In 2022, Spotify holds the title of the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. With 433 million users and 188 million subscribers, it’s safe to say that distributing your music to Spotify is a no-brainer. However, cutting through the noise on Spotify? That takes a bit more brain power. Fortunately for you and your cognitive capacity, we’ve done the research and laid out our best advice for getting your music on Spotify’s official playlists. Let’s get into it.
With Spotify for Artists, you can pitch an upcoming, unreleased song to Spotify editors for playlist considerations. There are two ways you can do this on your desktop or mobile device:
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2. Navigate to the ‘Music’ tab, and under ‘Upcoming,’ select ‘Pitch a Song.’ This will allow you to submit your song to Spotify’s editors before your scheduled release date.
Once you’ve clicked ‘Pitch a Song,’ you’ll be prompted to fill out some of your artist information. This includes your location and song metadata. If your track is selected, you’ll get an email from Spotify. Your pitched song will also be added to your followers’ Release Radar playlist. Once your song is out there for the world to hear, you can access your stats under the ‘Music’ tab on your Spotify for Artist Dashboard. This will give you access to streaming and listener information, the source of your song’s stream, and more.
You can check out Spotify's official tutorial video below for a full, in-depth breakdown of how you can pitch a song to Spotify’s editors.
Outside of Spotify’s official playlist editors, there are thousands of music curators with large followings you can pitch your music to! These independent music curators come from all backgrounds - from media outlets and industry professionals to your average Spotify music lover.
The best way to find these curators is to simply grab your headphones and scour Spotify for playlists with an identical sound to your music. Bonus points if the playlist already has a healthy following. From here, keep track of these playlists in a note and start web searching for the account owner’s contact information. Sometimes an easy Google or Instagram search will lead you to the right place.
Once you’ve accumulated a list of contacts, reach out through email or direct message with a brief introduction and a link to your album or song(s). The more concise the message is, the better. Keep it light yet professional.
There’s a positive correlation between the number of followers a musician has and the number of playlists a musician is on. Prioritizing the health of your Spotify artist profile through Spotify for Artists is a great way to optimize your profile, develop your fanbase, and ultimately grow your following. You can also feature curated playlists on your artist profile to engage fans. Once you have a healthy number of active followers, your listeners will contribute to your playlist’s algorithmic growth, making your featured playlist more visible to new people.
You’re a musician! You’ve got an ear for good noise! Curate your own playlists (and, of course, plug your songs in them) to help grow your playlist following. We recommend actively promoting your curated playlists through your social channels with the trusty old ‘Share’ button. You can share your playlist(s) directly from Spotify to Instagram, Facebook, Messages, Messenger, and more with the ‘Copy’ link. You can also create content promoting your playlist(s) on TikTok. Believe it or not, there’s a massive sub-culture of TikTok that’s just playlist recommendations! TikToker Teannadestinee made a great TikTok video promoting several of her curated Spotify playlists. Another TikToker, TheSlightySlanted, created a viral TikTok perfectly showcasing their curated Spotify playlist.
Receive Feedback on Your Music
Looking for some extra guidance and input to power your playlisting efforts? Sometimes all you need is a little constructive feedback to move the needle. When you become a Professional Member with Venice, you gain access to weekly listening sessions and office hours with Venice's expert Artist Services and Sync teams! Learn how you can improve your music to increase your chances of landing official playlist spots, or take things a step further and submit your music for tv, film, and media sync consideration.
Learn how to use your streaming analytics and data to create insightful fan personas for your music marketing strategy.
Learn how you can build anticipation for your upcoming music releases through our 10 tips for throwing a successful release party.
Spend less time worrying about your release strategy and more time promoting and marketing with our checklist guide.