Spotify Metrics: Monthly listeners vs. Followers

When it comes to measuring an artist’s performance on Spotify, two indicators come to mind: Monthly Listeners and Followers. What do they actually indicate and which one should you pay more attention to? Here we explain the key differences and some things to keep in mind. 

Monthly Listeners

By definition, Monthly Listeners are the unique users that stream your music in a 28-day period. The time variable is really important, it helps us understand that this is a contextual indicator. This means that your Monthly Listeners are going to change depending on some specific contextual factors, such as entering into a playlist or going viral on social media for example. This also does not indicate the amount of total streams on your songs within 28 days, as users stream very differently across Spotify - a monthly listener makes at least one stream but it could also make 20 streams across your catalog. 

Followers

On the other hand, Followers indicate a bit more precisely your fan base. Users who have proactively decided to follow your artist profile, have a more active relationship with the artist, especially than monthly listeners (who might not realize which artist they are listening to). This is one of the few things a fan can actually pro-actively do on Spotify, as the engagement options (outside of actually listening to the song) are quite limited. Spotify’s algorithm takes this into account when suggesting new music to their user base. Every time you release a new song, Spotify is going to push it into each of your followers’ Release Radar playlist (which actually accounts for a great part of discovery on Spotify). 

Conclusion

As you can see, each of both indicators tell different stories, but it is important to have both in mind. The goal is to convert your Monthly Listeners into Followers since it is a more engaged relationship and ideally you will land in their personalized Release Radar playlist. Opening the funnel for more Monthly Listeners increases the chance of being followed.

One way to get your music heard and open the top of the funnel is submitting your songs over DailyPlaylists’ free tier, our marketplace. Playlisting is an important part of music promotion since it can have a direct effect on your Monthly Listeners. A great way towards this conversion is submitting to playlists after you’ve listened to them, being honest with yourself if your song really fits the playlist - remember, curators only want songs that are a 100% fit. People that follow a truly matching playlist have a higher chance to engage with your song and your project.

And if, besides your music project, you curate your own playlists, then you can leverage from the tools that we give playlist curators - these tools will help you grow your playlist while driving engagement to your Spotify profile and catalog. Learn how to submit your playlist to DailyPlaylists here.

We hope this article helps you to have a clearer understanding of these metrics and how they can help you make decisions for your artistic career. If you feel ready to submit to playlists and curators and see how they affect your indicators, you’re in the right place!

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