Spotify for Artists Launches “Active Listeners” Feature to Measure Intentional Streams

The data accrued from the platform's new "Active Listeners" feature will helps artists understand how much fans are intentionally streaming their music.

Spotify for Artists' newest "Active Audience" feature will help musicians better understand how much fans are intentionally streaming their music.

The keyword here is "intentional." In order for a listen to be counted as "intentional," it has to be played from the artist's profile, album or release pages, or from the user's own playlists. Streams that come from Spotify-curated playlists are considered "programmed streams" and will not count toward the data accrued by "Active Audience." 

Spotify segments these listeners into three categories: "Light," "Moderate" and "Super." For a listener to be considered "Light," they have to stream your music "once or a couple times in the last 28 days," according to Spotify. "Super listeners" are the most dedicated.

"With insight into the streaming habits of their most active audience, we want to help artists turn listeners into fans who engage directly with their music," reads a tweet shared by Spotify for Artists.

Active listeners are paramount for any artist. If a user actively streams an artist's music, they're four times more likely to stream it again. 

At the time of this article's publication, the "Active Listeners" insights are only informative. Artists will not have a direct way to connect with their fanbases within Spotify's platform, but these insights can easily be paired with data from other sources to get a better picture of their audience.