How to Submit Music to Spotify Playlists

There are two ways to submit music to Spotify playlists. You pitch Spotify's own editors from Spotify for Artists before the track comes out, which is free and takes a few minutes. Then there are the independent curators behind most other playlists, and reaching them the traditional way means pitching them one at a time, by email, social media, forms, or paid submission platforms. That second part is the old way of promoting a release, and it costs far more time and money than most artists expect. Here's what each one involves, and the better way to reach curators.

Pitching Spotify's editors from Spotify for Artists

Spotify's editorial playlists are run by Spotify's own editors, and the only way in is the pitch tool in Spotify for Artists. You pick one unreleased track, fill in its genre, mood, and instruments, and send it. Nobody can buy you a spot, and the editors decide on their own.

Do it for every release, because it's free and it pays off even when the editors pass. According to Spotify's own guide to Release Radar, a track pitched at least seven days before release goes into your followers' Release Radar. You can only pitch one track at a time, so pick the one you most want heard.

What submitting to independent curators involves

Independent curators run the playlists built around one sound, one mood, or one scene, and for most artists they're the playlists within reach. The traditional way to reach them is a job in itself, repeated for every release:

• Search for playlists in your genre.
• Check each one is real and still updated, since plenty aren't.
• Work out who runs it and how they take submissions: a form, an email address, a message on social media, or a submission platform.
• Write to each curator.
• Wait, usually to hear nothing.
• Follow up, then start again with the next list.

The hours add up fast. Say finding and checking one playlist that fits takes fifteen minutes, and tracking down the curator and writing to them takes ten more. Twenty playlists is over eight hours of work before a single curator has pressed play, and most of those messages will get no reply at all.

What paid submission platforms charge you for

Submission platforms promise to cut the searching out. You buy credits, often in packs with a minimum spend, and spend one each time your track goes to a curator. The credit is gone the moment you submit, whether the curator listens properly, writes something useful, or adds your track. Charging artists just to have a track considered isn't compliant with Spotify's rules, which don't allow charging for placements or even for considering a track for one, and it's the artist who carries the risk.

So you're paying for attempts. Say each pitch costs a couple of dollars and you send your track to fifty curators: that's a hundred dollars spent on fifty maybes. Plenty of artists spend a few hundred dollars this way per release and get back a stack of generic declines, some of which read as if nobody pressed play, and a track that sits on no playlist at all.

Why sending to more curators makes it worse

Sending more pitches feels like more chances, but relevance doesn't grow with volume. Your first twenty curators are the ones whose playlists suit your sound. The next hundred come from broader searches, and those curators decline tracks they liked because they don't suit their playlist. You pay for every one of those declines, in credits or in hours.

Why your playlist pitches aren't getting placements goes through where pitches get stopped, and why more of them doesn't help.

What curators need before they add a track

Whichever way your track reaches a curator, the same things decide what happens next:

• A finished recording. Curators decide fast, and a mix that sounds rough next to the other tracks on their playlist ends the listen early.
• A clear genre. A curator has to know where your track would sit on their playlist. A track that falls between two genres gets passed over by people who enjoyed it.
• A strong opening. The first few seconds decide whether they keep listening.
• A real fit with their listeners. A curator protects their playlist, because the listeners followed it for one sound.

What Spotify playlist curators look for and whether your track is ready for promotion go deeper on each of these.

The better way: one campaign instead of fifty pitches

Soundmango was built so you don't have to pitch at all. You start a campaign for your track, set the genres and minimum follower count you want, see the price, and pay once. There are no credits, no lists, and no inbox to chase.

Your track only reaches curators who run vetted playlists in your corner of the genre. When one passes, your track goes to the next fitting curator, and that keeps happening until one takes on your campaign. If no curator takes it on, you get every cent back. Because every track only reaches curators whose playlists it fits, approved tracks have an estimated 99% chance of landing on at least one playlist.

Curators choose their playlist tracks freely, which keeps all of it within Spotify's rules. And the eight hours you'd have spent searching and writing go back into your next track.

Stay away from anyone selling guaranteed placement

Any service that promises a spot on a playlist, or a number of streams, in exchange for money breaks Spotify's rules. Spotify's own guide to artificial streaming says it can withhold royalties, correct stream counts, and pull tracks from playlists when it finds fake activity. The risks of buying Spotify playlist placements covers what's at stake, and how to spot fake Spotify playlists shows you how to check a playlist before your track goes anywhere near it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to find Spotify playlist curators myself?

No. The traditional way makes you find, check, and write to each one yourself, but on Soundmango your track only reaches curators whose playlists fit what you asked for, and you never write a single pitch.

How much does it cost to submit music to Spotify playlists?

Pitching Spotify's editors is free. Reaching independent curators costs either hours of your time, if you write to them yourself, or a fee for every pitch on a submission platform. On Soundmango you pay one price for the whole campaign, and you see it before you pay.

Can I pay a curator to add my track?

No. Paying for a placement breaks Spotify's rules, and any curator who takes money for adding tracks is running a playlist nobody chose for its listeners. On Soundmango curators are paid for the campaigns they take on, and what goes on their playlist stays their own decision.

What happens if a curator says no?

With pitching, you move on and start writing to the next one. On Soundmango your track goes to the next fitting curator for you, and if no curator takes on your campaign, you get your money back.

How do I know a playlist is real?

Check that it's still updated, that the other artists on it are real acts with real catalogs, and that nobody is promising you streams. Every playlist on Soundmango is vetted before it's listed, and keeps being checked after.

Get your track to the right curators without pitching

Pay once, and your track goes to curators who run real playlists in your genre until one of them takes on your campaign. Approved tracks have an estimated 99% chance of landing on at least one playlist, and you get your weekends back. Start a campaign for your next release.