While Spotify has shown that a streaming music model can be successful, it's consistently come under fire over an apparent lack of financial support for new artists. To boost that relationship, the company has launched a new website, Spotify Artists, with the intention of cutting through the noise to explain how much musicians could be paid if they decide to stream their music. Spotify uses real-world, albeit anonymized, examples to demonstrate how its business model works and details how it calculates royalties, which have already passed the $500 million mark this year.

Spotify realizes it can't do it all alone, so it's brought on board two new partners to provide some additional muscle. Next Big Sound's Artist Analytics dashboard processes Spotify's music metrics to track how music spreads and who's listening to it, helping artists decide when might be the best time to embark on a tour or new promotional campaign. With support from Topspin, you'll soon be able to grab yourself a branded tee or limited-edition vinyl along with your gig tickets, directly supporting your favorite acts from within the Spotify app. While most of its free features are already available, Spotify says we can expect to see its new ticket and merchandise listings go live "in the upcoming months," giving it some additional ammo in the fight against streaming non-believers.