How to get on Spotify editorial playlists

Spotify's editorial playlists are the ones its own team builds, by genre, mood, culture and moment. There is one official way in: a pitch from Spotify for Artists, sent while the song is still unreleased. Pitching is free, every artist with a release on the way can do it, and the pitch also decides which song your followers get in Release Radar. This guide covers how it works, what goes into a strong pitch and why timing matters as much as the words.

What Spotify's editorial playlists are

Spotify describes its editorial playlists as thousands of playlists curated by its editors: genre, lifestyle and culture specialists, often several working on one playlist from different parts of the world. They carry the Spotify mark in the byline. Some personalized playlists work with them too: for those, the editors pick a pool of songs and Spotify's algorithms choose from that pool for each listener.

Editorial playlists sit beside two other kinds. Personalized playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar are built per listener by algorithms. Listener playlists are the millions fans make themselves. A song can be on all three, and each feeds the others: an editorial add brings new listeners, and their saves tell the algorithms who else might like it.

How pitching works in Spotify for Artists

Your distributor delivers the release to Spotify first. It then appears in the Upcoming tab of Spotify for Artists, which can take around 48 hours from delivery. From there, Spotify's steps are short:

1. Sign in at artists.spotify.com.
2. Go to Music, then Upcoming.
3. Choose a song and complete the pitch form.

The rules that matter, in Spotify's terms:

• the song has to be unreleased; once it goes live it can no longer be pitched;
• you pitch one song at a time, and can pitch the next once the pitched song is out;
• compilations and songs where you are a featured artist can't be pitched;
• anyone with Admin or Editor access on the artist team can see and edit the pitch;
• you can edit the pitch up to release day, though Spotify says there is no guarantee the editors see the changes.

Music videos have their own pitch, separate from the song, in the Video & Visuals section, for artists who have access to video pitching.

What editors look for in a pitch

Spotify's own advice is short: more detail gives your song a better chance. An editor reads a pitch to answer one question, which playlist and which listeners this song is right for, so the useful details are the ones that help place it.

• The sound. Genre and subgenre, mood, instruments, tempo and the artists your listeners also play. Accurate tags matter more than flattering ones.
• The story. What the song is about, where it was made and why it matters to you. A specific detail gives an editor something to hold on to.
• The context. Where you are from, the scene you are part of and what else is happening around the release: shows, a video, press, a campaign.

Write it the way you would describe the song to someone who has never heard it, plainly and specifically.

Why timing matters

Editors plan playlists ahead, and many artists pitch for the same playlists. Spotify asks artists to deliver music at least 7 days before release so the editors have time to listen. That is the minimum. A release date set weeks out gives the release time to reach Spotify for Artists, gives you time to write the pitch well and gives the editors time to hear it.

The 7-day line also decides Release Radar. Pitch at least 7 days before release day and Spotify puts the pitched song in your followers' Release Radar; pitch later and Spotify picks the song itself. The Release Radar guide covers the rest of that playlist's rules.

Spotify is one store. Apple Music, Amazon Music and other stores have editorial teams of their own, who hear about releases through the distributor. A release that goes out early, with a pitch attached, reaches all of them in time.

After you pitch

When the song goes live, check the Music, then Playlists tab in Spotify for Artists to see which playlists it is on. Spotify notes that editors may pick a different song from the release than the one you pitched. If you are eligible for a This Is playlist, you can also pin the pitched song there.

A song that isn't picked can still be found later, and the pitch has done its other job by putting the song in your followers' Release Radar. Spotify's advice is to stay on the editors' radar by building your audience on Spotify and beyond. The posts, saves and followers that do that are covered in the monthly listeners guide.

Where Audora handles the pitch

The pitch is one step of a release, and Audora builds it into every one. What every track gets shows the full release. For the pitch:

Video · 1:00

• every release goes out with a pitch for the people who market it to the stores, written from your answers about the song;
• Audora dates the release to give the editors time to listen;
• your own pitch in Spotify for Artists comes up on the release's calendar on the day it matters, alongside the pre-save and the Canvas;
• once the song is out, every playlist it is on is shown back to you: editorial, algorithmic and listener-made, with plays and saves from the stores' own reporting.

The steps for your release, dated to your release day, are in your Audora account. Audora keeps tuning them as it learns what works best for its artists, adding steps, dropping some and shifting their timing. The guide to getting more listeners shows how the pitch fits with everything else around a release.