Music Industry

In a band? Want to get your song on Spotify playlists? Here’s how.

In the Olden Days, the way you brought attention to your music was to get it on the right radio stations. That’s still very important, but increasingly, the goal is for inclusion on influential playlists on the streaming music services, especially Spotify.

So how can you do this? Music Think Tank offers some excellent suggestions.

How you get your music on a Spotify playlists is a hot topic. Most people expect there to be a simple, golden bullet solution. Who can I pay? Who do I email? From experience, the reality is quite different. In this article we’ll tell you the approach we took with The Daydream Club, an independent artist that has amassed over 40,000,000 Spotify plays and regularly attracts between 500,000 and 1,000,000 streams per month.

“Support us, by listening to our music on Spotify”

We started by telling fans that it was ok to listen to the band on Spotify. You would be amazed how many fans believe the Taylor Swift headlines. “Spotify is evil and ripping off artists.” If you previously made millions from CD sales or downloads, the shift in music consumption to streaming is likely to hit you hard! But if you have never sold enough CDs or downloads to provide a sustainable income, a service that pays you something for every play, for a lifetime, has real potential! The other key difference between you and Taylor Swift? As an unsigned artist, you aren’t giving half of your Spotify income away to labels, publishers and managers. Every penny you earn from Spotify is yours.

So spend some time telling your friends, family and fans that it is ok and actually helpful iff they listen to you on Spotify. It’s actually so much better than listening to you on YouTube! (Royalty rates are so much lower).

Spotify, Spotify, Spotify…

Every time The Daydream Club mention their music on social media, the sign off is always. “Find us on Spotify, listen to us on Spotify, add us to a playlist on Spotify. The only way to form habits is repetition of message. So even when you share your new music video, the sign off should still be… “Find this track on Spotify”

Keep reading.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39684 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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