Music Business: How Playlists Have Become The New Secret Weapon For Exposure | 269
You undoubtedly want greater exposure for your music, whether you are the musician yourself, the manager of a band or artist, or both.
spotify-playlistThe other day, I visited with a buddy of mine who works at Warner Records in Nashville. As we conversed about new music and finding new musicians, he began to explain to me how placing the label’s artists on Spotify and Apple Music playlists has grown to be one of his main responsibilities. That’s correct, a major record company pays individuals a fee to get their artists on playlists thanks to the immense resources of radio stations, publicists, publications, and other routes of exposure. Additionally, big labels will only pay to have some of the most well-liked playlists feature the music of their artists.
Why? Because music consumers now rely heavily on playlisting to discover new musicians to love on services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer, and others. Listeners are increasingly turning to curators and reliable sources for new music since there is simply too much music to listen to and not enough time. In fact, there is so much music that one app called Forgotify exclusively broadcasts the approximately 4 MILLION songs on Spotify that have never been listened before. Because songs are chosen and arranged to appeal to a very particular demographic, playlists have grown in popularity with listeners. That is to say, rather than having Listeners now have playlists they can access where someone has chosen tracks that fit the genre(s) they enjoy. This prevents your song from floating out in the wide ocean of streaming music. This not only helps you target your potential listeners, but it also raises the likelihood that music supervisors will hear your music. Many music supervisors use playlists to identify the perfect songs for current TV and film productions. This has grown into such a significant exposure channel.
So, you might be asking, who is actually making these playlists? Numerous persons. The most obvious are music bloggers and websites that focus on music news; labels definitely target these sites because many of these playlists are the first to feature new songs. halt for those seeking new music. Even though you might not be able to immediately make these lists, there are other playlists with a smaller but occasionally extremely devoted fan following that could increase your song’s exposure to levels high enough to be noticed by the bigger playlists. Other playlists that are easier to reach include those created by authors, local radio stations, brands, non-music periodicals, and guess who? YOU.
First, make your own playlist.
Linking your music to others’ by making your own playlist and classifying others’ songs according to genre or mood is the first step. Have you written a song that could fit on a Foo Fighters album? Or perhaps one that Wiz Khalifa’s followers would adore? Perhaps your music sounds best when you’re feeling reflective. Make a playlist of music you believe will complement your song(s), then add a FEW of your song(s) to it (of course, your song must already be on the streaming service). It must be a balanced blend; you don’t want to construct a playlist with 90% of your tunes and 10% of others. Spotify will get you started. includes a guide that even demonstrates how to make playlists.
Creating collaborative playlists is another excellent approach to engage your audience. Additionally, you may collaborate with other musicians to promote your music by including their songs on your playlist and asking them to do the same for one of your songs on their upcoming playlist. Last but not least, you need to ADVERTISE your playlist to others. Share it widely on social media, including with your followers and the other bands who were invited. You want as many people as you can to hear and spread these tunes.
Stage 2. Explore other Playlists
That was the simple part; the challenging part is getting your song on more well-known playlists. You’ll need to essentially “pitch” your music to an influencer, curator, blogger, business, etc. in order to have your music on prominent playlists. Remember that these can receive dozens of similar messages and submissions every day, so make sure your pitch makes it crystal apparent how your music can help the person you’re contacting and that you’re a respectable musician. Make sure you’re consistently publishing on social media and growing your fan base as one strategy. This is occasionally a “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” game. Some playlist creators will develop an affection for a Regardless matter how popular the band is, pick a song and add it to the list. However, they like it when you have a sizable fan base since it will increase the visibility of their playlist and the number of listeners that tune in. Verifying your artist profile on Spotify and Apple Music Connect is another technique to demonstrate that the music is from an authentic artist.apple-music-playlist
The curators of playlists don’t always need to know that you’re already successful, as I previously said. Sometimes the song is the only thing that matters. The value to them when they think about putting one of your songs in their playlists, however, becomes more apparent the more evident it is that you have fans (and that those followers are active on the site that hosts their playlists).
Therefore, make sure to publish links to your Apple Music and Spotify profiles via email, social media, and your website. Asking your followers to follow you on Apple Music or Spotify is nothing to be frightened of. Some of your admirers who are only casual listeners might not have even realized that they could stream your music.
No, how do I get in touch with these enigmatic playlist curators? It’s time to conduct some online research. Make a list of your favorite playlists or well-known ones that have music you enjoy first. Then, after following them on the streaming service (from your band account), check to see whether they are also active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., and follow them there as well.
As I’ve said previously, target the playlists created by regional organizations like radio stations, clubs, and meet-ups. Sure, you want to get added to a prominent official Spotify playlist, but it may just be the momentum you gain from many lesser playlists that attracts Spotify’s editorial staff’s attention.
Keep your pitch succinct and be clear when describing why your music is ideal for the playlist. This might be a particular genre, concept, issue, instrumentation, aspect of your musical career that is remarkable, or any combination of those things.
Last but not least, be sure to share your playlist placement with all of your followers, friends, and family on social media as soon as you do. This is significant because it shows that your fan base enjoys sharing in your victories and that influential people think highly of your music. Follow these instructions, rinse, and repeat several times, and your music will reach far more new ears than you ever imagined. Perhaps we’ll run across you again.