Countdown Pages need 3,000 monthly listeners, and singles do not qualify
Spotify's only documented pre-save mechanism has an eligibility bar and an album-shaped hole in it. Worth knowing before you build a campaign around one.
Pre-save campaigns are sold hard by third-party services. Spotify's own documented pre-save product is the Countdown Page, and it comes with conditions that rule out a lot of releases.
The conditions
- 3,000 monthly listeners minimum. Below that, the option does not appear.
- Albums and EPs only. Spotify states that "Only new and original albums and EPs are eligible for Countdown Pages. Singles aren't eligible." Rereleases, deluxe and anniversary editions, reissues, remasters and compilations are also out.
- 72 hours after delivery. The option appears within 72 hours of your licensor delivering release metadata, and can be created or edited at any point before release.
Why it is worth the trouble
Spotify says that on average nearly 60 per cent of people who pre-save an album stream it in the first week. On release day it pushes a notification to everyone who pre-saved and adds the release to their library automatically.
That is a meaningful first-week signal, and it is the one part of a launch where the platform does the reminding for you.
If you are under the bar
Most independent releases are singles by artists below 3,000 monthly listeners, which means no Countdown Page. The documented lever that is still open to you is the seven-day editorial pitch, which puts the track into your existing followers' Release Radar. Use that one properly instead.
Source
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