How To Get Your Music On More Spotify Playlists [updated 12 September 2018]
Have you ever wondered why one artist has thousands of plays and you only get a dozen or so a month? When you want to be more successful on Spotify, getting your music featured on Spotify playlists is really important. But how do you find all those playlists? How do you contact playlist curators? How do you know which playlists end up adding you? These are all important questions that we’ll answer in this article. Including a massive list of 53 Spotify playlists and curators, so submit to Spotify playlists right now!
Save this article to your favourites to check for future updates, as this is a dynamic article. Tell us what you think in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you.
Before you continue reading, why not follow our New Music Spotify playlist, press play and discover some awesome tunes? Also, follow our Spotify account to keep up to date with future playlists.
The basics
Get verified
If you haven’t already, join Spotify for Artists. You used to have 250 or more followers in order to get verified but Spotify has made it easier. When you’re verified, you are in control of your profile on Spotify and you’re able to add and update your image, feature tracks and playlists you’re into right now.
Set up profile
After you received the good news of being verified, add a profile image. Start networking and gain more followers. Why more followers? Because, for example, every Friday Spotify releases a new Release Radar with up to two hours of new releases from artists they follow and listen to. As more people start listening to your music, you’re also more likely to appear in Discover Weekly. When listeners like your music, they will add it to their personal favourites and saves and Spotify uses this information to learn more about listening habits and provide other listeners with music they think they will like.
Create playlists yourself
Now you’re verified and have set up the basics of your profile, it’s time to take it to the next level. Firstly, create a playlist containing all of your releases. For example BAND NAME // RELEASES // GENRE. Secondly, create a playlist with your biggest influences and tracks by emerging artists and include a track or two from yourself as well. Set this playlist as ‘Artist Pick’ via Spotify for Artists’ control panel. Promote this playlist on social media as well and tag the artists on it. Last but not least create a collaborative playlist to collaborate and team up with fans and other bands. Collaborative playlists are a great way of driving more traffic to your profile and tracks. Of course, use your network and social media accounts to promote your playlists. When people add tracks to your collaborative playlist(s), do actually listen to these tracks. If you like other people’s tracks, let them know!
How to find and approach Spotify Curators
Gather contacts
There are over 2 billion playlists on Spotify. With that, as we mentioned before, it’s important to get your music on as many of them as you can find. You might think that it’s imperative to get your latest release on big Spotify curated playlists. But there are so many more large playlists that are easier to contact. Besides big industry curated playlists by Topsify (Warner), Filt (Sony) and Digster (Warner), there are many playlists to find curated by blogs and people like you and me, just because they like music. But how do you find these playlists?
Spotify and Facebook
Many curators have connected their Spotify account to Facebook. That way it’s easy to contact these curators. First, think of all the playlist (titles) that would want your music. For example, if you have just released a new track search for ‘New Music’ or ‘New Songs’. Click ‘Playlists’ and find the ones you like. Listen to (or skip through) a couple of tracks to see if your music matches the curator’s taste. If you have found a playlist you think would add you, try to find contact information. Sometimes a curator adds contact information in the description, but more often than not you have to try a bit harder. Click on the curator’s name and check the profile picture. Now go to Facebook and type in the exact same name. Most of the time their Facebook profile shows the same picture as the curator’s on Spotify and you know you have the correct one. We will go into more detail on the next step – Pitch your music – later.
Use SpotOnTrack to find important playlists and data
If you haven’t heard of SpotOnTrack before, sign up. SpotOnTrack is an incredible and awesome tool to see all playlists that are supporting your music. You can check artists, playlists, curators, playlist ranking and curator ranking.
Spot on Track is a tool you need to track the SPOTIFY charts and monitor playlists easily. Don’t miss a single move from your favorite artists tracks and albums. Get to know what the world is listening to right now!
Check everything SpotOnTrack can do for you HERE.
I'm really glad Spotify reintroduced the 'Discovered on ...' function again and even included playlists with less than 25 listeners. You can check similar artists' profile and check which playlists (top 5) they're on. I also strongly suggest using SpotOnTrack. Besides checking which playlists include your music, it’s a great tool to discover new playlists. To do so, think of an artist that is similar to you. After you have found the artist you are were looking for, Check a few tracks to see which playlists it's on’.
Discover what the world is listening to.
There may be hundreds of playlists featuring the artist, or a dozen, depending on the artist. Also browse through the 'previously in' section, as there might be some good playlists there as well. Pick a playlist and check when it was last updated, as playlists that have been updated 4 years ago won't be taking your submission (in most cases). When you want to give it a go, right-click the 'Go to Spotify' green bar.
Select copy and paste in your Spotify desktop app. Try to locate the curator, see if he or she takes submissions and proceed according to what we’ve discussed in 2.1.
Use our promo code FORTHELOVEOFBANDS after signing up for
4€ on the PRO monthly package for 3 months (so 2.99 instead of 6.99 during 3 months)
4€ on the BUSINESS monthly package for 3 months (so 5.99 instead of 9.99 during 3 months)
Of course, SpotOnTrack has many other features which we will discuss in future Industry Tips.
Pitch your music
After you have located the curator’s contact details, proceed with caution. Prior to making contact, follow the playlist, play a few tracks and start your conversation with the curator by telling what you think of the playlist. Start with a friendly relationship and tell about your project in a few lines and suggest it for their playlist. Why does the curator want you on the playlist? Be patient and make sure you aren’t too pushy. Begging or demanding won’t get you anywhere.
Keep track of your submissions
Keep track of the playlists you’ve found and curator’s you’ve contacted. It’s best to use an Excel sheet. We’ve created one for you to use. Click the link below the image to download.
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Start entering all the playlists you’ve found, along with contact information. If you have been able to make contact with a curator, enter how you made contact and if you had any luck and was added to the playlist.
Ps. If you're contacting blogs for reviews or features, use the same sheet and alter it a bit to your liking.
Calculate streaming royalty
Your music was added to a lot of playlists and your streams have increased? Great! Estimate your earnings with this ‘Streaming Royalty Calculator’.
Submit to official Spotify playlists
Spotify has introduced an awesome new feature, giving artists and labels an opportunity to submit unreleased music directly to Spotify's editorial team for playlist consideration. Why this is awesome? Because you now have a bigger chance of getting featured on many official New Music playlists.
Link to Spotify's announcement post.
How it works:
Simply log into your Spotify for Artists account or, if you work at a label, head over to Spotify Analytics. There, you’ll have the option of selecting one unreleased song for playlist consideration and submitting it to our team.Spotify curates many playlists, not every playlist is as big as New Music Friday but still, a great way to gain new (potential) fans! Almost every country in the world has an official New Music Spotify playlist and the better your track performs there, the better your chances of moving up Spotify's ladder. The fewer people skip your track in a playlist, the higher your track is ranked. That's another reason to submit to playlists suitable for your niche. Expect people to skip your Alternative Rock track on a (mostly) Hip Hop orientated playlist. Now, let's take a look at this list of playlists we've collected below.It’s important to give us as much information about the track as possible — genre, mood, and other data points all help us make decisions about where it may fit. You can note the instruments on it, whether it’s a cover, and the cultures you or the song belong to. The data you share will be complemented by what we already know about you — what else your fans listen to, what other playlists you’ve appeared on, etc.
Spotify playlist curators who accept submissions right now
Below you'll find a massive list of Spotify playlists, including ways to contact them. We'll update this Spotify playlist directory regularly. Click the links, submit, use the Excel sheet to know how and when you submitted and us Spotify for Artists or SpotOnTrack to see whether you've been added! Were you added to a playlist? Be nice to the curator, other artists and yourself and share the playlist on social media!
Follower count updated: 11 September 2018
Download PDF with 53 playlists and curators accepting submissions or check the original (updated) poste here. Screenshot below:
Collaborative playlists you can add your music to
Collaborative playlists are a great way to connect with other musicians and are very easy to create. It's also an easy way of getting your music out there for anyone to enjoy, since you do the curating collaboratively. Remember you created one earlier at 3.3?
Simply follow the playlists you see below and add your track(s). Remember to check how many songs are appropriate, if the playlist has the theme or only one genre. This differs per playlist.
Music by Friends and Followers
CD Baby Mixtape
AtomCollectorRecords.com Unsigned Artists Spotlight – the best music you’ve never heard (all genres)
Collaborative Spotify Playlist
SHARE YOUR SONG WITH ME Collaborative playlist
Merk
The Indie Discovery List
Lets make a party
Hidden & Forgotten Gems
Musical Artizan – indie songs
Alternative Rock
Share your own originals and your greatest inspirations
Great Music Mix
Add Your Song Of The Week! Spotify Collaborative Playlist #1
Sources / further reading
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://fortheloveofbands.com/2018/01/03/how-to-get-your-music-on-more-spotify-playlists/
I got a lot of Music on Spotify, maybe you can support me by adding some of my Stuff to those Playlists!
One Love;
https://open.spotify.com/user/cxhm81cw4a162rvfmocawtoif/playlist/2s7c37jhsm9RSWgCAMZvye
https://open.spotify.com/user/cxhm81cw4a162rvfmocawtoif/playlist/5Ff1Q0X4C5S4oSr6XmLnsy
I need to see to it but I had a third party digital distributor placing my catalogue
You can ask the distributor to pitch the tracks for you. Otherwise you can change distributors to my company which takes 0% comission on sales, and pitches all music to Spotify curators. :) (Sorry for shameless self promo) http://alma.audio
Cheers
Posted using Partiko Android
@greencross I was placed by The Orchard which I think is Sony BMG group, thus I don't know if it interfers with their work if I claim to verify... I just would claim to update my infos and such, they take a percentage of the sales, but I've not released an album in a while and been with them too long to switch now... must see to it. :) I am there as Priscilla Hernandez.
@yidneth you can try registering on Spotify as artist, and claiming your profile with your Twitter address. It's always advisable to check if you would be breaching any clause on your contracts with your labels/distributors.
Cheers
@greencross
Posted using Partiko Android
Dear Artzonian, thanks for using the #ArtzOne hashtag. Your work is valuable to the @ArtzOne community. Quote of the week: Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics. -Victor Pinchuk
I wonder what has changed there? It seems like this method doesn't work anymore.
Thanks for sharing this detailed guide on getting your music on more Spotify playlists. It's true that getting featured on playlists can be a game-changer for artists, helping them reach a wider audience. I recently stumbled upon a music promotion service called Songlifty (https://songlifty.com/spotify-promotion/) that specializes in helping young artists gain exposure on Spotify. It might be worth checking out if you're looking to boost your presence on the platform. However, I wonder if there have been any changes since the article was last updated in September 2018. It seems like the method mentioned may not be as effective anymore.