How to Get Your First
1,000 Streams on Spotify
Getting your first 1,000 Spotify streams is a significant music career milestone. It's also easier said than done. TuneCore and its Accelerator platform are committed to artistic development in the digital space, and getting any song its initial 1K streams isn't just a goal – it's a necessity. Here's how you get your first 1,000 streams on Spotify.
What Do 1K Streams Mean on Spotify?
First, let's cover precisely why your first 1,000 streams on Spotify matter.
When a track gets 1,000 streams on Spotify, it's monetization-eligible for mechanical royalties. How many tracks cross this threshold? Less than you might think. According to Luminate's year-end report for 2023, more than 158.6 million songs received 1,000 streams or less on Spotify that calendar year. One thousand streams might not feel like making it, but it gets you access to more royalty payouts and Spotify's most premium promotional tools (Marquee and Showcase). It carries weight in the industry.
Most importantly, your earliest 1,000 streams are a career breakthrough that you independently catalyze. You're not waiting for momentum—you're creating it. That's the foundation for a lasting music career.
Get More Streams, Monthly Listeners &
Grow Your Audience
Secure Your Spotify For Artists Page
As obvious as this seems, claiming your Spotify For Artist Page is the first step to earning your first 1,000 streams on Spotify.
As a Spotify Verified Artist, you can:
Receive the "verified" blue check mark.
Access Spotify's free analytic features – including audience data, which breaks down which demographics you're trending with and the countries where you are most popular.
Pitch to playlists (this will be important later on)
We get it – analytic features might seem useless when searching for stream number "0001." They're not. If someone discovers your music before you've started promoting it, you want to know where and how. When you habitualize checking data, you lay the foundation for more innovative future release strategies.
Being a Spotify Verified Artist sets you up for short- and long-term success.
Utilize Your Network
When it comes to self-promotion, your network is your net worth.
The people you know – from friends to family to online mutuals – are the driving force of an artistic career in its earliest stages. Asking for others' support can make you feel vulnerable. Consider how often you've seen a coworker's show or checked out a friend of a friend's mixtape. The frequency might be higher than you think.
Here are some ways to utilize your network efficiently:
Ask your ride or dies to stream you
Ask ten close friends to play your latest track if you're a solo artist. If you're in a band, have every member do this. Tell those friends to tell a friend. [TK fact from Luminate about how many songs have 0 streams on Spotify that Erica Quinn shared during the company meeting] – if even one person presses play on your song, it's no longer one of them.
Reach out to your artist mutuals
If someone is pursuing a career in the arts, they likely understand hustling to get art seen or heard. Make a list of your friends, colleagues, and social media followers who are musicians or artists. Reach out to them about streaming your track once. Volunteer to check out what they're up to (and do it). This will yield streams and, as importantly, trusted connections between you and your fellow creators. Those are priceless.
Promote smarter and harder
Are you booking gigs on the regular? Are you playing open mics? Regardless of your live performance output, it's time to incorporate savvy promotion into your sets. Drop your social media handles into between-song banter. Invest in an inexpensive QR code generator you can display during performances and ask the audience to take photos for library ads, streams, and follows. When you make it easier for fans to engage with your music, the more likely it is they will.
Fine Tune Your Music
No amount of promotion will matter if your music doesn’t sound the way you want it to.
Whatever your recording budget is, there are affordable ways to improve the fidelity of your recorded output. We launched TuneCore Mastering to combat this very issue, offering a cheap AI-driven alternative to costly sessions (check it out right here). We also wrote a guide to help your music meet Spotify’s audio-upload requirements.
There are also resources to take your songwriting up a notch if you feel your bars, hooks, or riffs aren’t up to snuff. Check out TuneCore Master Classes for guides on all of the above, plus free songwriting handbooks from the Berklee School of Music and music research guides from New York University.
Find the Right Playlists
Playlists are the skeleton key to increasing monthly listens on Spotify.
Think of playlists as the new radio, mixtape, and music blog rolled into one. They offer trusted curators an opportunity to highlight songs or artists they love to a tuned-in audience hungry for them. If you want to increase your Spotify streams, you must get your songs on playlists.
That's why the question isn't "if" you should do so, but "how." The second question is which Spotify playlists are suitable for your music.
Write down a list of five artists you think your music sounds like. Find the official Spotify playlists they're on by visiting their Spotify Artists page. If you see multiple artists you share sonic commonalities with on those playlists, save them. If they also feature lesser-known artists, it would be even better.
They're going to be ideal homes for your music.
Determine Your Promotion Budget
When it comes to promoting your music on Spotify, there are premium, low-cost, and no-cost options. None of them are magic bullets. All of them are useful. Be honest with yourself about what you can afford to spend on self-promotion and follow through by putting the work in, whether that’s purchasing Spotify Showcase or pitching to playlists.
One excellent free way to get your tracks onto Spotify playlists is to make your own.
Having playlists on your Spotify for Artists page is a surefire way to let your fans know who you are and your tastes. Mixing your influences with your latest tracks cements your values and sonic identity and can endear you to new listeners. There's no reason not to make them.
To be 100% clear: Spotify playlist pitches are free, but there are requirements for pitching, including frequency and when you're allowed to pitch a track. Read all of Spotify's pitching requirements here.
Craft Your Pitch
The most important part of any Spotify playlist pitch is your music. The second (and almost equally important) is the pitch itself.
Here’s how to connect the two and stand out from the crowded field of artists pitching to playlists:
Hook Your Audience Emotionally
Why did you write this song? What do you want it to evoke in your audience? To paraphrase CRJ: cut to the feeling.
Provide Good Context
How does this song fit into your career arc? What are the milestones of your career so far? Playlist curators don't know you yet – it's okay to give them a highlight reel.
Know Your Playlist
You'll be pitching to multiple playlists, and no two are alike. Let the language and aim of your pitch reflect the exact one you're pitching to.
Stay Sharp Online
If a curator is interested in your music, they will likely check out your social media. Make sure your accounts are in order before you post.
Avoid Streaming Fraud
Hustling for your first 1,000 streams on Spotify isn’t easier. There is no “easy” legal way to obtain them.
It’s vital to be wary of illegal or fraudulent ways to increase your streams. The consequences are dire. You need to understand what streaming fraud is and how bot farms disguise themselves as legit ventures to prevent either from capsizing your career. Take time to read our Streaming Fraud Guide right here.
Join TuneCore Accelerator
We’re biased, and: the easiest way to get your first 1,000 streams on Spotify is to join TuneCore at a Rising, Breakout, or Pro Artist level and take advantage of TuneCore Accelerator.
Accelerator is a powerhouse platform that uses exclusive in-house AI-driven technology that plays a crucial role in selecting the right tracks for algorithmic marketing tools like Spotify Discovery Mode. It also leverages a wide range of top-tier artist services aimed at getting your music discovered, expanding your audience, and building fan connections.
What does this mean for you? Artists with less than 1,000 annual streams and between 1,000 and 10,000 annual streams increased their earnings 5x and 3x on average in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
That's a change you can count on.
Ready to Get Your First
1,000 Plays on Spotify?
You now know how to get your first 1,000 streams on Spotify. You know the tactics to take, the ways to take advantage of Spotify’s playlisting process, and the ways TuneCore can accelerate the process like no one else in the industry. The only thing left to do is get your music on Spotify – and we can help with that too. Let’s level up your career now. Sign up for a TuneCore Rising, Breakout, or Professional plan to get unlimited distribution at 150+ music stores and streaming platforms like Spotify and start getting your first 1,000 streams and then some today.