How to Get on Spotify Playlists

You get on Spotify playlists three ways, one for each kind of playlist. Editorial playlists are chosen by Spotify's own editors, and you reach them with a free pitch in Spotify for Artists. Algorithmic playlists like Release Radar and Discover Weekly are built from how people listen, so you reach them by getting real people to play and save your track. Independent playlists are run by curators, and they're the ones most open to artists without a label. Here's how each one works, and where your time is best spent.

Spotify's editorial playlists

These are curated by Spotify's editorial teams, and the only way in is the pitch tool in Spotify for Artists. You choose one unreleased track, describe its genre, mood, and instruments, and send it before release. The editors decide entirely on their own, and nobody can sell you a spot.

Pitch every release anyway. It's free, it takes a few minutes, and according to Spotify's own guide to Release Radar, a track pitched at least seven days before release goes into your followers' Release Radar, whatever the editors decide.

Algorithmic playlists

Release Radar, Discover Weekly, and your listeners' personal mixes are built by Spotify's recommendations from what people actually do: play, save, skip, and come back. There's no editor to contact.

What feeds them is real listening to your track, especially from people who save it and return to it. That's why where your track gets heard first matters so much: listeners who chose a playlist for your exact sound give the recommendations something to work with. How the Spotify algorithm works for artists goes into what it responds to.

Independent curator playlists

Independent playlists are run by curators, tastemakers, labels, and communities, from small playlists built around one subgenre to destinations with thousands of engaged listeners. They're the part of Spotify open to you today, without a label and without waiting for an editor.

The traditional way to reach them is pitching: search for playlists in your genre, check each one is real, find out who runs it, write to each curator, and wait, usually to hear nothing. Submission platforms sell you a shortcut, a fee for every curator your track goes to, spent whether or not anyone listens properly. 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 it's you who carries the risk. Either way, you pay in hours or in dollars for attempts, and you start again with every release. Submitting music to Spotify playlists breaks down what that really costs.

On Soundmango you skip all of it. You start a campaign, set the genres and minimum follower count you want, see the price, and pay once. Your track only reaches curators whose vetted playlists fit, and it goes from one fitting curator to the next 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 on your campaign, you get every cent back.

What curators check before they add a track

Every curator protects their playlist, because their listeners followed it for one sound. Before they add anything, they look at:

• Genre and subgenre. A dream pop playlist skips a track that opens with a trap beat, however good it is.
• The first few seconds. Curators decide fast.
• The recording. It has to sound finished next to the tracks already on the playlist.
• The artist. Many glance at your profile to see real releases and real listening, even at a small scale.

None of it is personal. A playlist keeps its listeners only while every track on it belongs there. What Spotify playlist curators look for covers each check in detail.

Get the track ready first

Getting heard only helps a track that holds up. The recording, the mix, and the master have to stand next to the music on the playlists you want, and the opening has to give a listener a reason to stay. Is your track ready for playlist promotion walks through the checks.

The right playlist beats the biggest playlist

Picture an underground techno track on a huge electronic playlist whose listeners mostly play commercial dance-pop. Big playlist, wrong room: the track gets skipped, and the skips tell Spotify's recommendations it wasn't wanted.

Put the same track on a smaller playlist built around exactly that sound, with listeners who trust the curator, and it gets played, saved, and passed on. Fit and real listeners decide the outcome far more than the follower count does. Are small Spotify playlists worth it has more on this.

Stay away from guaranteed anything

Guaranteed placement, guaranteed streams, guaranteed followers: that certainty is the warning sign. Spotify's own guide to artificial streaming says any service offering guaranteed playlist placement for money breaks its terms, and that Spotify can withhold royalties and pull tracks from playlists when it finds fake activity. How to spot fake Spotify playlists shows you what to check.

After you get added

A playlist placement is the start of the release, so keep sharing the track with your own audience while it's up there. The saves and repeat plays that happen during that time are what carry into Release Radar, Discover Weekly, and the rest of Spotify's recommendations. What happens after your track gets added to a playlist covers what to do next.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my music on Spotify playlists?

Pitch Spotify's editors from Spotify for Artists before every release, build real listening so the algorithmic playlists have something to work with, and get your track in front of independent curators whose playlists fit your sound. On Soundmango that last step is one campaign, with no pitching.

Can I pay to get on a Spotify playlist?

No. Paying for a placement breaks Spotify's rules, and so does paying just to have your track considered for one. You can pay for promotion, such as a Soundmango campaign, where what goes on the curator's playlist stays their own decision.

How far ahead should I pitch Spotify's editors?

At least seven days before release, and two weeks or more gives you room to spare. You can only pitch an unreleased track, so it has to happen before release day.

Do I need a certain number of followers first?

No. Curators care whether your sound fits their playlist and whether your releases show real listening, even on a small scale, far more than a follower count.

Can independent artists get on Spotify playlists without a label?

Yes. Independent curators add tracks from unsigned artists all the time, and Spotify's editorial pitch is open to anyone with Spotify for Artists. Can independent artists get on Spotify playlists has the details.

Reach the playlists that fit, without the pitching

Pitch Spotify's editors, keep your listening real, and let Soundmango get your track to independent curators in your genre. One of them takes on your campaign, with an estimated 99% chance of landing on a playlist along the way. If no curator takes it on, you get your money back. Start your campaign.