Do you see your playlist followers increasing and ever wondered how much you could make if you can monetize your Spotify playlist? Well, now you don’t have to wonder anymore.
Luckily, there’s more than one way you can make money off of your playlist. For instance, artists can pay you for adding their songs to your playlist. Or you can simply sell your playlist to any willing buyer.
Having said that, you first need to make sure that your playlists are worth monetizing. Factors like the size of your following and the number of songs in the playlist affect your ability to monetize your playlist.
Ok, let’s get into it!
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Methods to Monetizing Your Spotify Playlist
Chances are, your friends have probably complimented you on your taste in music. Now, you can put this good taste to exceptional use and make some passive income out of it. Without further ado, here are some of my top methods for monetizing your Spotify playlist.
Method 1: Become a Streaming Curator
This is one of the most reliable methods of making money by creating a Spotify playlist. In this instance, you’d be working in-house with Spotify to generate playlists based on several aspects such as genre, vibe, or instrumentation.
Your job is to attract more subscriptions to Spotify with your awesome playlists. You’ll need to keep updating the playlist as new music emerges so you retain listeners. In this line of work, you may become overwhelmed with the increasing demands from labels and artists to get a spot on your playlist.
It’s also worth considering that it’s not only music curators that Spotify is after, but podcast ones as well. As a podcast manager, you can curate compelling podcasts for niche listeners. Curators also work with the company’s marketing sector to develop an analysis of user consumption and the evolving market.
Method 2: Sell Your Playlist
The idea here is to create a playlist for someone and sell that compilation of songs to a willing buyer. Now, you are not selling your account to someone – you are selling the compilation of songs. Creating a curated list of songs for someone is time consuming and takes work and so people may be willing to pay you for that service.
That being said, doing this may go against Spotify’s terms and conditions, so you may want to tread carefully if you plan on doing this.
Method 3: Artist Song Placement Requests
If your playlist is really popular, growing Spotify artists are likely going to want some exposure by featuring in your playlist.
Although this could be profit-making, this method could be risky. Firstly, you could be adding songs that’ll ruin your overall playlist. Secondly, this exchange is not in line with Spotify’s policy, which could essentially jeopardize your account, so tread lightly.
Nevertheless, if you want to go through with this method, you can simply place your email in the playlist description. That way, artists can contact you and if you think their music would make a great addition to your playlist, then add it.
Method 4: Work for a Curating Company
This is one of the easiest methods to monetize your Spotify playlist. In it, you’ll be working with a third-party company such as PlaylistPush and SoundCampaign to review songs and add them to your playlist.
These curating platforms usually pay around $1 to $12 per song review. Before you apply to work for these sorts of companies, there’s usually a set of requirements you need to fulfill. In PlaylistPush’s case, you’ll need to have:
- At least 1000 followers for every playlist
- A minimum of 30 and 1% active monthly listeners for every playlist
- No fake account followers, bots, or active listeners.
- 100% real listening activity
- All followers should be organically gained
- No playlists with a single band or artist, albums, or songs
- No movie or TV series soundtrack
- No changing playlist titles for the sake of gaining more followers
- No playlists curated based on a certain decade such as a 90s playlist
By following these rules, you’ll be guaranteed a spot as a playlist owner for most music curating companies. The best part is that you get to widen your music scope and support up-and-coming indie artists.
Tips to Grow Playlist Following Base
The main requirement for most of the methods mentioned above is to have a large follower count. That way, your playlist will seem legit and worth monetizing, whether it’s to artists or music curating companies. Check out our tips below on how to grow your playlist follower base.
Tip #1: Add Value
Whenever you create your playlist, always prioritize quality over quantity. Every song should be non-skippable. This all comes down to your reviewing skills. To make it easy, you want each song you add to be your favorite one.
Tip #2: Place the Best Songs First
Although people usually say to leave the best for last, it may not be true in this case. You want to open your playlist with songs that’ll keep your listeners’ attention. You can do this by placing the most popular songs in the beginning.
Tip #3: Specialize Your Playlist
Lots of Spotify playlists are generally categorized as “Pop,” “Beach Vibes,” or “Happy Songs.” You want to create a more specialized Spotify for your niche listeners. In other words, “Happy Songs” are loosely defined because happy music is different for everyone.
That being said, you can specify your playlist songs by closing in your genre. For example, you can make a playlist dedicated to piano instrumental music for studying.
Tip #4: Create an Enticing Title and Cover Image
The first things your potential listeners are going to see are your title and playlist cover image, so you need to make them count. In addition to these components, your description also needs to include relevant keywords to your playlist.
You can use Google Trends to help you find the most popular keywords that feature the music type in your playlist. When it comes to your cover image, relevance is key.
You need to be creative and try to use pop culture to your advantage. For instance, in a Spotify playlist with heartbreak songs, the curator decided to put a picture of Bart Simpson crying. For reference, he’s a character from the popular TV series “The Simpsons.”
Conclusion
Can you make money from Spotify playlists? As it turns out, yes, you can. If you enjoy creating several playlists depending on genre, mood, or instrumental, then you can make a job out of it.
There are several methods to go about this such as selling your playlist or working for a curating company. Once you build your follower base, you’ll know you’re successful, especially when artists are emailing you for song placement.
That being said, try to avoid violating any of Spotify’s terms and conditions to prevent account closure. It wouldn’t be worth the extra bucks then.
