Virtual Publicist & Spotify: Using Playlist Curators for Promo
--
Playlisting is essential for any artist, especially for indie artists making their name in the scene. As the most basic format of exposure, an independent playlist is essential a user that has complied tracks and has a significant amount of listener traffic to be note worthy.
An low tiered curator, will receive a few thousands listens per week. The better ones receive about 1000 per day. Some of the best can get you as much as 5–10k listens in a single day. The trick is to properly select them and to solicit them one at a time, all while tracking when you want them to add the song in the playlist.
Getting playlisted through a variety of small Spotify or Deezer playlists, allows your song to have a higher chance of finding its way to bigger playlists such as Discover Weekly and so on. Dramatically increasing an artist’s exposure and opening new opportunities to find your perfect group of listeners, is what this strategy is all about.
Digital playlists are the modern radio placements, but the upside here is that playlists aren’t limited by location, unlike radio stations. Getting on a Spotify editorial or independent playlists isn’t as complex as you might think.
Step 1: Making your Spotify for Artist
Provided that you have a verified account on Spotify, start with putting a song up for an upcoming release, that way you can start pitching to editors. It is often helpful to pitch your song up to a few weeks before its release to give you a maximum chance of succeeding. Editors on Spotify are the group that govern the main playlists that you can find on the suggestion page as well as the mood / category section. However, before you get there, here are a few steps to get on the platform properly.
1. Uploading music on Spotify:
There are many different digital distributors that handle music licensing, distribution, and pay streaming royalties. Companies like Tunecore, Cdbaby and Distrokid all work in a similar way. An artists uploads there music for a fee and the application will register and place it on selected streaming platforms.
Here is Spotify’s preferred and recommended distributors
2. Claim your Spotify For Artists Profile:
- To start, head over to artists.spotify.com and then click on “Get Access”. After hitting continue, search for your name.
- Once you’ve found it, log in with your account or create one that you want to associate to manage that artist profile.
- Click on “Yes, claim it” and on “Yes, continue”.
- Follow the steps that are indicated. You will have to link your profile to your website, to your Twitter or Instagram account in order to verify your identity. The Spotify team will review your request and get back to you within 3 days.
- Once you receive the email notification, go back to the Spotify for Artist page and click “Log in”. Once authenticated, go to “Your Dashboard” for instant access to start managing your profile on Spotify.
2. Get Verified on Spotify
No longer do you have to wait until you have 250 followers to even be able to apply for verification. Instead, now all you need to do is have access to Spotify for Artists!
If you don’t already have access to Spotify for artists, click here and follow the steps to access your account.
3. Edit your Spotify artist profile & bio
After logging in to your Spotify for Artists account, navigate to Profile in the left-hand menu, just as you would to modify any of the information on your Spotify artist page. You may now upload up to 125 photographs of your choice above where you type your bio! These might be official artist photos, photos of you in the studio or composing music, or photos of you performing live on the road — the options are unlimited! It’s a terrific way to show your admirers what you’re up to and get to know them better. You can also make changes to your gallery using the Spotify for Artists mobile app.
You may change the order of the photographs, add or remove them at any time, so be creative!
You can freely change your public profile now that you’re a genuine and verified Spotify artist! Put on your thinking caps because you may now adjust your artist image as frequently as you change your costume — sounds like a lot of work, but to each their own!
You can also show people what music you’re listening to by selecting your ‘artist’s pick’ at the top of your profile and adding playlists — either ones you’ve created or favorites you want to share with your followers.
4. Add social media links to your profile
While we’re on the subject of modifying your profile, a frequently requested issue is how to connect your Instagram account to your Spotify artist account. Artists can now include links to their social media accounts in their profile, making it easier for fans to find them elsewhere online. And if we can give you any advice, it’s to make yourself as easy to find online as possible.
Just go to your Spotify for Artists account’s Profile tab, select About, and on the right-hand side, there’s a new ‘More Info’ panel. Links to your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Wikipedia pages can be added here.
Spotify now has their own ‘Promo Cards’ to enable you share your playlists, music, and albums on social media, as well as when you are featured on a Spotify playlist (or one of its 60 other partner playlists). These free Spotify Promo cards also allow you to announce:
• Follower Milestones: Notify your fans when you hit 1k, 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 500k, 1M, 2M, 5M, 10M, 20M, 25M, 50M, and 100M followers on your Spotify profile.
• Charts Milestones: If your song is in the top 50 of the Top Global Weekly Songs list.• New Release Badges: Promo Cards generated for tracks, EPs, or albums published in the last seven days will include a special badge alerting fans to your new release.
• Deep-linking to Promo Cards: Spotify has implemented deep-linking to the site to make it easier for teams to organize around the creation of Promo Cards. The URL will update as you navigate the site, allowing you to send it to a collaborator so they can easily create their own card without having to go through the “search” process.
5.Add team members to your Spotify For Artists account
Being a musician is a difficult business, and having a team to support and grow your career can go a long way toward ensuring your success!
Your team can now assist you even more by gaining access to your data and profile.
All artists can add team members to their Spotify For Artists account at three levels of access:
• Full Access — users who have been granted full access to all of your features, including the ability to invite and edit team members. Recommended for: musicians, managers, and record labels
• Edit Access — These users can amend your artist profile, view streaming metrics, invite new team members for edit or view access, and read all members’ contact information. Booking agents, promoters, and publicists are all recommended.
• View Access — These people can only see your streaming statistics. Producers and collaborators are recommended.
Step 2: Promotional Cycles for Spotify Traffic
How to Make sure the Editor’s Notice
To increase the odds of getting playlist, there are a few things you could do. Start by running a pre-save campaign — a promotion that will let users save your upcoming release and hear it once it’s out. This will also give the Spotify algorithms the necessary data to place your song.
Spotify values traffic above all so make sure to surround the songs release with your advertising and influencers that will drive traffic to your Spotify profile so that the algorithm can pick up the activity. Traffic is the main focus you should apply because it is what will define the basis of the campaign. If in the days leading up to the releases, thousands of listeners have added the track as a pre-save and hundreds of independent playlists have done the same, you will be sure to attract the Editorial’s on spotify who will be able to place your playlist on mood and thematic playlists.
Media outreach
Another helpful strategy is to pitch to media outlets that are relevant to cover your release. After the pre-save is ready, media will be the ones spreading the good news about the release and diverting traffic to either more pre-saves or straight to your account once the song drops. This is where Virtual Publicist comes in. With a directory of pretty much the entire media landscape, our platform will give you a 3 click process to send your pre-save links, to all the right people. Target your genre, filter through the category and job description of the contacts and send send send!
Even if your guitar skills outshine your email skills, don’t worry, the Virtual Publicist platform arms you with a copywriter that will polish and place the proper words to get the message through.
Music blogs and Spotify
Oftentimes, music blogs will have their own playlists on Spotify and getting coverage can also mean getting playlisted by that blog. An important aspect of full-blown PR like press coverage is that it feeds into the platform’s algorithm and gives you higher visibility.
You can take it a step further and pitch your music to independent curators. Virtual Publicist gives you the ability to easily navigate the landscape and gather the right list of contacts. Save your list and email them via the inbox. You can test your writing skills or use a template, which ever one you feel works best.
Step 3: Advertise on Spotify
Spotify, like Facebook and Instagram, has a formal advertising marketplace. This simplifies the procedure of advertising on Spotify. Spotify Ad Studio was launched in 2017 to improve the advertising process and present potential sponsors with a variety of possibilities.
Spotify’s free customers are expecting adverts with their listening because most people are now used to the freemium model. Those who genuinely dislike advertisements will gladly pay for a Premium subscription. This leaves folks who tolerate hearing advertisements as the “cost” of having free music streaming.
Spotify offers one distinct benefit over other apps. Most individuals have seen adverts between songs on the radio at some point in their lives. They are already accustomed to hearing music with advertisements Spotify, on the other hand, outperforms the radio. You can make your own playlist and are not at the mercy of some program director.
You can make audio adverts that last between 15 and 30 seconds. A Spotify audio ad is technically superior than its radio counterpart. You can also build a picture that a user can click on to perform a certain action, such as going to a specified landing page.
You can choose the types of music your advertising will play. Make sure to concentrate on the types of music that your target audience like. You can also tailor your adverts to a certain geographic region, so include that information in your copy.
It is also crucial to remember that the majority of Spotify listeners are Millennials and Generation Z, while it has also gained popularity among older people they do not dominate the demographics.
The steps below are an easy to use slide screen on the Spotify platform once you click on Spotify Ad Studio.
1. Choose your Objective : this is where you choose to either advertise your music, merch/event or a non-music related entity.
2. Upload Audio: Upload your audio or request a voiceover from one of the Spotify voice actors! Although this is best suited for companies or stores, a voice over can be a great way to advertise an event.
3. Target your Audience: You can target your audience based on demographics (such as geography, age, and gender), listening habits, or platform.
4. Set Budget & Schedule: Determine your advertising budget and timeline. A minimum of $250 is required. The actual price you will pay will be determined by your location and ad targeting. You must also set the dates for your campaign, with your budget distributed evenly over the campaign duration.
5. Create your Ad : Create your ad creative — this is where you will add elements such as the accompanying image for your audio advertising, ad headlines, and a link to your landing page.
