So you made that killer Spotify playlist – the best one in the world. You’re so excited about your work and you want the world to see it. But day after day, besides a friend or two, you have no more followers than when you started. What’s the issue? If you haven’t already read the article on how to boost your streams and get your music into playlists, that’s a great place to start before we discuss how to finesse your own.
To start, think about the playlists that you already follow and why you follow them. You want to hear new EDM music, so you type “EDM” and click the first 2/3 playlists that have the most followers, right? What about the 10,000 others that might be better? Well, I guess you’ll never know.
Over the few years, playlists of mine of garnered thousands of followers through pure organic growth, that are highly active as well. Here are some tips I found that really helped me out and that should also help you!
1. Choose a solid name and DON’T change it
I started SchniTunes when I noticed one day that my Spotify playlist “Adderall” had over 500 followers. I had never really told anyone about it. Occasionally, a few of my friends would shoot me a message saying they saw me listening to that playlist and they thought it was great. I’ve come to realize that “Adderall” as a music category is unique in its name. Clearly plenty of people have searched it, whether it was a high-energy mood they were looking for, or background listening for a productive day. It now has over 15K followers who all found it organically.
There are so many playlists out there with generic names. Pregame, Electronic, Old School Rap… create something different that stands out – I recommend naming a playlist with a current mood or feeling or even some sort of interesting idea. Let’s take a look at some of Spotify’s biggest playlists. For example: I enjoy “Creamy” and “Brain Food” and “Most Necessary.” You can’t quite tell what type of genre it is but at the same time you can find a connecting thread between the songs.
Once you have a name, do not change it. Anyone who was listening without following will no longer be able to find you with ease, and anyone who was following won’t recognize the playlist name in their library and may either disregard it or unfollow. Make it as easy as possible for your playlist to be memorable by name and by cover.
2. Understand your target audience and what they want
You can create a target audience. Put yourself in your listeners’ shoes and think about what they are looking to listen to. If they are studying, going on a run, working out, pregaming – create this vibe for your audience. Don’t forget, what makes playlists interesting is the creator’s personal touch, so make playlists the way you’d want them for yourself, NOT for other people. This will definitely work in your favor.
Also Pro tip! When people look up your Spotify playlist, they listen to the first 3-5 songs before deciding if they want to follow. Make sure these are your absolute favorite songs in the playlist.
Create a vibe for your Spotify playlist
3. Reddit
I’ve posted my playlists on various threads in reddit. This has helped me with growth immensely. Not only that, I’ve met some super awesome artists who sent their tracks to me in a Reddit message. Reddit threads are possible my favorite tool for organic free promotion. Threads such as r/spotifyplaylists, r/chillstep, r/electronicmusic, r/playlists, r/chillmusic – there are so many. I even posted in various college Reddit threads once during finals week saying I had a “study resource” and it was my playlist. This helped me gain over 100 followers in one night. Get creative with where you want to post your playlist.
Read also : Reddit: How can I use it to Promote my Music ?
Reddit – Grow your own Spotify playlist
4. Spotify Playlist Picture and Bio
It’s the first thing an audience sees. If you take a look at all of the popular Spotify playlists, you’ll notice that the images are super clean and sleek. One of my favorites is the playlist “Nasty Bits”. It has a black and white picture of a man aggressively biting into a chicken wing while staring at the camera. Sounds weird… 182k followers. I personally like to include the name in the picture as well. There are a million pictures and websites to edit images with text so feel free to get real creative with it.
Make sure to write a playlist bio as well. “Nasty Bits”, for example, is captioned ‘Filthy electro and bass house’. This is unique enough for anyone who’s typing the word “filthy” with either “bass” or “house” will have this list coming up first in the search results. To take this even further with SEO, add artist names to the bio so that when people look any of them up, your playlist will show up in the playlist category.
Read also : How to write a good Biography ?
Associate your Spotify playlist with a few artists to fall into the search results – Example with Childish Gambino
5. Constantly update your Spotify playlist, but less is more
Keep your Spotify playlist fresh by rotating songs in and out of your list. I try to never keep a track in my playlist for longer than 3 months and update it minimum once a month. Also, try not to have too many tracks by the same artist (I keep no more than 3-4 songs by one artist in there at a time) it can supposedly penalize your Spotify playlist when it comes to search results.
Most of the biggest Spotify playlists have EXACTLY 50 songs. A large Spotify playlist is a bit much for the average listener who just wants to discover a couple new bangers. It can be a deterrent when you find a new playlist but feel like you’ll never be able to get through all of it. Therefore, keep your playlist tight and be picky. A good range is about 50-200 songs. Would you want to follow a playlist with 800 songs in it?
You can only share your Spotify playlist yourself so many times. Have friends or artists become your playlist champions. Sharing on social channels, with friends and through word of mouth can really lead to solid growth.
If you add an indie artist to your list and have his/her contact info, then it benefits both of you for the artist to share the playlist. You get more followers and ultimately that artist gets more listens and streams. Same situation if you know other curators. We have an entire article on how to get in touch with playlist curators here. You can share each-other’s playlists to help one another out. Playlist growth is similar to compound interest in that sense. The more people listen to it, the more are enticed to click on it, leading to growth on top of growth.
7. Have fun
Seriously. Making playlists is fun and a great hobby. There is literally never a bad outcome from a good Spotify playlist. Think about the last time you played the music that you had curated during a road trip and you got complimented on your music. It brightens everyones mood in the car, and you feel good, too.
Making playlists is more rewarding than it sounds! Remember, to make a playlist that will be successful, do not change a genre but rather a “mood”. Ask yourself: what would I listen to in a specific “moment”? BOOM, you have your playlist.
For more concrete advice on playlists, we recommend the guide for artists and playlist curators which 2nd edition was released in August 2021 👉 Work Hard Playlist Hard
| Read the Sidekick article about 10 Tips To Get More Streams & Followers On Spotify
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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 do I get featured on Spotify’s editorial playlists?
> 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
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To try to get into Spotify playlists it’s this way ⭐️