Spotify recently released a global fan study, offering artists information about its listeners that may help guide them in how to market their music and capitalize financially.

WordPlay T. Jay said the study includes multiple data points, including reach, engagement, release information and merchandising information. One thing that was not included was touring information, something T. Jay would like to see in the future so artists could plan tours around where the majority of their fans are based.

Reach

According to the study, Latin America discovers the most music, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, specifically discovers the most independent musicians.

Listeners tend to overlap genres, as well. For example, hip hop and R&B listeners also tend to listen to a lot of pop, rock and electronic music.

The study also noted how regional sounds, like K-pop, have become globally recognizable. Users also enter through different platforms when finding music, such as Facebook, Reddit, Discord, etc.

Engagement

The study showed that artists should encourage people to save their tracks, as people who save tracks listen three times as much and come back a month later and listen at the same rate.

Artists should also encourage their fans to include them in their user-created playlists, as fans who do this listen 41 percent more than those who don’t. Furthermore, 60 percent of all merchandise is sold to fans who add artists to their own playlists.

Predictably, top fans listen to those specific artists more. The top five percent of listeners of any artists listen about six times more than the other 95 percent.

Independent artists can take advantage of this by using the Anchor app to further engage those top fans.

Release

Spotify recommends artists update their profiles before each new release or promotion of a new single.

The study found that 53 percent of releases peak seven days after coming out. And, an artist’s catalog generally receives a 15-20 percent boost when a new release is dropped.

One way to pump up those numbers is by promotions in the app, such as adding a Canvas to the new release.

Merchandise

Spotify said artists should encourage fans to go to the merch store, and artists can take advantage of certain tools like geotargeting, possibly making specific merch for fans in specific regions.

Artists can also consider getting into the vinyl game, but T. Jay suggests investing wisely, as vinyl is expensive.

For more about the study and advice from T. Jay, check out the video below!