Artists, producers, A&Rs, the most recent developments at Apple Music and Spotify has seen them roll out a couple of exciting features, that I do know won’t be just a want, but rather a need.

Being that I am passionate about the entertainment industry (music in particular) and artist development, I did some digging. Stay with me.

At the start of March, Spotify unveiled a new feature, Countdown Pages, so long as they are eligible artists. We shall get into the nitty gritty of who qualifies and all a bit later. The Countdown Pages feature is poised to boost the promotion of upcoming albums and of course, that means, a boost in your stream count, since it gets users to pre-save your project to their library before it is released. It additionally builds excitement and drives album streams upon release.

The countdown feature was first tested with select artists over the past year; one instance I first saw the feature was around the time Grammy-winning South African star Tyla was gearing up for the release of her debut self-titled album “TYLA”, there was a countdown, having the number of days, minutes, seconds till the LP went Live on Spotify. Asake’s 3rd studio album “Lungu Boy” album arrives this week and if you check him out on Spotify, you’ll find that countdown already indicating 1 day and a couple of minutes and seconds till the album releases.

This feature was designed to streamline pre-release efforts by providing a centralized hub for fans to presave albums, preview tracks, watch clips, purchase merch, and follow a countdown to the release. This integration further aims to make the pre-release phase more efficient and cohesive across Spotify’s platform. Outside Africa, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Taylor Swift are some of the artists on whom the feature has significantly impacted their careers and registered notable success, with Taylor Swift’s album being named the most pre-saved in Spotify’s history.

On who qualifies to make use of the Countdown Pages feature, an artist out to have had at least 5,000 active listeners in the last 28 days. The Countdown Pages are accessible throughout the Spotify app, including the artist profile, “Now Playing” view, Search, and Home. Spotify also enhances fan engagement by sending push notifications to those who pre-save the album, automatically adding it to their libraries upon release. In case you have the above requirements, update your “Spotify for Artists” App to explore this feature and be in control of your creative side and marketing of your music.

Still in the same vein, Apple Music as July was coming to a wrap introduced a new premium feature; Radio spins. Through Apple Music’s Apple Music for Artists App and website, as an artist, A&R, and artist manager, you can monitor your music’s airplay on over 40,000 radio stations globally and from more than 200 countries and regions, except for Apple Music Radio. This feature, integrated throughout the platform, allows you to explore detailed data on the Trends page, showing which stations are playing your music the most and which songs are getting the most airplay. Additionally, the “Places” page reveals where your music is being played worldwide.

I do find this feature incredibly timely, and cost-friendly since it is free, so, for an independent artist or for the case that an artist team is operating with minimal resources and is unable to get their hands on paid 3rd party tracking platforms/ tools, here’s a free airplay analytics tool. To track “Radio Spins”, update your Apple Music for artists mobile app or sign in via the web.

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