The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced pretty much every touring musician to cancel plans for spring tours, leaving many artists with no reliable source of income for the time being. Today, to help those in need, Spotify announced that it’s going to introduce a couple new programs to help raise money for artists and music-related charitable organizations. The first of those ways is called Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief, and a press release explains that it’s a partnership with MusiCares, the PRS Foundation, Help Musicians, and others that have not been officially identified yet, and it will be matching donations that Spotify users make through the Music Relief page dollar-for-dollar up to a total of $10 million.
On top of that, and in a move that will probably be more directly helpful to artists who are struggling, Spotify is also working to develop a new option on the platform that will allow artists to directly fundraise from fans through their Spotify pages. The aforementioned press release says it will allow artists to direct listeners to “a fundraising destination of their choice,” meaning they can point fans wherever they want (whether it’s a page for themselves, a friend, or some other person/group/organization in need). Spotify also will not take any cuts from donations made through these links, so it’s not some kind of cruel scheme. It’s really just a way to make it easy for artists on Spotify to get help or help others.
The press release doesn’t say when that feature will be available, but it says that it’s “working quickly to assemble and optimize” new resources like this.