Spotify has launched Fresh Finds Forward, a program that will take on approximately 10,000 emerging independent artists a year and give each of them 12 months of benefits.
Those benefits include free studio time in the US, premium subscriptions to music software, and six months of free therapy, according to Spotify.
The program was announced on Thursday (September 17) and is built around the company’s Fresh Finds playlists.
Eligibility is retroactive to January 1, 2026: artists added to a Fresh Finds playlist from that date onward are invited to join through Spotify for Artists.
The 12 months run from the point an artist is onboarded.
The company said in May 2025 that more than 18,000 artists from 127 countries were featured on Fresh Finds playlists in 2024 alone – well above the roughly 10,000 a year it expects to take into the new program.
Spotify has not said how it will narrow that field.
Free studio time is limited to US-based artists, at studios including Electric Lady Studios in New York, The Lighthouse at Ocean Way Nashville, and Spotify Studios in Los Angeles. The company has not said whether the program’s other benefits are available in every market.
Participants also receive early access to select Spotify tools and features, plus prioritized access to tour or music video partnerships with the company.
The package covers premium access to LANDR Studio Pro and Splice’s Creator plan, and mental health and wellness resources that include six months of free therapy through BetterHelp.
Artists in the program also get a Fresh Finds badge on their Spotify artist profile, which the company says signals editorial recognition.
Spotify is running in-person and virtual events that connect participants with its own staff and Fresh Finds alumni.
“Fresh Finds has always been about finding artists at a pivotal moment and helping them reach new audiences at the right time,” said Joe Hadley, Spotify’s VP of Global Music Content and Partnerships. “We spent years listening to what independent artists actually need, and those conversations shaped what this program would become.
“Fresh Finds Forward takes everything we’ve learned from a decade of discovery and builds a support system around it, so participating artists aren’t just getting a playlist placement, they’re getting the benefits, resources, and the community to make the most of that moment.”
Fresh Finds playlists are curated by Spotify’s editors, who select independent, unsigned, and early-career artists across genres and markets.
The company said in that May 2025 announcement that more than 30 editors work on the playlists, which run from a flagship list to more than a dozen genre editions.
Spotify says the playlists have helped more than 80,000 artists reach new listeners over more than a decade.
“Fresh Finds Forward takes everything we’ve learned from a decade of discovery and builds a support system around it, so participating artists aren’t just getting a playlist placement, they’re getting the benefits, resources, and the community to make the most of that moment.”
Joe Hadley, Spotify
Laufey, Clairo, ROLE MODEL, Ethel Cain, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Royel Otis, and Omar Apollo were all featured on Fresh Finds before they built their current audiences, according to the company.
Spotify says Fresh Finds alumni have been nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for five consecutive years, among them sombr, Doechii, Japanese Breakfast, Ice Spice, and Wet Leg.
Spotify says the playlists have driven more than 128 million new artist discoveries since 2024. In 2024, nearly 70% of Fresh Finds streams represented a listener hearing an artist for the first time.
More than half of artists first added to Fresh Finds are later added to other editorial playlists such as New Music Friday, RapCaviar, or Lorem, the company says.
“When our editors feature an emerging, independent artist on a playlist, it can be a springboard for visibility that brings new listeners and new opportunities,” Spotify said in its announcement.
“And with the connections, community, and know-how we have at Spotify, Fresh Finds Forward is how we turn that moment of discovery into something bigger, putting dedicated resources behind these artists to help them grow.”
More than one in 10 artists generating over USD $100,000 a year on Spotify were first playlisted within its Fresh Finds ecosystem, according to the Loud & Clear report the company published in March.
That is more than 1,600 of the 13,800 artists who generated six figures from the platform last year – before labels, distributors, and publishers take their cuts.
Sam Duboff, Spotify’s Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Music Business, told MBW in March that artists’ royalties and listenership on average “more than doubles” in the year after they are added to a Fresh Finds playlist.
The same report put the number of professional or aspiring professional artists on Spotify globally at approximately 250,000.
Spotify’s royalty rules require a track to reach at least 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months before it generates royalties, a threshold that took effect in April 2024.
Fresh Finds Forward follows other moves by Spotify to build programs around its editorial playlist brands.
Earlier this month, the company and Live Nation Urban announced a one-day R&B festival built around its RNB X playlist, with Erykah Badu and H.E.R. on the bill.
It has also taken Fresh Finds itself off the app before, staging live events with Samsung in Chicago and New York in 2024.
Notifications will begin rolling out to eligible artists through Spotify for Artists on Thursday.
Artists hoping to be considered for Fresh Finds can pitch an upcoming release to the editors through Spotify for Artists, the company says.Music Business Worldwide
