Back in the before-times, people made mix tapes of their favorite tunes to share with friends. It was a fun way of sharing the current soundtrack to your life.
Fast forward to a world of Spotify and Apple Music, and playlists are the new mixtapes. More than that, playlists are taking over radio stations in the role of breaking a song or artist.
In short, playlists are an essential part of any savvy musician’s music marketing campaign .
How Do Playlisting Services Work?
Most playlisting services allow you to submit your music to multiple playlists and playlist curators. Sometimes you may have to be approved by the site itself before the song is passed on to the individual curators. They then choose whether or not to include your tune on their playlist(s).
It's a great way for new artists to (potentially) get their music in front of a wider audience and gain more fans. The playlists cater to different genres, so whatever your niche there'll be an audience for you.
Aggregate sites, like Submit Hub, or Groover will, for a fee, submit your songs to playlist curators appropriate to your genre of music. This fee gets split between the service and the curators.
Other platforms simply provide you a list of playlists and curators for you to connect with on your own.
While algorithmic playlists are hugely popular with the end-user the only way you can get on them is by having a noticeable number of listeners. Hence the invention of the playlist submission platform.
Before we find out the best playlisting services out there, a word of warning…
Don't Believe The Hype
With the world and his wife jumping on the playlist bandwagon there are inevitably some shady curators out there who promise to promote you to thousands upon thousands of followers, allegedly guaranteeing you an eye-popping number of streams, and a huge jump in number of followers.
Run away.
Falsely inflated playlists won’t do your career any good. And fake followers and plays are illegal, and can get you booted from the streaming site itself.
So do your research, and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Now, with that out of the way, here’s our top ten playlisting services for promoting your music.
10 Best Playlisting Services
Musosoup
Musosoup is a paid service that allows artists to submit their music to playlists, blogs, radio and more.
Rather than choosing who you submit to, a one-off fee will get you a three week campaign that puts your music on curators' radar. Interested curators will reach out with offers (both free and paid for) which you can choose to accept or decline.
The campaign also includes a live report showing who is interacting with your submission, and how.
Musosoup vets your music first to see if it'll benefit from the platform.
Submit Hub
Founded by blogger Jason Grishkoff this platform has grown to be one of the most well-known, if somewhat bloated, sites for playlist submissions.
By purchasing credits on the site you can submit your music to various playlist curators, blog creators, labels, and SoundCloud channels, in the hope of getting your song featured on a popular site.
While the site does accept all genres of music the tracks that perform the best are generally pop, hip hop or electronic music.
Groover
Similar to SubmitHub, Groover allows artists to connect directly with independent playlists, bloggers, and other music industry influencers by purchasing aptly named 'Grooviz' credits.
Each point of contact costs you 2 Grooviz (a little over $2), and if you don't get a response from your submission within 7 days you'll get your Grooviz back.
The website is clean and easy to navigate, giving users the option of choosing a genre, search for curators based on field (playlists, journalist, label, etc), and what the user wants. You can, for instance, ask for feedback on an unreleased demo.
Overall the submission process is streamlined, and there's a good selection of curators on the site.
Marble Collective
Focusing solely on Spotify playlists created independently over a few profiles, the Marble Collective promises to be bot-free and honest with their feedback.
The site has a very indie vibe and current playlists include folk, indie, alternative, punk, rock, and singer-songwriter. So, don't use them if you're releasing a dancefloor banger.
Note that this site is for submitting directly to the curators' own playlists, so you're not getting as wide a coverage as something like Groover. But it's a very transparent and trustworthy model, so worth considering if you fit the bill.
For The Love Of Bands
Another independent-minded music promotion platform, For The Love Of Bands curates playlists in various genres on Spotify, Apple, Deezer, YouTube, and SoundCloud.
What's novel about this site is that it features a free option for submissions. That's how much they love music. But you will be placed in a queue so might be waiting some time to hear back from them. For the price of a cup of coffee you can skip the wait and get a guaranteed response within 20 days.
They have an impressive number of playlists spanning a range of genres, but are definitely geared towards more of a 'band' sound.
The website is transparent and it's easy to get to their playlists from there to see if you'd be a good fit. There's a lot of commitment towards community engagement, and is a resource for independent music enthusiasts to discover their favorite songs.
For The Love Of Bands is also available through Musosoup and SubmitHub.
MySphera
According to their website, My Sphera offer 'affordable, hassle-free promotion, tailored to your music'.
The campaigns run between 21 - 30 days depending on the package you choose, and offer a minimum potential reach (again, depending on the package). All tiers offer a full refund if your song doesn't feature on any Spotify playlists.
It's a simple set-it-and-forget-it model. You submit your track to MySphera, they take a listen and send it to appropriate playlist curators. You sit back and wait to see if it gets a placement. Done.
The minimum potential reach figure is based on playlist followers, so getting featured on one doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a huge bump in number of streams. But it seems that most people have had decent success with the service.
MySphera looks like an awesome service for someone who wants to spend less time hunting down playlist curators, and more time making music.
SoundPlate
SoundPlate is a resource dedicated to electronic music artists and fans, offering curation and promotion services for all things EDM.
You can submit to independent playlists on Spotify for free, searching by genre. While the general vibe seems to be that this service works nicely, I've heard stories of some curators asking for cash to be included on their playlist. Remember the advice above? Run away.
So why is SoundPlate included in this list?
In addition to playlist submission opportunities SoundPlate also offers music distribution, promotional tools, event listing, educational content, and opportunities to grow your network. They're also an independent label.
While the playlist submission part is free, SoundPlate make their money from a subscription service to various promotional tools. And it's actually a pretty good deal.
If you're looking to submit your music to playlists, and make use of easy tools to create material to promote your music, check out SoundPlate.
Daily Playlists
Another free service, Daily Playlists allows you to submit to over 18,000 Spotify playlists covering a range of genres.
It's possibly the easiest way to submit your music to multiple playlists in a short amount of time.
You simply search for your track, or artists name, from their website, select the correct one, and you're away.
The only downside to the service is that you have to give them a bunch of permissions on your Spotify account. These look a little scary on the agreement page, but they can be revoked at any time.
Daily Playlists does offer a premium (i.e. paid) version of their service. But if you're feeling wild, try the freebie.
Spotify For Artists
Ah yes. The almighty Spotify.
Here's the thing though. If you already have a Spotify Artist profile this is an absolute no-brainer. And if you don't have a profile , you should. It's free. It's easy. And you're entitled to it.
Once you have a profile set up, you can submit any upcoming releases to editorial playlists with little more than a couple of clicks. The Spotify curators will listen to your track and decide if it's worth putting on an appropriate editorial playlist.
If you're releasing new music independently there's absolutely no reason not to a) set up an artist page, and b) submit to editorial playlists on Spotify.
It's easy, it's painless, and best of all it requires zero effort. And it's free.
Do It Yourself
While technically not an actual service, the DIY method of creating your own playlists and sneaking your tracks in and amongst the offerings is a fantastic way to get your music heard by a new audience.
'Sneaking' makes it sound shady, but it's a perfectly legit way to promote your music to a wider audience.
Using this method you simply create a Spotify playlist using tracks that match your genre, and be sure to include your own track. Voila. You're done.
This method has the benefit of paying it forward; if you promote music by other independent artists you're doing a service to them as well as getting your music out into the wider world.
Once you've created your playlist be sure to link it on your Spotify for artists page, and promote it on all your social channels.
Tips For Submitting
With so much new music being released on the daily, how do you increase your chances of a playlist curator picking your masterpiece out of the thousands of songs they listen to?
Do your research
Make sure your music fits right in with the other songs on the playlist. If it's a good fit you have a higher chance of being selected.
Create a professional pitch
As part of your marketing team of one you'll need a professional looking press kit, or EPK. This will include a short bio , as well as a brief background to the song.
Keep it short and to the point. Playlist curators have a life too.
Build your network
Building relationships is hugely important for independent artists. Fans, venues, other musicians, and yes, playlist curators.
Your song might not get a placement this time, but make a connection with the curators anyway. Keep track of who's listened to what (spreadsheets are great for this), along with dates, contact details, and date last contacted.
Support their playlists, and be engaged with any of their online activities. Be polite, keep it short and simple, and build the relationship over time. It'll pay off eventually.
Be persistent
This doesn't mean harassing curators or making a nuisance of yourself. Keep submitting, and if one method isn't paying off analyze why that is. Is your music good enough? Are you picking the right playlists? Ask other artists which services they use to promote their new music.
Conclusion
To get your music out there you're going to need to do a lot of grunt work. Even if you use a service for submitting to playlists you still need to get yourself, and your music, out there. Be active, be engaged.
Now go forth and promoteth your music.
