One of the big challenges for artists today is to get featured on editorial playlists (those created by music streaming platforms) to reach the largest number of listeners. And yet, the question remains: how do you stand out from the crowd when there is so much new music released daily? There are important playlists across streaming services like Youtube music, Tidal, Amazon music, and Napster (just to name a few) but in this article, we focus specifically on how to promote your music on Spotify playlists. Spotify represents a large portion of the online music streaming market, as less and less people download music. Streamed music is how the majority of people listen to any music nowadays, whether they have a the free version of Spotify or they are paying subscribers.

According to Spotify, 100,000 songs are released every day, but 25% of the tracks are never listened to! While music distribution has become more democratic, how to stand out among thousands of songs has become even more obscure. That’s why Groover is here to help you overcome this challenge! Groover’s role is to act as a bridge between artists and independent playlist curators, who play a key role in promoting music and accessing Spotify’s editorial playlists.

Want to get into playlists? 👇

Spotify’s editorial playlists are all about music discovery and careful curation, providing an easy way for the listener to consume music and find new music to listen to. Want music lovers to discover your new track through an editorial playlist? Here’s what you need to know.

Platforms like Apple Music and Deezer also provide tools to integrate your music into their editorial playlists, but they are not as optimized as Spotify for Artists. You can also reach Anghami – the biggest streaming platform in the Middle East – directly through Groover here.

1. What are editorial playlists?

Firstly, editorial playlists are playlists created by Spotify staff. While there is a growing trend towards algorithmic (automatically generated) playlists, Spotify curated playlists are still prevalent and take into account the entirety of your music project before including any of your songs in one of their playlists. They will look at your music catalog, how many subscribers you have, what genres you fall into, and where people listen to your music. Spotify uses their editorial playlists to encourage listeners to keep listening to music, so if have music that has potential to be streamed a lot when placed within the context of a certain playlist, they will notice this and take advantage of it.

There are different types of editorial playlists: large playlists, smaller playlists, playlists based on mood, feelings, music genre, country, etc.

2. Why are editorial playlists so important?

Editorial playlists can have a huge impact on the number of likes and listeners, largely because Spotify values these playlists more than independent playlists (so-called third-party playlists). That song that you saw trending on social media? Maybe it was picked out of millions of songs to be at the top of a Spotify editorial playlist and blew up.

Another important point in understanding editorial playlists is that a playlist gains popularity and relevance when it has more listeners, i.e. when people come back to listen to music on the playlist regularly. These can be paying subscribers on Spotify or listeners with the free version, it doesn’t matter. Editorial playlists are like modern day radio stations for popular music or Billboard charts. The composition of playlists will therefore most often be based on the repetitive potential of the songs. Too many skips on a song and it may be removed from a playlist. The more people stream music in these playlists, the more revenues that come in.

Music lovers flock to these playlists time and time again to find new music to listen to but also to hear the songs they know and love. When people listen to music online, either they know exactly what they want to hear or they need a playlist to help guide them. Land in an editorial playlist and you could get into new listener’s rotation of favorite artists and favorite songs.

3. How do I get my music added into Spotify editorial playlists?

3.1 Are you a well-known or established artist already?

This scenario is probably less common for the majority of artists who read our articles. However, if this is the case for you, your music has a great chance of being placed directly in playlists simply because you already have an audience. Spotify will be able to detect your music much more easily. An artist like Drake, for example, doesn’t need to pitch to Spotify for Artists to get music on an editorial playlist.

For emerging songwriters and composers, you need to grow your audience to get Spotify’s attention. To grow your audience, ask your fans and social media followers to subscribe to your profile on Spotify to watch out for music releases. You can even create playlists of your favorite music and favorite artists on your Spotify artist page to add color to your own musical universe.

3.2 Does your label/distributor have a close contact within Spotify?

A more common way to be featured in editorial playlists is having record labels/distributors send your music to the Spotify team. A label or distributor that manages multiple artists usually has closer contact with streaming platforms and some of their members of staff. While independent artists have more agency than ever before, there are still gatekeepers in the music business and using your professional contacts can help. We recommend that you send your label or distributor your music, artwork and all the info in advance so that they can get in touch with Spotify in the best way. But always keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed, even with a label or distributor. If you’ve distributed your own music independently with a service like Cd baby or Tunecore, you can still pitch the editorial playlists on your own!

3.3 Launch a campaign on Spotify for Artists

Spotify for Artists is the most common way to get into Spotify’s editorial playlists, especially when the artist is still in the early stages of their career. Create your profile if you don’t have one already. Once you’ve been approved on the platform, you’ll be able to see your unreleased tracks in your catalogue. There may be some delays between uploading your song with the service you use to distribute your music and your track appearing on Spotify for Artists. Fill in the important information about your upcoming release and pitch your song directly to the editorial team. The pitch is the text you will write to present your music. It doesn’t guarantee your entry into the editorial playlists, but some details make all the difference. If you want the curators to listen to your music, you have to write an attention-grabbing pitch.

Below are step-by-step instructions on how to write a good pitch and increase your chances of getting into Spotify’s editorial playlists:

• Verify your profile on Spotify

It is important that your Spotify profile is verified (a blue check mark next to your name). This is important in order to be able to write your pitch and use all the tools in Spotify for Artists. Spotify allows all artists to have their profile verified, you just have to ask for it.

• Upload your songs to streaming platforms

Whether it’s you as an independent artist or your label/distributor, upload your track at least 15 days before, if not 1 month before. Make sure that you are uploading a lossless file to get the best audio quality possible. As soon as your release is scheduled, you will be notified and can then pitch your song to the editorial playlists on Spotify.

• Information about your music

Important: If your goal is to export your music internationally, consider writing your pitch in English.

Make sure to include the following information about your music:

• Instruments used in your tracks
• Type of recording: studio or live?
• Mood
• Style
• Musical culture (Latin, African, Celtic, etc.)
• Is it a cover, a remix or an instrumental piece?
• Location
• 3 Subgenres (for example, hip-hop, classical music, beats music)

It is essential to fill in this information carefully. It will direct your music to Spotify teams that are more or less receptive to your music. Therefore, giving them accurate information will make their job easier and increase your chances of being featured in Spotify’s editorial playlists and associating you with the best music similar to yours.

• Write a good pitch!

Last but not least, the pitch of your song(s) should be a maximum of 500 characters. This means you need to be concise and to the point. Put yourself in the place of the listener who is looking to discover new music. What should they know about your track? We’ve put together some essential tips to keep in mind when writing a pitch on Spotify for Artists:

• Don’t write a bio!
• Write in the language you want your main market to be (write in English if you’re not quite sure or want to thrive internationally)
• Be objective: talk about your music and your release, tell the story of your song and what it conveys.
• Indicate the important points of your music promotion strategy: publicity on social networks, press relations, new releases, music videos, merchandising, concerts/tours, etc.
• Relevant statistics (streams on Spotify and other music streaming services, followers, Youtube, …)
• Present your music project in the best light, but don’t exaggerate either.

Finally, don’t forget that Spotify for Artists receives thousands of playlist requests per day. Your main goal when pitching your song directly to Spotify is to show them that you’re invested in your musical project. If you already have certain editorial playlists in mind that you think your song could be a good fit for, let them know.

Don’t hesitate to talk to artists and labels/distributors who have had good experiences to find out how to increase your chances of getting into editorial playlists on Spotify. Ask around, take the time, be creative and send a draft to others before you send your pitch, as you can only pitch your song on Spotify for Artists once. Good luck 🙂

4. Editorial playlists also exist on other streaming platforms

On top of Spotify editorial playlists, you can aim at being considered by the editorial teams working at other streaming platforms such as Deezer, Apple Music, Amazon etc.

Amazon has recently opened the possibility to pitch directly to editorial teams through Amazon Music For Artists. Anghami accepts submissions directly through Groover. For other platforms, submissions going through distributors are still prioritized and the only way to reach them… But you never know what can happen!

💡 You can reach the biggest music streaming platform in the Middle East – Anghami – through Groover right here. They consider all the submissions they receive and share quite a significant portion of them in their playlists!

– Translated by Betty Gonzalez Gray –

—

Next articles:

> How to submit music to playlists?
> How to use Spotify Canvas to add looping videos to your music?
> Spotify for Artists: The Ultimate Guide to Boost Your Streams
> How to grow your own playlist and gain followers?
> How much do artists get paid on Spotify?
> How to get on Spotify playlists?

To go further:

> 7 Tips to stand out from the crowd and get more streams on Spotify

—

To get your music featured on editorial playlists, send your tracks to our playlist curators on Groover