> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Spotify’s Paid Promotion Tool Is Called Marquee and  Artists, Indie Labels Can’t Afford To Use It
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/spotifys-paid-promotion-tool-is-called-marquee-and-artists-indie-labels-cant-afford-to-use-it/
- Published: 2019-12-03T17:56:57.000Z
- Updated: 2019-12-03T17:57:11.000Z
- Description: In October, Spotify announced the addition of a new “pay per click” ad placement that allows artists and labels to announce new releases to both free and paid subscribers as. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/12/spotifys-paid-promotion-tool-is-called-marquee-and-artists-indie-la
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: DIY Advice & Tips, Indie Music, Music Marketing, Streaming, Spotify, Spotify For Artists, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 09:55

In October, Spotify announced the addition of a new “pay per click” ad placement that allows artists and labels to announce new releases to both free and paid subscribers as part of a new “two-sided marketplace” strategy.

The placement marks the first time that Spotify has allowed paid promotion on its Premium service.

Details of the product, called Marquee, are starting to emerge including a price point that’s out of reach for most musicians and independent labels.

Marquee will cost 55 cents every time a use clicks on the release announcement, and Spotify is recommending a $5000 minimum buy-in. That means that for $5000, potentially 9000 people will stream to the new track or album.

Not 9000 99 cents track downloads, $10 album purchases of $30 concert tickets. 9000 people *may* stream the new music.

### **$5000 Ad Spend Nets $32.40 In Streaming Revenue**

Using indie artist Zoe Keating’s latest S[potify payment rate](https://www.hypebot.com/zoe-keating-shares-new-spotify-per-stream-payment-rate/) of $0.0036 per stream, that $5000’s spent to earn $32.40\. Let’s assume the release was an album and every one of those 9000 clicks resulted in a 10 track album being streamed, that’s a $5000 spend to earn at most $324.

“Spotify is saying, ‘we want you to pay us to display your records.’ All this does is continue what payola always has done – the major labels, which have the most money and the most frequent releases, get the most play, consolidating the amount of art that is put out there, ” George Howard, a professor of music business at Berklee College of Music told [Rolling Stone.](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/spotify-marquee-ad-cost-5000-915990/?curator=MusicREDEF&ref=hypebot.com)

Charleton Lamb, a Senior Product Marketing Manager for Spotify retorts: “We’re hopeful that our recommendations are useful, that we’re able to match \[artists\] with people who are going to be interested. But you’re not paying for streams. Every listener has the choice to either engage or not.”

### **Using Marquee To Game The Charts**

One advantage of using Marquee is that clicks on the announcement mean more streams and more streams mean higher chart placement on Billboard and elsewhere.

That is until Billboard decides – as it did this Fall with [YouTube](https://www.hypebot.com/youtube-revises-music-charts-to-eliminate-pay-for-view/) – to stop counting streams that come as a direct result of a paid placement.