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While Spotify AB doesn't follow the old playbook of accepting monetary incentives from musicians seeking more visibility on its music-streaming service, it does want something from them in exchange: their labor.

Many musical acts have been scrambling to figure out how to replicate the success of electronic duo Major Lazer, which has earned more than $3 million in royalties from Spotify for its bouncy 2015 dance hit "Lean On."

Due in part to marketing push from the Swedish streaming service—from inclusion on its top playlists to splashy ads on its free service—the track has been streamed on Spotify more than 700 million times since its release about a year ago, making it Spotify's most-streamed song ever.

Major Lazer's manager, Kevin Kusatsu, who co-owns the duo's independent record label, Mad Decent, said the song's payoff shows the record business is "deeply healthy."

"I want people to copy us," he said.

The song owes much of its success to its sheer catchiness. But its rise to the top on Spotify came in large part courtesy of the years spent by Major Lazer founder and producer Diplo toiling to win Spotify's support: curating several playlists and creating exclusive content to help Spotify launch nearly every one of its new features.

The most recent of those include Spotify's mood-adjustable "party" playlists that feature smooth transitions between songs, and its "Behind the Lyrics" mixes on which curators explain the meaning and story behind each tune. On his mix, Diplo revealed that he "shopped the 'Lean On' beat to both Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, but neither was interested." He also noted that he is "constantly working."

"We want our partners to be always-on—it's an active relationship," said Spotify's head of global content, Steve Savoca. "Diplo really represented that ideal kind of partner."

The reward for Diplo's work highlights the intensifying battle among subscription streaming services, which all offer essentially the same product: unlimited free music. To differentiate themselves, these services increasingly want artists to deliver exclusive content, often apart from their latest musical releases.

Apple Inc. gave Taylor Swift a big marketing push in December when she agreed to make a live-concert video available exclusively to Apple Music's 10 million-plus subscribers. The company also helped push hip-hop star Future's album to the top of the sales charts in February when he made it available exclusively for a week on Apple Music. Jay Z's streaming service Tidal saw its app rocket to the top of the of the music-app charts following exclusive releases earlier this year from Rihanna and Kanye West—both of whom hold equity positions in the company.

Diplo started building his relationship with Spotify in 2012, helping launch its first social features by allowing his fans to "follow" his own listening activity. He then created his "Diplo & Friends" playlist, which he regularly updated, reminding fans to listen in. Mr. Savoca said that while "countless artists curate playlists," most of them are "static."

By the time Diplo presented Spotify with Major Lazer's "Lean On" last year, Mr. Savoca said it was time to return the favor by running ads for the song on its free service, placing it on its own playlists, pushing alerts to fans on their mobile phones and highlighting the song on social media.

Because Diplo released the single on his own label, he and his collaborators have earned far more than if he were signed with one of the major record companies, which tend to share with artists no more than 20% of the royalties they collect from music sales and streaming. Major Lazer's earnings have made its success ever more tantalizing for other acts.

"It was not at all lost on us that this was an independent artist," Mr. Savoca said.

Artists trying to follow the same recipe face far more competition than Diplo did in 2012, when streaming music was a novelty, with just a fraction of the nearly 30 million paying subscribers and more than 80 million free users it counts today.

Spotify only has enough bandwidth, meanwhile, to heavily promote a handful of acts: tropical-house pioneer Kygo, country singer Sam Hunt and pop star Justin Bieber were among those the company focused on in 2015. Mr. Bieber also individually has earned millions in Spotify royalties, according to a person familiar with the matter, having been streamed more than 1 billion times.

Write to Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)

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