No, you cannot upload music directly to Spotify as an independent artist.
Spotify receives music via a closed digital supply chain. To get your tracks on the platform, you must work with a digital distributor (or aggregator) who handles the technical delivery, metadata ingestion, and royalty collection.
Why the middleman exists
Spotify does not want to manage payouts and copyright checks for millions of individual creators. Distributors serve as the gatekeepers who:
- Verify audio quality and format.
- Enforce metadata standards (ISRCs, UPCs).
- Collect royalties from Spotify (and Apple Music, Amazon, etc.) and pay them out to you.
- Police fraud and copyright infringement before it hits the platform.
Your options
For most artists, this means using a distribution service like DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, or Amuse. These platforms automate the process, usually for a small annual fee or a percentage of royalties. Once they deliver your music, you gain access to Spotify for Artists to manage your profile, but the music file itself always lives with the distributor.
Once your music is live, promotion platforms like Dynamoi can help you build an audience through pre-saves and smart ad campaigns, but distribution comes first.