A guide to breaking new music on Spotify & getting playlisted
Blog by Music Business School under Artist Managers, Record Labels, Selling & Distributing Your Music
Spotify is part of a big music eco-system and it’s important to have all the other parts of your marketing and PR campaign in order before you release your music on Spotify. Why? Here’s a direct quote from one of Spotify’s international label reps: “We're an active music team who are constantly looking at what is bubbling up. By staying as visible as possible within the music market and maintaining an active presence on Spotify we'll find your music and playlist where we think it will best suit an audience.“
Take time to absorb this quote. When music comes to the attention of the Spotify team they will cross check across social media to see if an artist is active and engaging with fans. Too many new artists and small labels release music before all the other parts of the marketing around a track are up and running and this is a serious error.
Another strategy to consider is to record and release multiple versions of each track. If you’re serious about getting on playlists, consider that there are ‘Chilled’ and ‘Instrumental’ and many other kinds of playlist. Recent Music Business School guest lecturer Mark Muggeridge who works at independent label Chugg Music advises artists to create at least an acoustic version of your track.
Maintain an active presence on Spotify
Create playlists which your fans will love, featuring the artists who you most admire and then include one or two of your own songs on that list. Take time to do this and think about placing the tracks in an order so that the playlist feels like a musical journey.
Get verified
Once you reach 250 Spotify followers, you can become a verified artist. You'll be able to use your Spotify account to create and post artist playlists. Plus, your artist page gets a shiny blue checkmark so everyone knows it's official. But how do you get 250 followers? Start by adding Spotify’s own ‘Follow’ button to your website and then regularly ask your fans on social media if they would follow you on Spotify. Make it a challenge or a contest – you could offer to release new music once you hit your target number of followers or run a competition for your 250th follower to win some exclusive band merchandise.
Get your live shows on Spotify
Promote your gigs via Spotify’s integration with Songkick. This puts your gigs in front of fans as they are discovering your music. You’ll need to have both a Spotify Artist account and a Songkick account. Then reach out to Songkick’s support team to ensure that your Songkick profile and Spotify Artist profile are connected.
Once this is done every time you add a show to Songkick it will show up on Spotify. Placing announcements of your upcoming gigs where fans are listening to your music makes perfect sense.
This blog was contributed by Music Business School. Get a complete list of links & resources talked about in this blog here. Music Business School provide 1 day per week courses giving you a clear understanding of all areas of the music business designed to help anyone, from absolute beginners to those who have some experience but want to take it to the next level.
It’s vital to understand all other areas of the music business such as collecting royalties, PR and marketing, and live touring. At Music Business School, these strands are brought together so that when you are successful on Spotify, Apple Music or similar you can make a living from your music. Their new location at Tileyard Studios in Kings Cross is a hub for over 70 other music companies giving you the benefit of world class facilities and opportunities to build contacts & network.
ALSO READ:
Music PR & promotion for emerging bands. Essential advice from I Like Press
ALSO READ:
Music PR & promotion for emerging bands. Essential advice from I Like Press
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How unsigned bands and artists can get their music playlisted on Spotify
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