You were wondering why listeners are skipping your music on Spotify? This guide will teach you how to reduce your Spotify skip rate and amass massive Spotify streams.
For Spotify listeners to skip your track, it means you have done a great job in getting your music out there. However, you would need more than just exposure to build a reliable fan base; you will need to push your music to the perfect audience.
There are two reasons Spotify listeners are skipping your songs viz.
- You are marketing your music to the wrong audience.
- Your music needs better creative input.
The term ‘wrong audience’ can mean followers of a Spotify playlist who don’t care about your genre. Still, somehow your music got playlisted on the playlist or listeners from a particular region (let’s say France) who discovered your song (originally written in Portuguese) with the aid of a ‘misinformed’ Spotify algorithm. Either way, it’s never a good thing to be discovered by Spotify users who cannot relate to your music.
On the other end of the spectrum, if your song is getting skipped because it is not good enough, you may need to up your game as first impressions last longer. A disappointed listener might not give your music another chance in the future.
What is Spotify Skip Rate?
Spotify ‘skips rate’ or ‘skips count’ is a metric that indicates the number of times a user skipped a song on a playlist. The user must have listened to the track for more than 30 seconds for a listener’s stream to count. When a listener gets off a track within the first 30 seconds, Spotify counts the action as a skip.
Daniel Breitholtz, Spotify’s Nordic head of shows and Editorial, confirms that editors at Spotify consider the skip rate while shopping for new music. However, he stated that this metric is one of many factors and should not blow it out of proportion. In line with Daniel’s revelation in the Music Ally interview, the most potent factor is the Spotify save rate.
How to check my Spotify skip rate
The Spotify skip rate is only visible to Spotify playlist editors. The tool used is said to be burdensome and not available to the general public. The Spotify for artist site provides real-time data such as the number of streams, top cities, top countries, listener’s age, and source of streams; however, the skip count section is missing.
How to reduce my Spotify skip rate
According to a renowned music blogger, yclept Paul Lamere, a 24.14 percent probability that a Spotify listener would skip a song in the first five seconds. His report suggests that the likelihood of skipping a track on Spotify in the initial 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and at the ending part of a track are 28.97%, 35.05%, and 48.6%, respectively. This study infers that you have just 5 seconds to impress your listeners. A good rule of thumb for impressing your early listener is to start your track with the chorus or the catchiest part of the track. That way, you can create a great first impression.
For experimental artists in their approach to making music, the Spotify study is not just scary but also discouraging. If you knew your song would get skipped by new listeners for not following the conventional way of arranging music, you might feel tempted to follow the crowd. It is important to state that Lamere’s finding is only true for singles as listeners tend to be more patient when listening to albums. When releasing singles independently, you may not want to go against the grain except if you have a huge fanbase or trust your gut.
Reduce your Spotify skip rate and increase your track’s replay value by following the three steps below.
Only use playlists in your niche
Adding a rap song to a rock and roll playlist will get the track skipped. People tune into different playlists based on their moods. For example, there are playlists created exclusively for working out, meditating, working, and partying. Playlist listeners punish misplaced tracks by skipping them. Do not pay to put your song on a Spotify playlist that aligns with your music genre or mood.
Help the algorithm define your potential audience
Nothing is perfect, and the Spotify algorithm is not an exception. In a bid to get your track out there, the algorithm can expose your track to uninterested ears that might skip it as soon as it starts playing. However, using collaborative filtering and natural language processing, the algorithm tries to understand each track and push it to the best audience.
The algorithm uses its natural language processing to shop for information about a track on search engines, articles, and blogs. That way, the Spotify algorithm can know more about the track. Also, the information you provide Spotify when pitching your song can help the algorithm decide what audience would love your music.
You can assist the Spotify algorithm by making press releases and updating your social media pages/personal website with information about the track before the release date.
Know what listeners want
The most successful artists in every genre know what their audiences want and deliver at the appropriate time. Rap fans want hard-hitting bars, while afrobeat fans love danceable beats. If you do not know what your fans and potential fans want, there is no way you can grow a dedicated fanbase. Streams from a loyal fanbase can mitigate the effect of skip counts from few uninterested Spotify users.