Spotify Countdown gives artists and music labels an official destination on Spotify to send fans before release day, featuring the ability to pre-save the release on Spotify directly without relying on a 3rd party pre-save tool.
Artists and music labels will still need to use Release Links from Proton or a 3rd party link tree service to organize all the different links for a new release (like Spotify, Beatport, Apple, etc.) but now Spotify Countdown can be the link you use on that page for Spotify, if you want to take advantage of Spotify's on-platform/official pre-save tool.
Step by Step Guide
Step #1: Eligibility. Check if the release is eligible for Countdown. On the pre-order date, visit the Spotify for Artists of the 1st Headline Artist on the release, and look for the "Countdown Page" in the "Pre-Release Checklist". If you don't see it, check the Eligibility & Requirements area below to learn more & troubleshoot the issue.
Here's an example of how an eligible release looks inside the Spotify for Artists:
Step 2: Setup & Publish. Follow the steps to setup and publish Countdown.
You'll be able to hide unpublished track titles and also upload Spotify Clips!
Step 3: Configure Release Link (for Label Managers on Proton). After publishing the Countdown on Spotify, you can add the Countdown URL to the Release Link on Proton, or whichever 3rd party Link Tree service you're using. For how to manually update Proton Release Links, click here! To find the Release Link, just look for the link icon for the release in SoundSystem, like this:
Eligibility & Requirements:
What artists & releases can use Countdown?
Not seeing Countdown appear as an option inside Spotify for Artists? Please check the below requirements & troubleshooting tips closely before contacting Proton for help.
Requirement #1: Spotify Countdown is unfortunately not available to all artists yet. An must have over 5,000 Active Listeners over the past 28 days to be eligible.
Active listeners are different than the Monthly Listener # you might be familiar with. Learn more about active listeners, and how to look up how many an artist has.
Requirement #2: Spotify Countdown can only be setup/enabled inside Spotify for Artists via the 1st Headline Artist on the release. Headline Artists are "release level" artists configured by the label manager. For example, if an album has the Headline Artists "Sasha" and "John Digweed", then Countdown can only be setup from Sasha's Spotify for Artists page. Label Managers can learn how to configure and change the order of Headline Artists, which can be updated even after a release has been scheduled!
Requirement #3: A release must have more than 1 track in order to be eligible for Spotify Countdown. 1 track releases are not supported by Spotify Countdown.
Requirement #4: A release must be configured as an EP or Album in order to be eligible for Spotify Countdown. Learn more about Release Types here, which can be updated even after a release has been scheduled.
If you have a 2 or 3 track release configured as a "Single", you'll need to ask the label manager to change it from "Single" to "EP".
If you have a larger release configured as a "Compilation", you'll need to ask the label manager to switch it to an "Album" with at least 1 Headline Artist instead of "Various Artists".
If you're an artist, you can detect what "Type" your release is configured by looking here in Spotify for Artists. If it's set to "Single", ask your label manager to change it.
Troubleshooting Tips
Not seeing Spotify Countdown showing up for your release?
Here are some troubleshooting tips that might help in some (but not all) cases...
On Proton, a release with 2 or 3 tracks may get automatically sent as a "Single", which is not supported by Spotify Countdown. Label Managers can change this by switching the Release Type over to "EP" instead.
If the release is a "Compilation" by Various Artists, you can instead pick up to 3 Headline Artists and ask Proton to change the type manually for you to "Album".
If a release has multiple Headline Artists configured, but the 1st Headline Artist does not have >5000 Active Listeners (different than Monthly Listeners!), you can try checking if the other artists on the release might have 5000 or more active listeners and change the order of the Headline Artists.
How does it work on Proton?
How do I get the Countdown link?
For labels powered by Proton, Spotify Countdown pages can be accessed by fans starting on the pre-order date.
If you have an upcoming release and also have over 5,000 unique monthly listeners over the past 28 days, then you'll be able to find/generate the Spotify Countdown URL by accessing Spotify for Artists.
Label Managers can then add the Spotify Countdown URL to the Proton Release Link or whichever 3rd party link tree service they're using.
If you're using Release Links on Proton, simply go to the "Edit" page of the Release Link to manually add the Spotify Countdown URL.
This will replace Proton's own built-in pre-save functionality for Spotify.
If you're a label manager on Proton but do not have access yet to Spotify for Artists for all the artists on your label roster, learn how to get that setup here.
Can Spotify Countdown include audio previews?
Not unless a track on the release is already been released on Spotify, for example via a Proton Streaming Single.