Playlists and how to be in them
In an age of accessibility and endless choice we are all selectors, yet we spend more than half our time listening to playlists, in order to navigate streaming libraries of 30 million tracks – whether curated by experts, tastemakers or machines, they filter the 20,000 daily additions for the listener and generate significant revenue for artists.
Playlist inclusion is a potentially game changing component to any campaign, and we’d like to shed some light on how artists can stand the best chance of being included...
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CURATION // ALGORITHMS
Before doing anything it is crucial to understand the different types of playlists, and how each of them operates.
Curated playlists.
- In-house playlists managed by expert music teams - Spotify have an official pitching process for these. New Music Friday, Rap Caviar, Acoustic Sundays, Coffee Morning etc.
- Brands and major labels run official playlists – for example Filtr (Sony), Topsify (Warner), Digster (Universal) – They make up around 8% of the total share, but as they are major label partners they are less likely to feature independent music and are harder to reach.
- Users including independent tastemakers and influencers make their own playlists, and although they are less visible than the above, their influence and reputation can be unparalleled in certain areas and can help you connect to a valuable audience – relationships can be built organically with 3rd party playlisters via other external channels of communication.
Algorithmic playlists.
In addition to human-curated playlists, there’s also algorithmic playlists that are tailored to the individual user - like Apple Music’s Discovery Mix, and Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Release Radar - which both use collaborative filtering algorithms to target users with similar taste profiles. This personalised approach is proving highly successful, and although you can’t pitch your music to an algorithm, they work alongside curated content and both influence each other – there are also tips to come on how best to get picked up by algorithmic playlists.
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ECOSYSTEM
Identify key ‘feeder’ playlists and rise through playlist ecosystem.
Research.
Before pitching begins you need to draw up a target list of playlists that suit your music - it’s possible to find popular playlists by scouring the net and looking through similar artist’s ‘discovered on’ profiles. Spotify, for example, also share lists of the most popular playlists with labels/distributors every month.
Look beyond the most popular playlists, as this is where streaming provides real opportunities for left-field artists who otherwise find it hard to connect with a sizable audience. For example, some of the most popular playlists on Spotify are to help people sleep, occupied with ambient electronica, post-rock and instrumental piano music by Max Richter and Nils Frahm…
It’s essential to identify feeder playlists to have a chance of rising through the playlist ecosystem, and also be aware that sometimes more targeted, and trusted user-generated playlists can deliver more plays than playlists with a bigger follow count.
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PSYCOLOGY // DATA
Now we’ve been looking at how playlists work, we need to get inside the mind of a music editor, understand the data they read, and how this ties in with the platform’s algorithms…
Mood.
Try and think in terms of moods and activities, instead of styles and genres. Understand how editors categorise music, and think about how your music makes people feel – in what environment is it most likely to be listened to? Electro Workout, Monday Motivation, Cosmic Sleep, Driving Rock Anthems etc.
Data.
The biggest curated playlists are partly built by data, and the performance of a track in a smaller ‘feeder’ playlist is analysed heavily before being introduced to the flagship playlists we’re all familiar with. In a sense the curators beta test your music with a smaller audience to see what works.
Using a performance tracking application called PUMA (Playlist Usage Monitoring and Analysis), editors can see how many times individual tracks are played in a playlist, how quickly tracks are skipped, and how many people save them in personal playlists – these indicators help music editors know when to promote potential hits from 'feeder' playlists to highly visible 'flagship' playlists.
A track ranking system is also utilised by algorithmic playlists. For example, if a track appears in a large amount of curated playlists, and is consistently positioned towards the top, the chance of being picked up in an algorithmically designed playlist significantly increases.
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POSITIONING
Now we know what to pitch for, make sure the music is presented well by the distributor…
Metadata.
Follow the metadata style guide for each DSP to the T - title caps, explicit content, labeling features/collaborators/original artists etc.
Image.
This goes for any platform, but make sure your visuals are strong, and that your distributor has them displayed clearly. For example, colourful backgrounds and bright pictures stand out against the dark Spotify UI and simple backgrounds keep your artist page nice and clean. Verify your profile, submit your bio, and make sure your best images are optimised across mobile and desktop devices.
Edit.
Consider the influence of consumption trends over the creative process.
If you have set your sights on trending popular playlists, you might want to consider how you edit a track at the production stage. A shift in how we consume music is having an interesting impact on how it’s created in the first place, and one example is the new equivalent to a radio edit. There’s no DJ talking up to the vocal on a streaming service, so make an impact right away and avoid being skipped by losing a listener’s attention.
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STRATEGY
Optimise your roll out for streaming platforms…
Streaming is accelerating the shift from listeners consumer music in an album format, to a playlist format.
Spotify not only promote the playlist format in the ‘Browse’ section, we’re starting to see the ‘Search’ feature offering Spotify-curated playlist anthologies of an artist’s work (for example This is: Dizzee Rascal) before it will show you their most popular/recently released album. With this in mind, it can be more effective to release more singles over time, instead of a traditional two to three singles followed by an album, providing more opportunities to pitch for playlist inclusion throughout a campaign.
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PITCH // ANALYSIS
Everything is in place and we know what we’re doing - it’s time to pitch…
Engage.
Music editors will check whether an artist is fully engaged with the platform. It’s worth running your own playlists, and sharing any others that include your music on social media.
Direct fans to your primary streaming platform early and the initial surge will help see your track identified by their algorithms, and if users respond well from there it’ll draw the attention of influencers.
Pitch.
Whether you’re approaching influencers yourself, or have a label / PR working for you, you need to make sure you have more than just a good track. The first thing music editors ask is who’s supporting your release online, who’s playing it on the radio, what live activity do you have coming up and do you have any brand partnerships or sync deals.
Budget.
Lay out an online marketing budget to promote direct links to your new release/playlists. The DSP wants to see evidence that this is a priority release and will be supported by the artist/label on their platform.
Analyse.
Do your own data mining and look at what is trending via Spotify’s ‘Fan Insights’ functionality. If a track in your catalogue is currently spiking, do what you can to push it further – don’t focus entirely on promoting your latest release - be reactive to what the listener data tells you.
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SUMMARY
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Whilst examining the landscape of streaming playlists it is important to also look at the bigger picture and evaluate its importance within a wider context.
Receiving streams from a major playlist might be a highlight in your campaign and provide a financial boost but it doesn’t always translate into long lasting fans on its own.
A well-executed PR and marketing campaign demonstrates a genuine demand for the music, and in-depth written features provide necessary framework and context to help build a lasting connection with the right audience. Strong PR is a necessary component for the playlist pitch, and to have success in both is now the cornerstone of launching new artists and sustaining established careers in the modern music industry climate.
To request a PDF version of this report please get in touch below...
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Online - Press - Radio
Distro - Sync - Publishing
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