Tag: Conner Smith

Artists Can Now Start Countdown Pages To Promote Their Upcoming Albums

July 24, 2024

Building anticipation ahead of a new album release is one of the most important ways for artists to ensure its success. But in today’s music landscape, gaining prerelease momentum across multiple platforms that are often disconnected from where streaming actually happens is exhausting and inefficient. That’s where we come in. Spotify for Artists arms you with powerful tools to unleash your release’s full potential, reach a global audience, and deepen connections with fans before your music is released.

After having tested Countdown Pages with a select group of artists over the last year, we’re excited to announce that starting today, we’re expanding this feature to all eligible artists.

Countdown Pages is the ultimate prerelease destination where fans can presave an artist’s upcoming album, preview the track list, watch Clips, purchase merch, and see the timer count down to the release moment—all on Spotify. All artists with at least 5,000 active listeners in the 28 last days will now be able to create their own Countdown Pages to build hype for an upcoming album and ultimately drive streams once the album is released. 

Listeners can find Countdown Pages across the Spotify app, including in the artist profile, Now Playing view, Search, and Home. Plus, once an artist’s new album drops, Spotify sends a push notification to all presavers and adds it straight to their libraries.

“The lead-up to an album’s release is arguably the most important time during a project’s life cycle. With this in mind, we took a step back as a company to come up with ways that we can help artists build momentum with fans during this period and elevate the album as an artistic statement,” said Sam Duboff, Global Head of Spotify for Artists, Marketing & Policy at Spotify. “The prerelease moment can often be disjointed across many different platforms; through the powerful tools offered in Spotify for Artists and our upcoming expansion of Countdown Pages to hundreds of thousands of artists, Spotify is focused on becoming the best home for artists and labels to release and promote their new music.”

Artists like Taylor Swift, Anitta, KAYTRANADA, Billie Eilish, Peso Pluma, Dua Lipa, Khruangbin, Charli xcx, Maggie Rogers, Whethan, Clairo, John Summit, and hundreds of others have already used Countdown Pages—in fact, earlier this year, Taylor Swift’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT became the most presaved album Countdown Page in Spotify history! We’ve seen impactful results for artists and their teams that include multiple benefits . . . 

Fans are presaving albums

More than 80% of Spotify presaves happen the week an album is announced and during the week leading up to its release. This is also when we typically see strong social promotion from artists’ sharing their Countdown Pages with fans directly. For example, pop superstar Meghan Trainor uploaded a snippet of the “To the Moon” music video to her Countdown Page before sharing on social media, which helped drive additional presaves.

“Adding Clips to my Countdown Page has been a game changer,” Meghan said. “It gave me the chance to promote my single ‘To the Moon’ and provided fans a look into the creative world of my album Timeless ahead of its release. It’s like a hub for my album to make everything so much more convenient!”

Presaving leads to increased streams 

On average, nearly 70% of users who presave an album stream it in the week following its release. And with the ability to reveal additional details about their upcoming albums, artists like country star Conner Smith have used Countdown Pages to keep fans engaged as release day nears. 

“One thing I love about the Countdown Page on Spotify is being able to tease your track list,” Conner said. “Fans see what they’re going to get with the record. The Countdown Page just kind of puts it all in one place and makes it simple for fans to kind of see and understand.” 

Clips help drive engagement

In a study of more than 500 artists with Countdown Pages, artists who uploaded Clips to their Countdown Pages averaged twice as many presaves as artists who didn’t.

“We used Clips to share studio footage of us recording the album and the album trailer video, which helped drive presaves on the Countdown Page and excitement for the record,” alt rock band Wallows said.

With the expansion of Countdown Pages, Spotify continues to invest in new tools designed to amplify the release moment and give each release its best chance at breaking through while helping artists build their fan bases on Spotify. 

For artists who want to use features like Countdown Pages, Clips, Canvas, Campaign Kit, and more to promote their new music, Spotify for Artists’ recently launched New Release Guide offers a comprehensive resource that will guide them on their journeys.

Four Days of Country Music at Spotify House During CMA Fest 2022

June 15, 2022

This past weekend, CMA Fest returned to Nashville for the first time since 2019 to celebrate all things country music. Top country stars and emerging artists alike came together at Spotify House to perform and enjoy time in an intimate setting with their fans. Spotify House was located in the unmatched Blake Shelton and Opry Entertainment Group’s Ole Red. With four days of performances across two stages, there was something for everyone in the crowd.

Spotify partnered with Meta throughout the event to bring an exclusive Instagram Reels experience to Spotify House, capturing content with director The Tommy B for artists’ Instagram and Facebook. Adding to the experience for fans were QR codes from Digital Seat Media, which helped attendees receive real-time event updates. 

Also on the ground was our team behind Spotify: Mic Check, which had the opportunity to speak to several returning CMA Fest performers and newcomers alike. The episode featured R&B-inspired country artist Tiera Kennedy, whose song “Found It In You” recently hit 20 million streams after being featured on Spotify’s Hot Country playlist. 

“I remember when I first moved to Nashville, wanting so badly to be on all those playlists. To see my music on all those playlists is really cool and it feels really special.”

Meghan Patrick, who performed at CMA Fest again this year, was also thrilled to be back onstage. “I’ve always looked at CMA Fest as a huge milestone and a huge opportunity to be part of. Every year it feels like I get a few more opportunities to play and show my music and play some different stages. Every year it’s always super exciting and a great opportunity to have some great exposure to a lot of fans in a short amount of time.” 

Check out the episode, which also features Erin Kinsey and Brett Eldredge, below.

Read on for a little more from each day of CMA Fest.

Day 1: Darius Rucker, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Ashley McBryde, and more

Spotify House got off to an incredible start with Darius Rucker, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Chase Wright, Brantley Gilbert, Ashley McBryde, Dustin Lynch, Dalton Dover, Nate Smith, Ashley Cooke, Kameron Marlowe, Meghan Patrick, and Nikki Lane taking the stage for day one. 

Superstar Darius Rucker kicked off with a high-energy opening set, performing chart-toppers “Alright” and “This” as well as his iconic Hootie & The Blowfish track “Only Wanna Be With You” and fan favorite “Wagon Wheel.”

Hannah Ellis, Dalton Dover, and Nate Smith soon hit the stage for performances of their own tracks as well as famous covers from fellow country artists. They were followed by a full-circle moment for rising country star Chase Wright, who made his Spotify House debut just a few years after he found himself waiting in line to get into the CMA Fest hot spot. 

Fans were treated to a surprise performance from Jimmie Allen when he joined Ashley Cooke onstage for their song “Good Goodbye” and a duet of his song “Freedom Was a Highway.” Kameron Marlowe dazzled the crowd, as did Meghan Patrick, who serenaded fans with “Heart On My Glass,” accompanying herself on the harmonica. As the sun went down, Brett Eldredge performed two tracks from his upcoming album Songs About You, including the album’s title track and latest single, “I Feel Fine.” This year, we also hosted our Fresh Finds Rooftop for the first time. The rooftop stage featured emerging artists Abby Anderson, Chris Ruediger, Taylor Edwards, Maggie Baugh, Tanner Adell, and Jordan Rowe.