Spotify Fan Study: What It Tells Us About Fan Engagement

The greatest measure of streaming success is an engaged audience i.e. loyal fans. Loyal fans are those key individuals that support you no matter what. 

They’re the ones who recommend you to their friends, add your song to their personal playlist, share your Spotify Canvas on their Stories, and purchase every piece of merch that you put out.

Deepening your relationship with existing fans is crucial. Spotify’s Fan Study shows how valuable a good relationship with your existing fans can be to career longevity. 

1. A fan that saves your track will listen to it 3 times more

“Saving tracks shows that fans have a strong intent to relisten. And it’s not measured in days or weeks, but months. For example, 6 months after saving, a user typically streams you 3x more than before they saved you.”

This is why encouraging your fans to pre-save your tune is important. A pre-save is equal to a pre-order: your team can check how many people are interested in your music, which in turn leads to more investment in your music. 

A large number of pre-saves also increases your chances of being added to an editorial playlist and user-generated playlist. It shows streaming services that they should pay attention to what you’re doing. 

It’s super easy to create a pre-save campaign using Amplify.link! 

Find out how>>

2. User playlists lead to a lot more than streams

“After a listener adds you to a personal playlist, they’ll listen to you 41% more and look at your profile 12% more often. In fact, 60% of all merch purchased from Spotify profiles come from listeners who have playlisted the artist.”

When fans add your music to their personal playlists, Spotify’s algorithm will pick this up and start recommending your music to similar users. 

Additionally, if a fan follows you on Spotify, your music will automatically be added to their “Release Radar” playlist every time you release a new song. 

3. Hardcore fans listen like crazy

“Your biggest fans can drive a massive amount of streams. On average, the top 5% of your fans are listening 6x more than the rest. Don’t forget to connect with your biggest supporters, even as you chase new listeners.”

As we’ve explored in previous blog posts, engaging existing fans is vital to your career. 

According to music strategist Bas Grasmeyer, “Benefits of that immersion and having more direct conversations include:

• A more committed fanbase who feel like they can really connect with you.
• A fan community that learns to talk to each other, so not everything depends on you to keep the conversation going.
• Better insights into the people that make up your fanbase, which can help with the identification of new business models like membership plans, or even just special types of merch.
• A stronger feeling of purpose: these are your people and they love what you do.”

Furthermore, you can simultaneously expand and engage your fanbase through Spotify’s Music + Talk, which empowers you to take a deep dive into the world of podcasting. 

Photo by Sergi Kabrera on Unsplash