Getting your music on the right Spotify playlist can literally change your life with 100’s of thousands of streams. Let’s dive in and learn how to stand out and properly pitch your music to playlist curators. There are a ton of Playlist Promotion companies out there and they can certainly help you, but let’s learn how you can do this all on your own.
With streaming being responsible for the (somewhat) resurgence of the music industry (phew…), it’s no secret that most artists and labels have directed much of their attention to major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.
Why?
Well because:
a) CD’s don’t sell very well
b) Neither does Vinyl despite its resurgence
c) Downloads are generally minimal, especially considering their limited longevity and lastly…
d) Streaming provides lifetime passive income, also there are over 200 million users on major streaming platforms, safe to say the audience is there and it is GROWING
Spotify and Apple Music alone combine for over 100 Million Paying Subscribers. The above graphs make it quite evident that streaming is growing FAST in popularity (and revenue!).
First, you want to make sure you find a publicist that you vibe well with. You need to make sure you get
The time to jump on the streaming bandwagon is now. Actually it was about 5 years ago…but if you’re just getting involved, it’s NOT too late because this industry is growing (see above charts).
So, now that we see WHY artists should be focused on streaming, most importantly Spotify, let’s get to the reason you came here:
“How the heck do I get on playlists on Spotify and grow my following on Spotify.”
1. Analyze Your Song
Take some time to list a few genres of the track you are looking to promote. Make a list, write it down. Next, make a list of your song’s “moods.” Yes, this is sometimes easier said then done, but generally, you made the track, you should know how it feels, what kind of mood it conveys. Not sure? Imagine playing your song in different situations: A summer daytime backyard hangout with your friends, getting ready to go out for a big night, in a night club, in the car, a party, a smaller party with just your friends, the after-party…which after party? The one where its still going? Or the after-after-party where things are starting to wind down, the sun is starting to come up and you can’t really handle any more of that aggressively loud club music you’ve been listening to for 6 hours straight.
How does your song play out in these situations? Which ones does it fit into? In which scenario does your track VIBE and which scenario makes people say ‘dude, WTF, change the song.’ Because, even if you have the greatest song ever, NO ONE is going to get down with your throwing on Perfect by Ed Sheeran as your crew is mid pre-drink before heading out on Saturday night. And we all know Ed’s Perfect is in a TON of playlists on Spotify, but it’s in the most fitting ones (like Campfire).
2. Make a List of Relevant Spotify Playlists with Spotify
Yes…another list. Now that you’ve got a list of your song’s moods and genres, dedicate an evening or afternoon to searching Spotify for playlists focused around those genres and moods. For example, start typing in your moods into Spotify’s search field. Let’s say you’ve got a poppy summer track and one of the terms you came up with is “Happy Summer.” By typing “Happy Summer”, Spotify will show results for your search term. Click “see all” beside “Playlists” to show all playlists that are similar to or feature your search term “Happy Summer”. There are thousands of playlists on Spotify…so chances are there are going to be more than just a few playlists that show up.
Start clicking on some playlists that you think your song would fit into. You’ll be happily surprised to see that a lot of playlist descriptions actually feature the contact info for the curator. Bingo! Save the playlist and share it on social media.
3. Create a List of More Relevant Spotify Playlists with Chartmetric.io
A great tool for finding playlists is chartmetric.io. They allow you to search playlists on all platforms including Deezer and Apple music. One of the great features is that you can search which playlists certain songs are featured.
How can you use this?
Just as you created a list of Moods and Genres for your song, make a list of songs that are similar to yours. Make sure you are picking songs that aren’t all Popular Hits. Find some similar sounding artists with respectable but not huge followings. Search their artist name, or song, on chartmetric.io and scroll down to see a list of all the Spotify playlists their song(s) are featured on. Just as above in Number 2, start collecting the contact info for these playlists. This is another great way to find playlists that will suit your song and we highly recommend you give Chartmetric a try
The goal here is a combination of quality and quantity. You want to build up a list of as many relevant playlists as possible. Create an Excel sheet with 4 columns, Playlist Name, Genre, Curator Contact Info and Date Contacted. Build that list with all the playlists you found for your search terms (moods and genres).
4. Contacting Playlist Curators
There are two ways you can do this, and its all personal preference. One would be to first build up that list and then contact each curator. However, make sure you are personal and not MASS BLASTING one email with 100 CC’s. The alternative would be to contact each curator as you go along. It’s up to you.
Short and sweet is the best way to go about contacting people. The template below could even be shortened. Contact the curator and say something along the lines of:
“Hey [Curator Name], I’ve just discovered your playlist, , on Spotify and added it to my library. I shared it with my following on Social Media as well. I have a new single that I think would be a perfect fit for your playlist and would really appreciate if you could check it out and add it to your playlist.
[Spotify Song URL]
Thank you,
Remember, these curators get hundreds of submissions each day and your time is no more important than theirs. How are you going to stand out from the flood of submissions? Be personal, kind and consider how you are going to help them.
5. Follow Up With the Curators You Contacted
Now that you’ve contacted each curator, we all know how busy our lives get and how flooded our email inboxes get. Unfortunately, the chances that someone saw and opened your email are quite slim…but that’s okay! This is where persistence pays off big time. Wait a couple days after you contacted the curator (this is where that excel sheet comes in handy for knowing who was contacted and when), and reply with a follow up email and just say:
“Hi [Curator Name], I just wanted to follow up with you to see if you got a chance to read my email and check out my new single.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you,
Again, keep it simple, stupid. Just kidding, you’re not stupid, you’re actively engaging in building your music career just by reading this article and that’s a lot more than most are doing! You understand that even if your music is great, no one is going to discover you if you don’t put in the work to promote your music. So lets recap:
1. Analyze Your Song (make a list of Genres and Moods)
2. Make a List of Relevant Spotify Playlists with Spotify (start building an Excel Sheet)
3. Create a List of More Relevant Spotify Playlists with Chartmetric.io
4. Contacting Playlist Curators (Be unique and Personal, Don’t MASS BLAST!)
5. Follow Up With the Curators You Contacted
Looking for a Spotify Playlist Promotion service to do the hard work for you? We’ve established relationships in the industry with almost a THOUSAND playlist curators and provide an Organic Playlist Promotion service that can skyrocket your success on streaming services such as Spotify with our certified submissions.
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