Spotify today announced a pair of initiatives to support the creative community in the wake of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the most immediate of which is a plan not only to donate to relief organizations — beginning with MusiCares, PRS Foundation and Help Musicians — but to match donations made via its website dollar-for-dollar, up to a total Spotify contribution of $10 million (which, combined with the matched donations, would equal $20 million).
Along with Amazon Music, Facebook, SiriusXM-Pandora, Tidal and YouTube Music, on Tuesday Spotify also announced a “generous” donation to the COVID-19 Relief Fund announced last week by the Recording Academy’s charitable foundation MusiCares to support music industry workers in need.
Spotify today also announced a plan, still in development, that will enable artists to fundraise directly from fans.
The initiatives were announced this morning on the company’s blog; the text and links follow in full below.
“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spotify has engaged partners across the industry to discuss how we can support artists and the creative community who have been deeply impacted by the effects of the virus. Though streaming continues to play a key role in connecting creators with their fans, numerous other sources of revenue have been interrupted or stopped altogether by this crisis.
Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief
Today we launched the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project, which recommends verified organizations that offer financial relief to those in the music community most in need around the world. To begin, we’re partnering with MusiCares, PRS Foundation, and Help Musicians, and are looking forward to adding more partners worldwide. Spotify is making a donation to these organizations and will match donations made via the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief page dollar-for-dollar up to a total Spotify contribution of $10 million.
If you are interested in learning more about how to contribute, visit our website. If you’re a music industry professional in need, we encourage you to visit our partners’ sites for information on applying for relief.
A New Spotify for Artists Feature
We’re also working diligently to launch a feature that will enable artists to fundraise directly from fans during this challenging time. Soon, we will give artists the ability to drive listeners to a fundraising destination of their choice on their Spotify artist profile pages.
This will give artists on Spotify the ability to link out to a verified funding page for themselves, for another artist in need, or for a separate initiative of their choice. (This feature will, of course, be optional for artists to leverage; no changes will be made to profile pages unless the artist chooses to participate, and Spotify will not take a cut of any contributions.)
If you’re a Spotify for Artists user interested in this feature, please sign up here, and we will email you when it’s ready — or follow us on Twitter.
Programs from Spotify Creator Tools
For those continuing to create at home, music talent marketplace SoundBetter is waiving its revenue share, cloud-based audio recording platform Soundtrap will offer extended free trials for educators, and Anchor will waive fees on its Listener Support feature.
Combatting the impact of this pandemic on the music industry will take a massive global effort, and we are working quickly to assemble and optimize these new resources. We will share additional details and updates as soon as we have them. To learn more about Spotify’s broader efforts to address COVID-19, on-platform and off, please visit For the Record.”