Offline Listenings and Royalties

[JJSTRK]

There's a service I won't name that doesn't record what you listen to offline. I just want to confirm: does Spotify record what we listen to offline both for paying artists' royalties and our listening stats? 

[AdamDamon · Accepted solution]

Hi @JJSTRK,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community!

Spotify indeed counts offline listening for your listening stats; the way it works is that if you’re listening offline, the data is stored in the app; and the next time you connect to the internet on your device, this data is sent to Spotify so the streams can be counted. However, note that whether listening offline or online, streams are only counted when you’ve listened to over 30 seconds of the song. You can also refer to this similar thread as well as this Spotify for Artists help article for more information regarding what counts as a stream on Spotify.

With respect to royalties from streaming, bear in mind that Spotify does not pay artists royalties directly according to a per-play or per-stream rate. When a song gets played on Spotify (whether online or offline), the rights holders (typically record labels or distributors in the case of artists, and aggregators or collecting societies in the case of songwriters) receive royalties for it.

Artists and songwriters choose their rights holders, and make agreements on their music, including giving them permission to deliver it to Spotify. In return, Spotify pays the rights holders; and the rights holders then pay the artists and songwriters according to their individual agreements. You can also refer to this Spotify for Artists help article as well as spotify.com/loudandclear for more information about how artists on Spotify are paid.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and have a good day!

[JJSTRK · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much for all the info. Very informative!