How to Submit Music to Spotify Playlists Directly

By opening up playlist submissions to everyone, Spotify has created a direct route for unsigned artists to grab a spot on the platform's official playlists.

It doesn't guarantee you'll get featured, but it is a pretty simple process and if you upload music on Spotify, it's well worth doing.

How to submit music for Spotify playlists

Here’s how it works:

1. Log in or sign up to Spotify for Artists using a desktop computer. You’ll find your unreleased music within the 'Music' section of your artist dashboard under 'Upcoming'.

2. Choose the unreleased track you'd like to submit from this section of your dashboard.

3. If it’s an album or EP, choose one track to submit.

4. Complete the playlist submission form, giving as much information as possible about the track.

Before you go ahead and submit your music, here are a few important points to keep in mind if you want to give yourself the best chance of being considered and featured.

- Only unreleased tracks can be considered for playlists. That means you will need to distribute your music and then pitch them for playlisting between the time of delivery and your release date.

- You can only submit one track at a time. Only after that track has been released can you submit another unreleased song.

- You must submit at least 7 days before your release date. The more time in advance, the better, so be prepared (so make sure you factor these timings into your wider music marketing strategy ahead of any new release!)

- Offer as much info and insight into your music as possible. Spotify wants plenty of data to help them match your music to the right playlists. Editors will be searching for new music based on the data you provide, so make life easier for them and give yourself a better chance by including details on genre, mood and anything else relevant to your track.

- You can only submit using a desktop computer. The form is not available on mobile.

TIP: Even if you don’t manage to secure inclusion on an editorial playlist with your submission, simply submitting your music through Spotify for Artists at least a week before your release date guarantees you’ll be placed on your follower’s Release Radar playlists when your music drops.

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Spotify for Artists playlist submissions step-by-step

Once your track has been uploaded to Spotify and appears in your Spotify for Artists Upcoming releases, it's time to submit.

Let's take a look at some of the info Spotify asks for. Remember, the more detail you can provide about your music the better!

Spotify's playlist editorial staff need to know all about the style, genre, mood and culture of your track. You'll be able to select from specific options, so make sure the ones you pick accurately match your music.

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You'll also need to offer up some additional information about the content of your track. Spotify has specific playlists for covers, remixes, instrumentals and more. So if your music falls into any of these categories, let them know!

Some official Spotify playlists are also location based with editors looking for tracks created by people from certain corners of the world.

You should also add in a detailed description of your music to give more context for playlist editors who hear it. That could include the process of writing and producing, as well as your plans to promote it.

Spotify opening up playlist submission to all is a great way to give all rising artists a better chance of landing on major official Spotify playlists. Not to mention, getting playlisted has the ability to boost an artist's Spotify pay per stream rate.

But remember, there's a lot of competition out there. Even though Spotify features around 75,000 artists on their playlists each week, there are still many more who miss out. Consider pitching to independent Spotify playlist curators and using a playlisting promotions company like SoundCampaign or a Spotify music promotion service like One Submit to better your chances of landing a spot on a big playlist.

Don’t forget you can also submit your music directly for the Ditto Music Spotify playlists.

Good luck with your submissions!

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