When it comes to discovering new music, Spotify’s Release Radar is a valuable tool for any music lover (which also makes it a valuable playlist for artists looking to grow on Spotify).
Here’s what you need to know about when Spotify’s Release Radar updates for Spotify users:
Release Radar is a playlist on Spotify that is updated once a week on Fridays. New songs from artists you follow or listen to are added to your Release Radar playlist every Friday. The specific timing of the update may vary slightly depending on your time zone and location.
To help artists take as much advantage of the opportunity that Release Radar presents us as possible, we’ll dive into the details of when Release Radar updates, how it works, and how to make the most of it.
P.S. To learn even more about all of Spotify’s algorithmic playlists, check out my guide on the 7 Top Spotify Algorithm Playlists. 🙂
Spotify Release Radar Update Times
As mentioned, Release Radar is updated once a week on Fridays, with the exact timing of the update may vary slightly depending on your time zone and location.
This means that some users may see an update of new songs from their favorite artists or genres slightly earlier or later in the day than others.
For artists releasing new music:
- Keep an eye on your “listening now” numbers every Friday for a bump in your listeners from the Release Radar playlist.
- Keep an eye on how many streams you received from this playlist on Saturday (the day after Spotify updates its stats in the Spotify For Artists dashboard).
Although you may see streams from Release Radar any day in the first 28 days of your release, I’ve personally found the number of streams from this playlist to be the strongest on Friday with Saturday and Sunday coming in behind as a close 2nd.
How Does Release Radar Work?
Release Radar creates personalized playlists for each user based on their listening habits and the artists they follow.
Spotify’s machine learning algorithms analyze data such as:
- User listening history
- Skip rate for songs
- Save rate for songs
- How frequently do you listen to certain artists
- What users with similar listening profiles to you are listening to
In other words, the more you listen to a certain artist or genre, the more data the Spotify algorithm has for your listening profile, and the more likely you are to see new releases from that artist and similar artists to them in your Release Radar playlist.
It’s important to note that in order for Release Radar to work effectively, users need to actively follow and listen to the artists they are interested in.
The feature relies on user data to create personalized playlists, so the more data the algorithm has to work with, the more accurate and useful the playlists will be.
3 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Release Radar (As A Listener)
If you’re a music lover that wants to learn how to customize this playlist, here are 3 tips for you to get the most out of Release Radar as a fan:
1. Follow new artists
If you’re interested in discovering new music, make sure to follow new artists on Spotify. The more you follow, the more likely you are to see new releases from those artists and similar artists in your Release Radar playlist.
2. Listen to music regularly
To improve the accuracy of your Release Radar playlist, make sure to listen to music regularly. The algorithm takes into account how often you listen to certain artists, so the more you listen, the more accurate the recommendations will be.
3. Use Release Radar as a discovery tool
Don’t be afraid to explore new artists and genres in your Release Radar playlist. You may discover new favorites that you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
3 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Release Radar (As An Artist)
If you’re an artist looking to make the most out of Spotify’s Release Radar feature, there are several tips you can follow to ensure your new releases are included in your followers’ Release Radar playlists.
P.S. To learn even more about this, check out my article, 5 Best Ways To Get Music On Spotify Release Radar, which is based on what I’ve learned based on after getting 50,000+ streams from this playlist to my own music.
For now, here are three tips to get you started:
1. Encourage your fans to follow you on Spotify
One of the most important factors in getting your new releases featured in your followers’ Release Radar playlists is having a strong following on Spotify.
In short = the more Spotify followers you have, the more Release Radar opportunities you have when you release new music.
Encourage your fans to follow you on the platform by including links to your Spotify profile on your website and social media channels. You can also offer exclusive content, such as early access to new releases or behind-the-scenes content, to incentivize fans to follow you on Spotify.
2. Promote your new releases on Spotify
It’s important to actively promote your new releases on Spotify so that the Spotify algorithm has more data around your song so that it can more accurately push out your song to the Release Radar playlist of listeners that don’t follow you but are similar to your current listeners.
This can include creating playlists featuring your new songs and sharing them with your followers, running Facebook ads, and collaborating with other artists to increase your reach.
3. Release new music every 28 days
Because a new song can be in Release Radar for the first 28 days of its release, it makes sense to release new music every 28 days so that you can maximize the amount of time you have music benefiting from this feature.
It can be a bit of work to release music monthly, but doing so is a big reason for how I got 5.9 million streams on Spotify and 10+ editorial playlist placements.
The more you release, the more momentum you can build in the eyes of the algorithm, Spotify editors, the music industry, and fans in general.
By following these tips, you can increase the chances of your new releases being included in your followers’ Release Radar playlists and reach new fans on the platform.
