Spotify, the experimental service goes live “soon” and will start with the streaming platform’s Radio and Autoplay formats with plans to expand to other parts of the platform in the future.
