I’ve been lucky enough to actually get my own music on 17+ Spotify editorial playlists by putting in Editorial playlist submissions all by myself (no record label or manager).
In this guide, I give my top tips for playlist submission and even recorded a video of myself doing a playlist pitch weeks before it actually ended up in an official Spotify editorial playlist.
You can submit 1 song from your upcoming release for editorial playlist consideration in the Spotify For Artists dashboard as long you submit it at least 1 week before its release date. However, it takes consistency, proper targeting, growth, and a bit of luck to secure the spot.
In this video, I explain how to properly pitch to the editors, my top tips, and even show a live walkthrough of a playlist pitch I did for a song that ended up on a Spotify editorial playlist within the first 7 days of its release:
In that video, I pitch a song of mine called Nemo that ended up on Spotify’s New Music Friday: Cratediggers playlist.
I should also mention that this editorial playlist add was not my first. I’ve actually gotten on over 7 Spotify editorial playlists to date.
To learn how you can pitch to the editors and what tips you should follow to increase your chances of getting playlisted, simply keep on reading or watch the video above, my friend. 🙂
Spotify Playlist Submission: How To Get Your Pitch In
The very first step for a successful Spotify playlist submission is to get your music distributed to Spotify. If you do not have a music distributor lined up, I personally use and recommend DistroKid (you can learn more about them in my big fat DistroKid review).
Once you have your music ingested into Spotify’s system, you can then submit your music directly to Spotify’s editors right from the Spotify For Artists dashboard.
To make a Spotify playlist submission, follow these steps:
- Log in to the Spotify For Artists dashboard.
- Navigate to the “Music” tab.
- On the “Music” page, click on the “Upcoming” tab.
- Select the unreleased song that you would like to submit.
- Fill out the submission form.
It’s important to note that DistroKid Spotify playlist submission is not possible. DistroKid allows you access to the Spotify For Artists dashboard, where you can then submit your song. You can’t submit your music to Spotify playlists directly from DistroKid.
Before diving into my top tips for playlist submissions, let’s get a few basics out of the way…
What do I do if I don’t have access to Spotify For Artists?
Spotify For Artists is a service created by Spotify to help artists keep track of their stats, promote their music, and control their overall presence on Spotify.
If you don’t yet have the ability to pitch your song in Spotify For Artists, there are 2 methods to claiming your Spotify artist profile and getting access to Spotify For artists.
These are:
- Through your music distributor
- Manually claiming your profile with Spotify
The easiest, fastest, and best method is to do this through your music distributor, however, I’ve put together an article that dives into both methods for you here: How To Claim Your Spotify Artist Profile. 🙂
How do I use Spotify For Artists?
If you already have access to Spotify For Artists, I’ve put together a handy guide and walkthrough of the entire backend to help you get the most out of it.
Check out my Spotify For Artists App & Dashboard Guide for more. 🙂
Spotify Playlist Submission: How To Make Your Pitch
When filling out a pitch to the Spotify editors for editorial playlist consideration, the main things you will need to provide are information on the instruments used, moods and genres of the song as well as a brief description of the song and how you intend to promote.
When it comes to selecting the instruments, moods, and genres for the song, make sure to be as truthful and specific as possible.
The information you input here decides what Spotify editor your song will be sent to.
So, if you put down the genre of Jazz when the song is clearly a Rap song, the song will be sent to a Jazz editor who will end up ignoring your pitch because it is not relevant to them.
When filling out your pitch that is really the main thing to keep in mind: you are trying to provide accurate information to make sure your song gets sent to the editor who is most likely to playlist your music.
Other than that, I honestly would not overthink your pitch. Just focus on being as accurate and polite as possible, and then move on.
Remember that this pitch is not the most important thing in the world, and you can always get ’em the next time. 🙂
Simple, right?
With the basics out of the way, keep on reading for my top tips that you can use to increase your chances when it comes to pitching time.
5 Spotify Playlist Submission Tips To Improve Your Chances
Here are my top 5 tips when it comes to submitting your music to the Spotify playlist editors:
- Submit 1 to 2 weeks in advance to make sure you get on your follower’s Release Radar playlist.
- You can only pitch one song at a time, so release singles instead of EPs or albums to maximize the number of pitches and Release Radar placements you get.
- Aim to release a new song every 4 to 6 weeks so that you maximize pitches, Release Radar placements, and show consistency to the Spotify editors.
- Get the attention of editors by releasing music frequently, growing your streams steadily, getting on algorithmic playlists like Release Radar, and doing collaborations with artists in a slightly higher place than you.
- Remember that there is a real person on the other end of the pitch and not just an algorithm. Be friendly and let your personality show a little bit.
Out of all of these tips, tip # 3 is the most important in my opinion.
..but why is consistency so important, you ask?
Keep on reading to find out, my friend. 🙂
Why Consistency Is The Key To Successful Spotify Editorial Playlist Submissions
To truly understand how I have gotten on so many Spotify editorial playlists, it is important to note my track record and what lead up to this momentous occasion:
- From January 2020 to April 2020, I released at least one song per month and got very little success with almost every song still not surpassing 1,000 streams to this day.
- In May 2020, I released a song called ‘Orbiting’ and ran Facebook/Instagram ads for the first time to help get a song past the 1,000 stream mark for the first time.
- In June 2020, I released a song called ‘Lilo’ which triggered the algorithm for the first time, landing me on the Release Radar playlist and helping me hit over 5,000+ streams.
- In July 2020, I released a song called ‘Sax Appeal’ which only hit the Release Radar playlist at the tail end of its first month (which ultimately flopped and only got about 2,000+ streams).
- In August 2020, I released a song called ‘Kuebiko’ which hit the Release Radar playlist a little earlier in its first month but was still kind of a flop hitting 3,000+ streams.
- In September 2020, I did a remix of my friend Malory’s song ‘Killer Cut Offs’ that got on Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds: Basement’ playlist which helped us hit 10,000+ streams.
- In October 2020, I released a weird take on Canada’s national anthem that super flopped and still hasn’t hit 1,000 streams as of the writing of this article.
Then I released ‘Lofi Nights’ and everything blew up.
As you can see, not only did I release music every single month, but I also continued to try to trip the Spotify algorithm. On top of this, I failed several times with a bunch of flops.
Heck.. The song I released right before my big break was relatively the biggest flop of my Spotify career.
It’s my educated opinion that this consistency, combined with strategies like trying to give the Spotify algorithm what it wants and doing a collaboration with an artist at a higher place than me ultimately gave the Spotify editors no other choice than to take a look at what I am doing more seriously.
To learn more about all of this, I’ve put together a free course called the 6 Secrets To Spotify Success that you can check out. 🙂