SPOTIFY TO NO LONGER ALLOW ARTISTS TO UPLOAD WITHOUT THIRD-PARTY DISTRIBUTOR

Nearly a year ago, Spotify rolled out a feature as part of Spotify for Artists that allowed content creators to upload their music directly to the platform. In an announcement today, July 1st, the streaming service has announced that artists will once again have to go through a third-party distributor.

"The most impactful way we can improve the experience of delivering music to Spotify for as many artists and labels as possible is to lean into the great work our distribution partners are already doing to serve the artist community," reads a post to the Spotify website. "Over the past year, we’ve vastly improved our work with distribution partners to ensure metadata quality, protect artists from infringement, provide their users with instant access to Spotify for Artists, and more."

The statement goes on to say that uploads will no longer be accepted at the end of July, and existing content uploaded directly by artists will need to be moved to a separate provider. Spotify will also give those who participated in the upload beta discount coupons from select distributors.

Spotify for Artists also includes creator-oriented services such as merchandise fulfillment, music page customization and concert promotion.