How to Get on Spotify Playlists?

How do you get your music on Spotify playlists? On April 27th, Groover cofounder Dorian Perron went live on Instagram for our first Groover Tips Workshop with Manu Freson, founder of the label G-Major Records and cofounder of Stream!t, the playlist to (re)discover Belgian artists. We shared our methods and our best tips on how to get your music on Spotify playlists- so much so that the live lasted 2 hours! The music business is ever evolving and the streaming music has become the norm. We want to give independent artists the right tools to boost their streams and land in those big playlists! It was a great conversation so we couldn’t resist the urge to share even more tips 🙂

Here is a summary of what we talked about during the live show:

Before we explain how to get your music on Spotify playlists, here are the three types of playlists that exist:

• Editorial playlists: Playlists made by Spotify’s editorial team. An artist can submit their new music to the Spotify editorial team directly by using Spotify for Artists. These are the Spotify playlists that usually have the most subscribers. If you land in one of these playlists, you could see your streams and listeners skyrocket!
• Algorithmic playlists: Playlists generated by Spotify’s algorithms. Each playlist is curated based on a listener’s habits and will differ from listener to listener. This individualized curation can group together similar genres, artists, or moods.
• User-generated playlists: Playlists made by people outside Spotify- like you or me- and can sometimes have a solid following of listeners. This can include playlists made by influencers in the music industry, music blogs, radio stations, and record labels. 

1. Overall strategy: Be present on all streaming platforms and social networks

First of all, if you want people to listen to your music, you need to engage your listeners and gather fans around your project. Get your music heard by building a real team of ambassadors who actively listen to you on music streaming services. This obviously also happens through social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) but also through newsletters, merchandising, concerts, and more. When you promote your music, you should be taking advantage of all of the platforms at your disposal. There is so much music over the internet these days that it can be overwhelming at first. How can you stand out from the crowd? Think of yourself as a brand: if you want to get new fans to listen to your music, you need to be extremely visible.

Independent artists often focus on how to boost their streams solely on Spotify, but remember that Spotify is not the only music streaming service out there.  Music lovers around the world are finding new music across various streaming services. Your potential fans could be using many different platforms! Music discovery now happens across online music services including Youtube music, Amazon music, Apple music, Napster, Tidal, Pandora- the options seem endless. To get on Spotify playlists, it is important to also be present on these music-streaming platforms as well. Even uploading your music to platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp can put you in touch with new fans. This shows the Spotify curators that you have an established presence and audience. Make it easy for potential fans to listen to your new music wherever and whenever they can.

Tips about music distribution: If you want to upload your music across multiple music streaming sites as an independent artist, you can distribute your music by using platforms like Tunecore and Cd baby. Make sure to always use lossless WAV files when you upload music to these sites to get the best audio quality possible.

In addition to getting your music on all music streaming sites, it is important to gain a following and create community on social media. The independent artist now has the power to shape their own image and tell a story through their social networks. We consume music through social networks everyday; through stories on Instagram, videos on TikTok, and more. Use these platforms as an opportunity to sell your music, share your latest music videos, or give your followers a behind the scenes look at your songwriting process.

| Read also: Instagram for Musicians: How to Gain New Followers?

2. Release strategy for music on Spotify

So, you have music across multiple music streaming sites and are building a community on social media. Let’s get back to Spotify. Are you planning to drop a new single? How are you going to get noticed among millions of songs? Work on your release. Get organized at least 4 weeks in advance, planning your strategy, identifying playlists ahead of time, pitching your track to the Spotify editorial team via Spotify For Artists, and gathering a team of ambassadors around your project so they all share your track on release day! Also think about timing; maybe a specific season or a day of the week is particularly relevant to your song.

On Spotify, it all starts with your Spotify For Artists profile. Take the time to fill in your profile and make it look good: HD photos, biography, news, tour dates. When you release music, you can even sync your lyrics to Spotify by using Musixmatch. In Spotify for Artists, you’ll then be able to check your stats to understand your audience better.

Get your listeners to subscribe to you on Spotify so that your music appears in their Release Radar playlist when you release a new song. Having more subscriptions, thus followers, on your Spotify profile also looks good to the editorial team. You can also provide your fans with a pre-save link before your track is released to boost engagement early.

💡 Quick tip: Make sure that the distribution of your song on streaming platforms is ready at least 7 days (ideally 3-4 weeks) before the release. By pitching your release to Spotify curators via Spotify For Artists more than 7 days before the release date, your track will automatically land on your subscribers’ Release Radar playlist. If you do this less than 7 days before, Spotify does not guarantee it.

On Spotify, releasing new tracks often is rewarded; if you release a track every 2 months, Spotify’s algorithm will give you a little boost. Sure, this is easier said than done. After all, songwriters and musicians are not machines! Our advice is to get all of your tracks ready and then plan to release them one by one by using the waterfall strategy. This strategy is ideal for getting attention from the algorithm and also from your listeners! If you often have new releases, your fans will always have new music to listen to. Also, don’t hesitate to create and share your own playlists, which will strengthen your identity on Spotify.

You can also create a radio with music from artists that sound like you. Anyone can create this kind of radio playlist based on the style of a particular song. You can then drag and drop your song into the playlist and attract fans of artists that sound like you. Base the radio off of an emerging artist who doesn’t have too many radios already in order to attract more listeners.

| Read also: Spotify for Artists: the ultimate guide to Boost your Streams

3. User-generated playlists: The gateway to Spotify algorithmic and editorial playlists

User-generated playlists are a great way to get on Spotify playlists, both algorithmic and editorial. The more your song gets added to user-generated playlists, the more the algorithm notices that people like your track. If the Spotify algorithm sees that many different listeners are saving your song to their music library, there is more data that can be collected and thus more potential listeners that can be targeted.

3.1 How do you find an interesting user-generated playlist?

The easiest way to find interesting user-generated playlists is to look at similar artists. Curators outside of Spotify that make these playlists are usually looking to uncover the best music in the indie music scene. They want to promote indie artists and are always looking to discover new music. They benefit from you just as much as you benefit from them! Here is how to find user-generated playlists through up-and-coming and similar artists:

1. Check out profiles of artists who have between 1,000 and 50,000 listeners per month – including your “Similar Artists”
2. Go to “Overview” ⇒ “Fans also like”
3. In “About” → “Discovered On”…
4. Once you find the playlists that brought them the most streams, aim for the ones that are not created by Spotify. You might have a chance of getting your music in that playlist too!

3.2 How do you get into these user-generated playlists?

Now that you’ve found user-generated playlists that your music could fit into, how do you get into them? We propose three options which can be used all together to boost your chances of success:
👉 Contact the playlists directly, if you find them on Facebook, Instagram, a website contact form, or by using the search method above.
👉 Use Groover; there are more and more active playlists on the platform and by contacting them directly through Groover, you are guaranteed a response in less than 7 days.

👉  If you’ve created a playlist yourself that has a good following, you can offer a playlist swap with another Spotify playlist curator. If they are an artist too, then everyone wins- solidarity!

| Read also : Does playlist pitching really work?

So that’s the recap of our live workshop on Instagram! Hopefully you now have the tools you need to get into Spotify playlists! We’ll see you soon for a new Instagram live and a new topic, don’t hesitate to subscribe to our Instagram account to not miss it 🙂

For more concrete advice on playlists, we recommend the guide for artists and playlist curators 👉  Work Hard Playlist Hard

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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 to grow your own playlist and gain followers?
> How much do artists get paid on Spotify?

To go further:

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

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To get into Spotify playlists, check out Groover ⭐️