Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Saturday edition • 3 min read

Spotify Adds a Participation Badge Just for Being Human

What's Up

Hey, good news, and it's coming from Spotify, no less. They're rolling out "Verified by Spotify," a green badge for real, active artists. And don't worry, this isn't Twitter… X. There's no monthly fee or follower count requirements. Tough luck if you're a fake band, though (hah).

So What

Remember the last edition when we spoke about Spotify's Co-CEO promising they'd fix the AI mess for artists? Well, it's faster than expected, but consider this receipt number one.

There are something like 75,000 tracks getting dumped onto streaming platforms every single day. A lot of slop out there, people. So a little green badge that says, "Hey, look, I'm human," really goes a long way right now.

Now What

Keep doing the boring stuff. Release music regularly, prioritize real engagement, and just show up. Spotify is also testing an "artist details" section in beta with milestones, release history, and tour dates, so make sure your profile is up-to-date. Pretend a music journalist is about to look you up.

[Full story at Hypebot]

Quips: Patreon's Answer to Short-Form Content

What's Up

All tech companies have their TikTok phase eventually. And this time, we have Patreon launching "Quips," free, short posts that show up in the home feed for everyone, not only for paying members.

So What

But how's Patreon different from every other app trying to be TikTok? Well, for starters, their algorithm doesn't care about watch time. It's more focused on engagement. You know, actually showing up and talking to people who care about your stuff? Which, weirdly enough, used to be called "the internet."

Now What

Use Quips for stuff that doesn't really fit anywhere else. It's really for building up a free audience that could be a paying audience if you catch our drift.

[Full story at Music Ally]

TikTok Stops Guessing, Starts Asking

What's Up

Alright, decent little update from TikTok. You can manage the keywords on your uploads now. Up until now, all they did was auto-slap keywords on your videos based on whatever was trending. Talk about non-consensual.

So What

An update like this is so obvious that you're probably wondering why they didn't do this from the get-go. If TikTok's been tagging your music posts with the wrong stuff, you've basically been invisible to the people you want to see you. Being able to fix that yourself means your uploads can finally match what your real audience is searching for.

Now What

Dig around the Inspiration section in TikTok Studio for search terms that fit what you're posting. When you upload, cut the junk keywords that TikTok auto-assigned and swap them for better ones. And don't try to game it with random trending words. TikTok'll just restrict your post anyway. Not worth it.

[Full story at Music Ally]