How to use Chartmetric and Spotify for Artists to understand your audience, track your releases, and make better decisions about touring, releases, and promotion in India.
Part 1: Spotify for Artists
What It Is
Spotify for Artists (artists.spotify.com) is Spotify's free dashboard for artists and their teams. It provides real-time data on streams, listeners, playlist adds, audience demographics, and editorial tools.
How to Claim your Profile
1. Visit artists.spotify.com 2. Log in with a Spotify account (use your artist/manager email, not a personal account) 3. Search for your artist profile 4. Request access (verification takes 24–48 hours) 5. Once verified, you can edit your profile (bio, photos, header image, artist pick)
What you Can Do with Spotify for Artists
Release Pitching
The most important feature for independent Indian artists. When you upload a new release to your distributor at least 7 days before the release date, you can pitch the release to Spotify's editorial team for playlist consideration.
- One pitch per upcoming release (choose your best track)
- Fill in genre, mood, instrumentation, and story accurately — these feed into the editorial team's decisions
- You will not always receive editorial placement, but it is zero cost and the only way to be considered for major playlists (New Music Friday India, Indie India)
Streaming Data
- Monthly listeners: Total unique listeners in a 28-day window
- Streams: Total plays (a stream counts after 30 seconds)
- Listeners by city: Critical for touring decisions — see where your listeners are concentrated before booking a tour leg
- Listeners by country: Important for identifying international markets
- Followers: People who follow your artist profile (less important than monthly listeners for discovery)
Audience Demographics
- Age and gender breakdown of your listeners
- Device type (desktop vs. mobile — mobile dominates in India)
- New vs. returning listeners (important for gauging release impact)
Playlist Data
- See which playlists your songs appear on
- User-generated playlists (non-editorial) often drive significant streams for indie artists
- Track how playlist adds correlate with listener spikes
India-specific Insight
India has one of Spotify's largest global listener bases. However, streaming rates in India are lower than US/UK rates due to pricing tiers. A song that does well in India in terms of streams may earn less per stream than the same play count in Germany. Use the city breakdown to see: are your listeners in Mumbai and Delhi? Or distributed across Tier-2 cities? This affects where you tour and where you target ads.
Part 2: Chartmetric
What It Is
Chartmetric (chartmetric.com) is a third-party analytics platform that aggregates data across multiple DSPs, social media platforms, playlists, and charts. Unlike Spotify for Artists (which only shows Spotify data), Chartmetric pulls data from Spotify, Apple Music, JioSaavn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Shazam, radio airplay, and more.
Pricing: Chartmetric offers a free tier with limited data and a paid subscription (approximately USD 10–20/month) with full access.
How to Set Up your Chartmetric Account
1. Visit chartmetric.com 2. Create an account (free tier available) 3. Claim your artist profile 4. Connect your social accounts (Instagram, YouTube, Spotify)
Key Features for Indian Artists
ARTIST SCORE (CPP — Chartmetric Performance Points): A single score summarising an artist's overall platform presence. Useful for benchmarking against peers in the Indian indie scene.
Playlist Tracking
See every playlist your songs appear on across Spotify, Apple Music, JioSaavn, and YouTube Music globally. This is the most powerful feature — you can discover influential curators adding your music before you would have noticed organically.
Fans Also Listen
See which other artists share your audience. Useful for:
- Identifying artists to collaborate or tour with
- Understanding your genre positioning in the Indian market
Social Media Growth Tracking
Track follower growth on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook over time. Correlate social spikes with releases and promotional activities.
Audience Geography
More detailed geographic data than Spotify for Artists. See listener concentration at the state level in India — useful for planning tour routing in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
Radio Airplay Tracking
If your music is getting played on Radio Mirchi, Big FM, or other Indian stations, Chartmetric can track this. Useful evidence for IPRS royalty verification and for pitching to new radio stations.
Part 3: How to Use These Tools for Decision-making
Before Booking a Tour
Use Spotify for Artists city data to confirm where your listeners are. Do not book a show in a city where you have 50 monthly listeners when you have 5,000 in a nearby city. Example: If Chartmetric shows your audience is concentrated in Bengaluru and Pune, these should be your first tour stops — not Delhi.
Before a Release
Check your current monthly listener trend. Is it growing or flat? A release during a growth phase amplifies the effect. Also check which playlists your previous songs are on — editorial playlists in India follow genre and mood patterns. Understanding what got you onto those playlists guides how you pitch the next release.
After a Release
Track the "first week effect": streams in days 1–7 following release. This is the window where editorial and algorithmic playlists make decisions. A spike in streams in week 1 can trigger algorithmic playlist adds (Discover Weekly, Release Radar) that sustain listening for weeks.
For Playlist Pitching
Use Chartmetric to identify curators of playlists where songs similar to yours appear. Note the playlist curator's Spotify or social accounts and reach out directly with a brief, personalised pitch.
Part 4: Other Useful Analytics Tools
JioSaavn for Artists: artists.jiosaavn.com — claim your profile to access listener data on India's largest streaming platform. This is important: many Indian listeners are primarily on JioSaavn, not Spotify, and their data won't appear in Spotify for Artists.
Apple Music for Artists: artists.apple.com — similar to Spotify for Artists, with audio shazam data and global city-level listening data.
YouTube Studio: Access via studio.youtube.com — critical for tracking video views, watch time, geographic audience, and revenue (if monetised).
Soundcharts: Alternative to Chartmetric, with strong playlist and radio tracking features.
Monthly Analytics Review Template
Run this check every month on the last Friday of the month.
Spotify for Artists
Monthly Listeners (current month): ___________ Monthly Listeners (previous month): ___________ Change: +/- ___________ Top 5 Cities: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Top Song (streams this month): ___________ New Playlist Adds: ___________
Chartmetric
Artist CPP Score: ___________ Instagram Followers (end of month): ___________ YouTube Subscribers (end of month): ___________ Playlist count (total): ___________ Notable new playlists added:
JIOSAAVN (if data available) Monthly Plays: ___________ Top City:
Action Items from This Month's Data
1. 2. 3.
Created by: Date:
Free to use · Part of the Indie Music India toolkit · Updated September 2026