While the playlist game is still a highly selective process, there ARE ways to demystify it. Nobody will give you any guarantees, we’re all working with the same blackbox here. But there are ways to navigate around this sphere.
This article is aimed at publishing musicians and producers, trying to get a better grip on the overall music performance within playlists. There’s still a huge amount of luck involved, but it’s a good feeling to get the prerequisites right.
So, let’s start:
Do your homework
Verifying your profile adds some bonus features. After you’ve verified your profile, you’ll be able to:
– Create and add playlists directly to your artist profile
– Brand these playlists
– Update your artist info like bio and pics
– Promote concerts & releases
Follow this link to verify your profile on Spotify!
Most streaming platforms have a lot of similarities with social media platforms, users are able to follow artist and will then receive notifications when a new release comes out.
Work your profile!
Create a personal playlist and share it with your fans (Spotify Codes might come in handy here). They’ll appreciate it and increase your reach on the platform. Also, make sure to add your latest bio and pics there so your fans have the best experience when they visit your profile.
Curators will also want to find out more about you. Make sure all your info is up-to-date and available.
Use SubmitHub
For those of you who have never tried it out, SubmitHub might actually be a game-changer for your playlist pitching. Basically, it is a structured funnel between artist and media representative or playlist curators. It acts as a mitigating platform, establishing more meaningful connections between these various parties.
By pitching your music via SubmitHub, you get a chance to pitch directly to playlist curators – and here’s a MAJOR perk: You get feedback.
This way you’ll know exactly why, or why not, your music has been accepted to blogs, playlists etc., and you can adjust your game accordingly.
The best thing, the results from your SubmitHub campaign will be right there in your ForTunes feed.
Get on the Hype Machine
ForTunes partnered with Hype Machine to let you know when one of your tracks gets added to a Hype Machine listed blog – right in your feed. We’ve also noticed that tracks which have been successful on hypem get added to great playlists too.
So, get your music out there – SubmitHub let’s you easily get in touch with those hypem blogs. We’ve written a beginners guide to blog-marketing here:
Track similar artists
This is something we’re actually quite proud of. ForTunes lets you track similar artists – meaning you can check out where your fellow musicians are playlisted. Our app and desktop dashboard show you exactly which channels, playlists and blogs pick up on a given piece of music, and you can follow in those footsteps.
This saves you A LOT of time when researching potential media outlets for your own pitching. Take a moment and track some similar artists, and you’re bound to stumble upon some pretty interesting, and matching, playlists.
The better your music fits to the sound of a playlist, the higher the chance of getting introduced to it. Makes sense, right?
So go get ’em.
Share new music for playlist consideration
Spotify just started opening the floodgates, so to speak. They are running a new beta feature, which allows artists and teams to submit music directly to their editorial team for playlist consideration.
You should therefore definitely keep an eye on your Spotify for artists area. Depending on the speed of the rollout, you might be able to share new music very easily very soon.
Don’t miss out on this!
Although we’re tracking a lot of playlists, sometimes we miss one. Get in touch and we’ll make sure to add them right away. And obviously, if you have any question – go ahead and hit us up.
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