Four More Ways to Get Playlist Placements
We covered one way of finding Spotify playlist curators in a previous post, the method we described is the most accessible way of finding curators that want songs submitted to them, but there are other, less obvious and direct ways of finding curators. We will cover four more ways of discovering and reaching out to the Spotify users who have made playlists for placements.
The first utilizes a social network that most artists either haven’t heard about, or don’t believe will help on their musical journey. That social network is LinkedIn, which has the stigma of existing just to find a day job, but it can be used by artists in many of the same ways social media can. For one, having a LinkedIn profile as an artist can create connections that will lead to performance opportunities, serving as an artist’s official resume, but there is also a way to use the site to contact curators. In a previous article, we described a method that utilizes information in the description of a playlist to contact curators, but what if there is no information such as an email or social media handle there? Well there are almost always details in a curators profile that can be used to pitch a song, mainly the curator’s name, and often you can find that person’s name on LinkedIn. While searching for playlists, find a playlist you think your music will fit well on, go to the profile of the owner, find the full name, and look them up on LinkedIn. Create an account as an artist/musician and make a connection with them, pitching your song. This is not a guaranteed placement to say the least, because the curator may not even be accepting submissions, but it is always worth a try. The next method will focus on niche markets where users are looking for submissions.
The next method to explore involves Reddit. Join as many subreddits as possible related to Spotify playlists and look for people posting their playlists, identify the type of music that is on it and make sure your song fits. Comment under the post complimenting the playlist, follow the playlist and comment that you’ve done so, wait for them to respond, then pitch your song. It is important that spamming will get you blocked, so always add value to the community before you pitch your link on every post. There is probably a subreddit for every niche community and we advise that you create your own to use as an artist page.
Learn to curate your own playlists, this is good for Reddit especially. Post your playlist and wait for people to comment on the post with their own pitch. Reply with a link to your profile and playlist and ask them to follow you and the playlist and you have a free follow for both. Have integrity and a theme with the playlist that you create, mixing in known artists, unless your theme is for underground artists (still try to have a musical theme, because ultimately, you want people that aren’t artists following and listening to it). Have a good cover image and a name that describes the playlist for when people search certain keywords in Spotify. We will cover keywords in more detail in another post.
The final way to find playlist curators that we will cover in this article is not as effective at directly gaining listeners, but can indirectly help you in the long run. We will call this approach the family and friends method. Simply get the people that support you to add your song(s) to their own personal playlists. Again, this may not produce immediate results because most likely, your family and friends probably don’t have a huge following or are even trying to have a following, but every playlist placement helps with the Spotify algorithm. Spotify suggests songs to users based on their listening habits, as well as the habits of others. When people listen to your song next to other songs, and it isn't skipped before 30 seconds has passed, the algorithm will suggest your song when other people listen to the songs/artists that are played before or after yours. For example, if enough people listen to a Drake song, and then your song, the algorithm will suggest your song when other people are listening to Drake. It is a drawn out way of gaining listeners, but every listen and placement counts. It is also the easiest to do, using the people who already support you.
For every method, learning how to network and pitch your song is important. We also covered this subject in a previous post. Understand that everyone is trying to gain something, and knowing what the curator is trying to gain goes a long way to getting your song placed.
We understand that growing a following is hard, especially with no budget, and we want to help. For placements on one of Stoned Produce’s playlists, click here, or grow your online presence with a press release here.
