Does Spotify Count Offline Listening? (We Checked)

It’s fairly common knowledge that artists on Spotify get paid based on the number of times their songs are streamed by users.

It’s also fairly common knowledge that Spotify Premium users can download music to listen to offline.

But how does offline listening work when it comes to counting the number of times a song has been played?

Well, if you want the answer to this and other questions about Spotify stream counting, keep reading, because we intend to find out!

Here’s How Spotify Counts Plays:

Spotify counts every time a song is played for at least 30 seconds as one stream. Artists are paid roughly between $0.003 and $0.0044, rounded up, per stream. Offline listens do count and are tallied in the application and sent to Spotify the next time you are online.

Are Offline Plays Included in Spotify Statistics?

You might not think that offline plays would be counted, because, after all, they’re offline plays, so how can Spotify get the info from you without an internet connection?

The Spotify app monitors your offline listening. And so, the next time you are online and update their statistics at that time.

This is one of the reasons Spotify requires you to go online at least once every 30 days; if you don’t, the app will lock down on you and might even delete all your music.

The other reason, of course, is to prevent people from canceling their subscriptions and keeping all their downloaded music indefinitely by staying in offline mode.

Either way, the Spotify app stores your listening statistics and, the next time you connect to the internet it sends them to Spotify’s servers at that time.

Do Artists Get Paid When They’re Played Offline on Spotify?

Artists are paid per stream of their songs, as long as you listen for at least 30 seconds.

And as we just discussed, your listening habits offline are loaded to Spotify the next time you’re online.

Therefore, all the offline plays still get added to their records eventually and still count towards artists’ royalty payments.

There is conflicting information as to whether or not Spotify counts muted streams. However, moderators on the Spotify Support Forum have stated that Spotify is not able to monitor the volume at which you listen to music.

This means whether you mute on your device on mute within the app, the offline streams count.

Is There Any Way to Check the Stream Count on your Account?

By clicking on “settings” and then “my profile,” you can view some statistics about your recent plays and general listening habits on Spotify.

However, the Spotify app by itself does not give you detailed feedback like exactly how many times you’ve listened to a particular track.

Sadly, though, Spotify withholds the more precise data you might be curious about, so you’ll need third-party solutions if you want to see more.

A website called “Stats for Spotify” is one of the more well-known options, but several others exist as well.

For a more detailed list, check out the last link under “Sources” below.

But for now, suffice it to say that Spotify itself does not show you your stream counts, but third-party tools can.

Spotify for Artists allows artists with a profile to check out streaming data on their own music. 

Can Spotify Track Your Play Counts When Listening Offline?

No, Spotify cannot track your activity while you’re offline.

The application does keep tracking your stream counts and listening habits, but it can’t send them anywhere else without an internet connection.

That’s why it just saves up those statistics in the app, waiting for the next time you do connect to the internet to sync them with Spotify’s servers.

However, you can rest assured that Spotify is not tracking everything you do offline on your entire device, if, say, you have airplane mode enabled.

Please also read our article with easy solutions for Spotify offline problems. 

What Are Some Free Ways to Support Artists on Spotify?

There is only one way to support artists on Spotify without any additional cost to you: listen to their music.

More specifically, listen for at least 30 seconds before skipping any songs and, ideally, subscribe to a Premium account this offers artists more of the stream share royalties.

However, it’s worth remembering that artist only get fractions of a penny per stream.

To put that into perspective, you would have to listen to a song several thousand times just to generate a dollar or two for its artist.

And that’s before that dollar gets split between the artist and the record label, meaning in the end, the actual musician sees even less.

Even with very high stream counts, the payout is often insultingly low for all but the very well-known and popular artists who are already famous before their music goes on Spotify.

For these reasons, if you really care about your favorite artists’ well-being, the best way to support them is not through Spotify, and it’s not free either.

That’s because the best way to support artists is, as it always has been, to buy their albums!

Besides, if you’re ever without internet for more than 30 days for whatever reason, the music you actually bought will still be available to you, but Spotify won’t be.

Sources