When and how does Spotify count songs as "listened to"?

[EnaiSiaion]

Spotify provides recommendations based on what you have listened to and pays artists based on how many times their songs have been streamed. I have a few questions about this:

• What happens when you restart a song?
• What happens when you skip a song right away?
  
• What happens when you skip the last 5 seconds of a song?
• Does it count listening to songs on your own PC through Spotify if the song is also in the Spotify library (but lower quality)?
• Does it count offline listening?
• Does it count private mode listening?

I'm hesitant to try new music because it might ruin my recommendations if I don't like the music, and I feel obliged to listen to the last few seconds of an outro so the artist doesn't miss out on money...

Thanks. :)

[MattSuda · Accepted solution]

To count a song as "one play" or "one stream" a song has to be listened to for 30 seconds or more.

When you restart a song, it will count as a play as long as 30 seconds are listened to. Skipping the last 5 seconds of a song does not hurt the artist.

Offline listens are counted and sent to Spotify's server the next time you connect to the Internet. Yes, private listening mode is also counted.

• Does it count listening to songs on your own PC through Spotify if the song is also in the Spotify library (but lower quality)?

I'm not sure about this one.

[EnaiSiaion]

Thanks. :D So I don't need to worry.

[Peter__]

Local files don't get counted for purposes of paying artists.

[pittsy66]

Thanks for answeing this. I was worried that skipping the last 5-30 seconds of a song would affect this, as a long of great songs have long outros!

[felixd_h]

All songs I see shorter than 30 seconds have no listens counted, or very few, even when I am sure they have recieved far over 1000 plays. Do you know how Spotify counts listens for songs that are under 30 seconds or if they can even be counted?

[DaniHoward]

If the same user plays a song multiple times on the same device, are all of these plays counted? 

Thanks!

[felixd_h]

yes

[Azurei]

Does mute count too?

[saraguchi2316]

No reason it shouldn't