Ask pretty much any artist which streaming platform is most important to them in 2024, and they’ll likely say Spotify.
Despite ongoing concerns around the service’s approach to artist payout for streams, Spotify stands out as a streaming powerhouse, with more than 600 million monthly active users and a vast song collection across every genre.
As an up-and-coming artist, getting featured on global Spotify playlists is a powerful way to significantly increase your music’s visibility. In this guide, we’ll cover a few top tips for landing a coveted place on some of Spotify’s most popular playlists.
This article comes from the team over at Ditto Music. Ditto is one of the world’s most popular music distribution companies that has empowered over one million independent artists and labels to upload music to Spotify and hundreds of other major music platforms.
How do Spotify playlists work?
Spotify playlists are split into two main types: editorial and algorithmic.
Editorial playlists
Editorial playlists are expertly curated by Spotify’s in-house team of music lovers and typically feature the hottest tracks from across international charts and social media.
Algorithmic playlists
On the other hand, Spotify’s algorithmic playlists consist of tracks that are not only trending online, but ones that the Spotify algorithm thinks you’ll like. These track suggestions are formed from the platform’s understanding of your musical taste—taken from the info it already knows about the artists you follow and the songs you’ve liked.
Some of the most well-known and popular Spotify playlists include:
- Discover Weekly
- Release Radar
- New Music Friday
- RapCaviar
Alongside these big names, you can also target your tunes towards user-generated playlists created by influencers, music bloggers, and anyone else on the platform.
Build your Spotify Artist Profile
Before you start pitching your music for playlisting, you’ll need to make sure your Spotify Artist Profile is fully complete. This will not only boost your chances of getting playlisted, but it’ll make your music and brand also appear more professional.
Here are some tips on how to fully optimize your Spotify profile:
- Include a well-written artist bio.
- Make sure your album cover is high-quality.
- Link out to your social media profiles and music website.
Even if you’ve only released a couple of tracks on Spotify, having an engaging artist bio and eye-catching artist headshots can help give you that edge over other artists when vying for those playlist spots.
Grow your fanbase
Now that your profile is optimized, it’s time to start promoting your tracks on Spotify. Getting to grips with all things music marketing is key to building a loyal and engaged follower base.
To get started, consider highlighting your Spotify profile across all of your other social media profiles. Encourage your fans to follow you on Spotify to keep up-to-date with your latest songs and get them to pre-save your upcoming releases. This is essential for getting on playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar, where your new songs will automatically appear in your followers’ playlists.
More followers on Spotify also gives you increased visibility across the platform and can help increase your chances for potential playlist consideration.
Release quality music
The most obvious—but also most important—factor in securing playlisting on Spotify is making good tunes.
As helpful as it is to have built up a great online following and have a complete Spotify artist profile, you also need to be releasing high-quality tracks. What makes a song great is up for debate, but whatever your particular sound, you need to ensure that your release is well-written and has been well-produced, mixed, and mastered. Delivering a fully-finished and intentionally-crafted track is key to standing out in this ultra-competitive market.
How to pitch to Spotify playlists
When pitching your music for Spotify playlist consideration, you have two options. You can either (1) send tracks to independent curators to pitch on your behalf, or (2) pitch your music directly to Spotify yourself.
Pitching through Spotify for Artists
If you want to try doing it yourself, you can submit to Spotify playlists directly via Spotify for Artists.
Before you send your tracks to Spotify’s teams of editors, it’s worth reviewing the pitching requirements:
- You can only submit unreleased music for playlisting.
- Only one track per release can be submitted.
- You must submit your pitch at least seven days before your release date.
If you’re a featured artist on a track, you won’t be able to pitch for playlisting yourself. The primary artist associated with the song will have to do this instead.
Pitching through independent curators
The other main way of getting on Spotify playlists involves sending music to independent playlist curators and music blogs.
Alongside the likes of Today’s Top Hits and the other official Spotify playlists, there are thousands of independent playlists that have huge audiences too. You’ll still be able to reach huge numbers of new listeners, and if your tracks pick up traction, also open yourself up to getting added to Spotify’s owned playlists, too.
This doesn’t mean you should pitch your music to every playlist curator you can find though. You should take the time to find relevant playlists that your music will suit. Make sure to submit all the information that’s asked for and follow any guidelines laid out by the curator. Tailoring your pitch to what curators are asking for will help boost your chances of securing a place on their playlists.
Whenever you’re pitching to independent curators, you need to provide them with clear links to your music as well as include other important information, such as your background and any notable media traction. Even better, attach your electronic press kit along with your application to provide them with everything they need, all in one place.
How to get your music on Spotify playlists: Conclusion
Getting your music featured on Spotify playlists is a highly competitive process and involves lots of strategic planning, effective music promotion, and most importantly, great music. If you do manage to crack the code, however, you’ll no doubt be giving your career a major boost and exposing your music to a new global audience.
April 29, 2024
music business
Ditto Music
Supporting over one million independent artists and labels across the globe, Ditto Music is one of the world’s most popular music distribution, publishing, and record label services companies.
