Millions of music lovers use Spotify to find new artists. Up-and-coming musicians must get their music onto Spotify playlists so that they can reach legions of potential fans. How can new artists be featured?
You can only get on the most popular Spotify playlists if you put your music in front of curators. We can’t stress enough how important a playlist placement can be to your music. Here’s our essential advice to help you get those playlist features in 2020.
How to be playlisted on Spotify in 2021
Spotify for Artists – Pitch directly to Spotify
This is a huge one. Spotify for Artists is a must-have if you have Spotify music.
Register now to link your Spotify artist profile with Spotify for Artists!
Spotify for Artists offers many useful tools that will help you understand and adapt how to promote music on Spotify. But, perhaps the best part of Spotify for Artists is playlist pitching.
Simply go to the Music tab on your Spotify for Artists dashboard, and select ‘Upcoming’. You can then select the release that you would like to be included in your playlist.
These are some key points to keep in mind when pitching for Spotify for Artists playlists.
Music that has not been released yet can’t be pitched.
Upload to Ditto as soon as possible and pitch early. It would help if you pitched at least 7 days before your release date. However, it is best to upload & submit your tracks to playlists several weeks before your release.
Spotify curators must go through thousands to thousands of playlist submissions each day. The earlier you pitch, the better your chances of being heard.
You can only submit one track per release. If you are releasing an EP or album, think carefully about which track will be most popular on playlists.
Independent Curators Pitch music.
You’ll need to begin searching for curators when you want to pitch your music to independently curated playlists. This is any Spotify playlist that Spotify has not created.
Many popular Spotify playlists have been created independently by various curators, including industry professionals and bloggers.
Spend some time searching Spotify for playlists that suit your sound. Make a note of the owner and then head to Google.
Google can help you find the contact information you need to submit to the playlists that you have chosen as targets. It will usually be an email address or a submission form on their site.
A spreadsheet could help you keep track of all the people who might be interested in your playlist.
Once you have found the right contacts, it is time to get in touch.
Keep your email brief, polite, and informative. Include prominent links to Spotify music. It should be as simple as possible for them to find you and to listen to your music.
TIP: You can submit your music right now to the Ditto Music Spotify playlists if you don’t know where to begin!
You will find a variety of genres in our playlists, including electronic, hip-hop and rock.
Take Discover Weekly and Release Radar to get on board.
Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists can be customized for each user. Instead of being curated by Spotify staff, they are created and curated by the platform’s algorithm.
It is easy to get onto a listener’s Release Radar playlist. Ask them to follow your Spotify account.
Everyone who follows you will see your new music in the Release Radar playlist.
Spotify, UK’s director for artists and management, stated previously that Release Radar generates more streams than any Spotify self-curated playlists. It’s a huge deal.
However, Discover Weekly’s algorithm is a bit more complex.
Every Spotify user receives their personal Discover Weekly playlist each Monday morning.
The playlist is created based on the user’s musical tastes. It analyzes unique listening patterns and generates similar songs for users who may not have heard them before.
Here’s a quote from a Spotify executive that explains how it works.
We take a look at what you have been listening to. We look at what you’ve been listening to.
Let’s say that you have been listening to many The Killers songs and a lot of Bruce Springsteen. Algorithms analyze how these songs are ordered and played in Spotify playlists. If people are playing those songs together, and there is another song between them, this song will be added to your Discover Weekly.
There are several ways you can increase your chances of landing on Discover Weekly. These include being added to other playlists or increasing your engagement with listeners. Learn more about how to get music into Discover Weekly.