Not all playlist pitching is created equal

How does playlist pitching actually work?

Dec 11, 2022

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Not all playlist pitching is created equal 📰
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Not all playlist pitching is created equal 📰

According to Spotify, the correct way to pitch for editorial playlist consideration is through the “Spotify For Artists” dashboard.

You can’t e-mail an editor like the old days.

You simply pitch through a questionnaire under the “unreleased music to pitch” tab and hope an editor or decision maker takes a listen.

Videos, like the one above, are misleading to independent artists who have little understanding of how distributors and labels actually pitch. They’re not operating on a level playing field.

Distributors and labels have a different process when compared to independent artists.

I’ll explain.

Distributors and labels are assigned “reps” that they pitch their priority records to weekly e-mail, text, or a simple phone call. Some distributors submit pitch grids, which are essentially glorified excel spreadsheets. Heck, some labels don’t even pitch to “reps” and go direct to an editor (now called artist and marketing teams) who ultimately make the call.

Achieving editorial support in 2022 comes down to:

a.) having the right relationships

b.) having the right data to justify inclusion

This combination of legacy relationships + having a rep is a significant advantage over the independent artist, who’s simply pitching through “Spotify For Artists” and getting lost in the shuffle amongst 20,000 other releases being distributed on a daily basis.

Most artists don’t realize this.

That’s why having a good distributor in place (like a Foundation Media, STEM, Venice / Q&A, etc) is worth its weight in gold.

What about the right data?

By the right data I mean having a good save rate, skip rate, and replay rate beyond press and what you’re doing on social media. These are all factors that Spotify takes into consideration for editorial inclusion.

Assume that Spotify is the judge.

Your distributor is your lawyer.

Your marketing drivers are the evidence you’ll use to win your case.

That’s how the chain works, and why having a good distributor on board is crucial to securing editorial support.

Austin Staubus