Spotify Playlists and What Curators are Looking For

Spotify playlists serve as one of the easiest and quickest ways to get listeners, and potentially followers, for new artists. There are three main types of playlists on Spotify: algorithmic, listener, and editorial playlists. Each of these play a part in boosting the statistics of artists, and while they help, it can be hard for artists to understand how to be placed on them. This article will be explaining what the curators of these playlists are looking for and how to get a placement on these playlists.

Algorithmic Playlists

Algorithmic playlists are playlists that are generated by Spotify’s algorithm, and can be influenced by many factors that don’t rely on a person actually hearing the song.

1. Followers

   1. When a listener follows an artist, they are notified of the artist’s latest release, and the single, or pitched song from the project will appear in the listener’s Release Radar playlist. 

2. Listening Data

   1. Spotify’s algorithm analyzes the types of songs listeners spend the most time listening to and suggest songs and artists that are similar to the music they appear to enjoy. If a listener spends a lot of time listening to Drake, then the algorithm will suggest Travis Scott to the listener, as they have collaborated numerous times and make similar music. These suggestions come in the form of the Daily Mix and Discover Weekly playlists that are updated either every day or week respectively.

All algorithmic playlists are unique to the listener, so to influence these playlists, artists have to get listeners to follow them, and it would help to collaborate or make similar music to other artists.

Listener Playlists

Listener playlists are probably the best way to get heard by new artists as they are curated by users not associated with Spotify and can be reached, sometimes. We’ve posted articles on how to find and approach Spotify curators here and here, but it is important to know what they are looking for. Most of these curators are looking for new music that evokes emotion, while others are looking for money. When taking submissions, most curators don’t care enough about social followings to reject a song due to low social media presence, but being able to leverage your social media to bring attention to the playlists is a plus. 

Editorial Playlists

Editorial playlists are by far the most difficult to be placed on and probably why you clicked on this article. There are numerous factors influencing placement as they are curated by people affiliated by Spotify. Also, Spotify is not in the business of finding and promoting new music and artists. The goal of Spotify is to attract as many people to the platform as possible, and artists with less of a social following aren’t prioritized. With that being said, if you can gain momentum around a song that drives people to Spotify that interact with your song in positive ways, it would make it easier to be placed. 

But what are curators looking for?

• Play to Skip Ratio

• Saves

• Articles about the Song

• Social Following

• How Many Listener Playlists Placements

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Generally, Spotify is looking for songs with potential to “blow up”, so that they could receive more listeners and keep listeners listening for longer. When an artist pitches a song, Spotify asks them how they plan on promoting it. This is because they don’t want to spend money, or use other resources promoting artists, especially without a guaranteed return. All in all, if an artist utilizes the first two types of playlists, as well as generates buzz around the song outside of Spotify, then the work is already done as far as generating interest in the song. The editorial playlists are just icing on the cake. 

Editorial playlist placements are a great goal to have, but the work that it takes to get there will enhance an artists career more than just that placement. Artists should use all of the tools Spotify provides outside of editorial playlists to bring awareness to their music, but with the goal of retaining listeners and making them fans. The playlists are just today’s radio stations and won’t guarantee followers.