What Counts as a Skip on Spotify?

In the streaming age, music consumption has become incredibly convenient. With services like Spotify, listeners can stream an almost limitless library of music with a few clicks of a mouse or taps on a screen.

At the same time, artists and labels are able to earn more money from their work than ever before, as long as the listener keeps their stream going. But what exactly counts as a “skip” on Spotify?

In order to understand what constitutes a skip on Spotify, it is important to first understand how streaming works. Essentially, each time a user streams a song on Spotify, they are essentially renting out that track from the digital service provider for a certain amount of time. When the user skips ahead to another song or stops playing the current track before it ends, that rental period ends and the artist/label earns less money for that play.

So what counts as a skip? The answer is actually pretty simple: any time you stop playing the current track before it has finished playing or move to another track before it has ended will count as a skip on Spotify. This applies whether you switch tracks manually or use one of Spotify’s autoplay features to automatically transition between songs.

It’s important to note that not all skips are equal. For example, if you start playing a track and then decide you don’t like it and switch tracks within 10 seconds, that will only count as one skip on Spotify and won’t have much of an impact on artist earnings. On the other hand, if you listen to a 3-minute song but decide to switch tracks after just 1 minute then that would count as two skips—one for switching tracks early and one for not listening to the full length of the song—and would significantly reduce artist earnings.

In conclusion, what counts as a “skip” on Spotify is any instance where you switch tracks before the current song has ended or when you don’t listen through an entire track from start-to-finish. While short skips won’t have much of an effect on artist earnings, longer skips can definitely make an impact so it is best to try and listen through songs in full whenever possible!