What Counts as a Stream on Spotify? Complete Guide
Understanding Spotify's streaming rules is essential for artists. Learn what counts as a stream and how it impacts your music career.
If you're an artist or simply curious about how Spotify works, understanding what counts as a stream is essential. Let's break down the rules.
The 30-Second Rule
For a play to count as a stream on Spotify, a user must listen to a track for at least 30 seconds. This applies to:
- Songs played from search
- Songs played from playlists
- Songs played from albums
- Songs played from radio stations
If someone skips your song before the 30-second mark, it won't count as a stream.
Free vs Premium Accounts
Both free (ad-supported) and Premium listeners generate streams. However, the royalty payout differs:
- Premium streams typically pay more per stream
- Free streams generate revenue from ads, resulting in lower per-stream payouts
Regardless of account type, both count toward your total stream count displayed on Spotify.
What Doesn't Count
The following don't count as streams:
- Listens under 30 seconds
- Muted playback (Spotify can detect this)
- Artificial streaming from bots (against ToS and can result in removal)
- Offline plays until the device syncs
How Streams Affect Royalties
Spotify uses a "streamshare" model. Your payout depends on:
- Total streams in a given period
- Your share of those total streams
- The country where streams occurred
- Free vs Premium listener ratio
The average per-stream payout ranges from $0.003 to $0.005, though this varies significantly.
Tracking Your Streams
Want to monitor how your streams grow over time? Use MyStreamCount to track daily stream counts and view historical performance charts for any song on Spotify.