How to Decide Which Tracks Are Worth Promoting

Promote the tracks that pass three checks: they hold up next to released music in your genre, they sit clearly in one genre, and a stranger would want to save them. Release everything you want to release, and put your promotion money behind the ones that pass. You can run the checks in about twenty minutes a track, and your past releases tell you which way to lean.

The three checks

1. It holds up next to released music. Play it straight after a released track by an artist one step ahead of you in your genre, at the same volume. Listen to the vocal, the low end, the loudness, and whether the arrangement holds for three minutes. Is your track ready for playlist promotion has the full version of this check.

2. It sits clearly in one genre. A playlist is built around one sound, and a curator has to hear where your track would go within seconds. A track that sits between two genres often gets declined by people who enjoyed it.

3. A stranger would save it. Picture someone who has never heard of you, deciding in the first minute whether to keep listening. The first few seconds carry most of that decision.

A track that fails one check still comes out. It goes into your catalog, your followers get it, and you spend nothing promoting it.

What your past releases tell you

Your own numbers say more than any general rule. Open Spotify for Artists and look at your earlier tracks:

• Which ones picked up saves. A save is a listener deciding to keep a track.
• Which playlists your music is on and how many listeners each sent, under Music, then Playlists.
• Where the streams came from, under Source of streams. Tracks that spread through other listeners' playlists found an audience on their own.

Tracks that share the traits of your best performers are your strongest candidates. How to learn from your previous Spotify releases walks through the review.

Two free tests before you spend anything

The clip test. Post fifteen seconds of the track as a short video. A clip that gets watched to the end and shared is a good sign, and one that lands flat tells you something for free.

The five-person test. Send the track to five people who'll be honest with you, and ask one question: would you save this? Liking a track and saving it are different, and saving is what counts on Spotify.

When several tracks pass

Promote one at a time. Playlists add individual tracks, and one focused push tells you what worked. Start with the track that sits most obviously in one genre, since that's the easiest one for a curator to place, and a first placement helps the next release.

Space the releases out as well. Only one of your tracks can sit in your followers' Release Radar at a time, according to Spotify's own guide, so give each track its own few weeks.

What to do with the tracks that fail

Keep them. Some become album tracks, some get remixed, and some come back once your production has caught up. Releasing a track without promoting it is normal. Promoting a track that was never going to clear the bar is where money goes to waste.

Test the track that passes

The old way to find out whether a track works on playlists is to pay to pitch it. On pitching platforms, around $150 usually buys submissions to about 15 curators, with nothing promised, and the curators keep the money whatever they decide. A pile of generic declines tells you very little about the track. Charging artists just to have a track considered for a playlist is something Spotify's rules don't allow, so that model isn't compliant, and the risk is yours.

On Soundmango you start a campaign for the track that passed, set the genres and minimum follower count you want, and pay once. It goes only to curators whose playlists fit, and it keeps going to the next fitting curator until one takes on your campaign. Approved tracks have an estimated 99% chance of landing on at least one playlist, and if no curator takes your campaign on, you get every cent back.

Frequently asked questions

Should I promote every single I release?

No. Release everything you want to release, and promote the tracks that pass the checks. Spreading a small amount of money across every release gets you very little anywhere.

What if my favorite track keeps failing the checks?

Trust the checks. The tracks artists love most are often the ones with long intros and unusual structures, which are the hardest for a stranger to get into.

Is an older track worth promoting?

Yes, if it passes the checks and never got a real run. Playlists care whether a track fits today, and a campaign works for any released track.

How do I judge my own mix objectively?

You can't, entirely. That's why the first check uses someone else's released track as the reference, and why the five-person test asks about saving.

Put your money behind the tracks that earn it

Choosing well is most of the work. Once you've picked the track, start a campaign for it, and it goes to curators who run playlists in your genre until one takes on your campaign, or you get every cent back.