Every artist wants to be successful on Spotify, but fully understanding the inner workings of the platform’s algorithm and editorial playlist ecosystem can prove to be a daunting task. However, a recent Q&A released by the Spotify team is aiming to increase transparency and foster a greater understanding about what it takes to land in their coveted playlists.
The blog post on Spotify for Artists addressed a variety of questions pertaining to the company’s playlisting process. One question in particular brought up the idea of pay-for-play promotion and whether it is a good idea to pay for placement on user-generated playlists.
Spotify representatives were definitive in their response, stating, “First things first, you cannot pay to get on an official Spotify playlist.” As for user-generated playlists, the team elaborated that the practice of offering to accept compensation in order to influence the content added to a playlist is against the platform’s terms of service. Engaging in the practice could result in a playlist being removed, according to the team.
While knowing how not to promote your content on Spotify is a helpful start, the Q&A also revealed several best practices for drawing the most attention possible to new song releases. Spotify recommends pitching songs for editorial review at least a week in advance of the release date in order to have the best chance of being considered for an official playlist.
Pitching songs to the editorial team through the Spotify For Artists portal has proven successful for thousands of artists. Spotify states they have given over 72,000 artists the opportunity to appear on on one of the platform’s editorial playlist offerings since launching the portal in 2018.
Credit: Digital Music News
