Already know about Discovery Mode and would like to opt in tracks through Proton? Head over to our Step-By-Step guide!
Spotify Discovery Mode: A Quick Overview
Spotify Discovery Mode allows you and your team to identify songs that you’d like to prioritize in their algorithms that power certain personalized playlists to help you find new listeners when it matters to you most. Including a song in Discovery Mode increases the likelihood of it being recommended in these listening contexts, but does not guarantee it.
Spotify has seen that 33% of all discoveries on Spotify happen via personalized recommendations in algorithmic contexts, and on average, tracks in Discovery Mode are streamed in 100 markets during the campaign period.
While there is no upfront cost to adding a song to Discovery Mode, Spotify will charge a commission rate on that song’s streams within Discovery Mode contexts during the campaign. All other streams outside of Discovery Mode contexts continue to be commission free.
Extra Exposure & How It Works
Tracks enrolled in Discovery Mode have a higher likelihood of being heard in select listening contexts Discovery Mode does not add tracks to where they don’t already belong, but rather it adds a new signal to help prioritize the tracks that the artist teams care about most. Instead, if the track was going to be featured in that playlist already, it may be prioritized and appear higher up in the list – increasing the chances it will be heard.
Discovery Mode Contexts:
What algorithmic playlists currently support Discovery Mode?
Discovery Mode is currently supported in the below list of algorithmically generated playlists. Spotify calls these "Discovery Mode Contexts". To learn more about Discovery Mode contexts, click here.
How does the Discovery Mode commission work?
When you enroll a song in Discovery Mode, Spotify will apply a 30% commission to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts during the campaign period. (See the list of Discovery Mode contexts above.)
All other streams of selected songs outside of Discovery Mode contexts remain commission-free.
The commission impacts the royalties for all involved: the original artists, remix artists, music label, and distributor.
What tracks are eligible for Discovery Mode?
Not all songs are eligible. Here's how eligibility works:
Artist-side rules (managed by Spotify)
The artist has at least 25,000 monthly listeners.
The artist has at least 3 total eligible tracks on Proton or another distributor.
Track-side rules (managed by Spotify)
The track has been released on Spotify for at least 30 days.
The track has at least 20 streams in Discovery Mode contexts (Radio, Autoplay, or Spotify Mixes) in the previous 28 days.
The track has at least 1 play in Autoplay or Spotify Radio in the last month.
The track meets Spotify's monetization criteria, including at least 1,000 plays over the last 12 months.
All collaborating original artists, remixers, and the music label must agree to the 30% commission on recording royalties.
To learn more about Discovery Mode from Spotify, check out their overview here.