How to get your music featured on your favourite Spotify playlists
Appearing on major Spotify playlists can have a huge impact on your career, providing endless benefits for your brand in the future. Some of Spotify’s biggest electronic playlists have multiple-million followers, creating a huge opportunity for introducing your music to a much wider audience. Even many of the smaller playlists offer huge potential for expanding your reach. Getting into a niche playlist specifically for fans of your style of music can help you to connect with those most likely to become dedicated fans. But what are the best methods for getting featured on Spotify playlists?
Firstly, to be considered for playlists, you should make sure that your profile is in shape. In previous articles we’ve covered setting up an effective Spotify profile. Make sure that your profile photo, biography and gallery photos are up to date and represent your brand in the most effective way possible. You should also make sure to include links to each of your social channels to add legitimacy to your brand. If you’re not sure what to write in your biography, use the biography that your PR agency has on file or enlist a freelancer to write one for you. Hiring someone to write your bio isn’t especially expensive and is certainly worth it in the long run.
The playlists you will target should depend on the stage you have reached in your career. If you’ve only released one song, you’ll want to target smaller niche playlists that have a small but dedicated audience. In the early stages of your career, these are the playlists that you will stand the most chance of being featured in. While it can be tempting to go for the huge playlists straight away, you need to remember that a lot of these playlists only add music from artists who are globally famous. On Spotify there are two kinds of playlists, official and unofficial. Official playlists are owned by Spotify and most often command a huge audience, unofficial playlists are usually owned by fans and brands. At first, you should focus on small unofficial playlists to build up support behind your brand.
When you decide to target small unofficial playlists, do your research. Find playlists that really fit with your sound, don’t just submit your music to every playlist under the sun. Look for artists your sound shares similarities with and see which playlists are featuring their music. Targeting playlists takes time, make sure to focus on the ones that are actually likely to feature your music in order to avoid wasting valuable time. Check to see if the playlist in question includes tracks from lesser-known artists who are at a similar level to you.
There are a variety of methods you can use when pitching your music for a playlist. If the playlist has been created by a blog, they will usually include details for submitting your music on their website. There are also platforms like SubmitHub that are regularly used by blogs for playlist submissions. If you do decide to pitch to the playlist owner personally, be careful not to be too forward and message them on their private social media accounts. Instead, use a more open platform like Twitter and try not to make your message look like spam. Take the time to introduce yourself first before asking about a playlist feature, start a conversation without promoting in the first instance. Make sure you let them know that there’s something in it for them by offering to share their playlist with your followers if they feature you.
One of the most important aspects of pitching to playlist owners is the wording of your message. It is incredibly easy to lose an opportunity by being too pushy about your new track. You can do a great deal of damage to your brand by making a negative impression. Instead, focus on making a connection with the playlist owner in order to stand the most chance of being featured. Always make sure that the proposal you make is mutually beneficial, you can’t simply ask for a favour from a stranger, this is unlikely to work. If you offer to share the playlist there is a much bigger chance of them accepting and featuring your track. Naturally, your music should be the priority in the decision making process for the playlist owner, but it is always important to make a good impression and make sure you are offering something in return.
Even the biggest artists make sure to share the big playlists that feature their music like Mint. It’s a simple courtesy that makes the playlist more likely to feature your music again in the future, plus it shows other playlist owners that they look to gain exposure if they feature you. As with most aspects of the music industry, it is all about give and take. You can’t expect people to dish out favours without gaining anything themselves in return. You may not feel that your following is strong enough to give worth to sharing a playlist, but even 500 followers is a worthwhile reach for playlist owners.
Once you do get featured in playlists, you can use this as ammunition to try and get future opportunities. When you pitch to new playlists you can mention where you’ve previously been featured. This is also great information to include when pitching to media outlets if you have been featured in a significant playlist.