Indie acts can now better measure the impact of their Spotify ads

Spotify advertisers can now get deeper information on how effectively their ads are working.

So far, only basic sats were available through the Spotify Ad Studio; the number of clicks, age, gender and musical preference of users.

Now its new metrics will alert acts whether the user clicked through to listen, saved the music or added it to a playlist, and whether the ad worked better with established fans or new ones.

The latter data will particularly help emerging independent acts firm their strategies for growth.

As an example, Spotify pointed out that 38% of people who heard rapper Rich The Kid’s promo for his new track went on to check out his music, and nearly 20% of those streamed his music for the first time that month.

Rich The Kid’s marketing agency Wavo says His 30-second audio ad included a sample of his new single with personal into.

“With Spotify’s new advertising capabilities, we’re getting insight into not just how our campaign is resulting in streams, but deeper actions for an artist like how those listeners are turning into fans and adding a song to their playlist or hearing a song,” said Wavo CEO and co-founder Conor Clarke.

“Those are the holy grail of metrics for an artist to know.”

The Spotify Ad Studio launched in 2017 as a self-serve platform where acts and their teams can purchase and place audio ads in between songs.

Like artist exclusives, added artist tools are used in the battle by Spotify and Apple Music to increase subscribers.

In the US, Apple Music has overtaken Spotify in terms of streaming service although the Swede retains its lead elsewhere in the world.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple now has 28 million paid subscribers to Spotify’s 26 million in the US.

Apple Music has the advantage of being pre-installed in iPhones, which has 900 million owners around the world.

But WSJ also notes that Apple’s growth rates are exponentially higher both in the US and globally coming in at 2.6% to 3% with Spotify’s sitting at 1.5% to 2%.

But Spotify is also striking deals with Samsung and Sprint, and expanding into new markets, to expand its subscriber base.