How to be added in a Spotify Editorial playlist? (edited february 19th)

First of all, to begin with, I would like to clarify that what I will explain below is only a personal testimony.

In no way do I think I know how Spotify's editorial playlists work.

But since many artists have asked me the question "Did you do anything different this time to be added to an editorial playlist?", so I decided to share with you the few tips that I think could help me get there.

1. How it happened

Last month, I had the immense pleasure of discovering that my latest track "Walking on the Sand" had been added to the "Instrumental Reading" editorial playlist, followed by 60,000 listeners on Spotify.

It was my stated goal this year to get there. But I didn't expect to get there so quickly!

In my Facebook post, I thanked Ron Adelaar and Shoshana Michel for their advice, their help. As a result, many imagined - logically - that this advice was worth gold! To some extent yes, but no secret magic formula I'm sorry to disappoint you!^^

2. Advices given to me

Honestly, I thanked Ron and Shoshana because they were the first to advise me and judge my first piano pieces but I did not have a miracle recipe.

Shoshana told me that my piano sound was not good enough (I knew it but suddenly I listened to the sound of the pianos of the artists who work well)

And Ron told me to apply on my left hand. (But for this piece "Walking on the Sand" the left hand plays only one note almost lol) These simple advices made me think about the sound, the genre Spotify was looking for.

Are there some other explanations ?

3. Before the playlist's add, some clues?

One week before the add, I had a first great new : Spotify created my personal editorial playlist "This is RAF21" :

Maybe it's just a coincidence ! But it happened like that for me.

Another clue is that I observed, a few weeks before, lots of additions of my previous tracks to strange playlists:

- The Edge of...

- The Sound of...

- The Pulse of...

Here are these playlists for "Walking on the Sand". Weeks before, I observed this for my previous piano musics.

After information, these are automatic, algorithmic playlists, created by Spotify, which bring together the songs that have all the characteristics of a particular genre (there are thousands of them) and which are used by Spotify to analyze which songs work well and which could match with other playlists. So maybe these playlists are used to sort out before arriving in the headphones of the people who select the songs for the editorial playlists?

By imagining that it is indeed real people who listen and choose the songs, because nothing is less certain about this!

4. Pitching to Spotify

Did I change something in the way I pitched the music to Spotify Editors?

Well, I would like to be sure, but I didn't remember perfectly... And after the release day, impossible to read the pitch again...

But I seem to recall explicitly mentioning the spotify playlist that might match my music, i.e. I wrote "Maybe it might match your Instrumental Reading playlist"?

Finally, much like the artists who send me their songs on Daily Playlists, they choose and click on the playlist to which they want to submit their songs.

Again, maybe it's irrelevant, but if it helps...

And then it's not so stupid after all : they get thousands of tracks to rank, so maybe mentioning THE playlist can help the artificial intelligence sort and select your music?

5. Listen to editorial playlists and make music which match in genre.

François (aka Byebyefish), after listening to my music, told me that it perfectly matched the demand for this playlist.

And I believe he is right.

I listened to this famous playlist, even before composing.

To get a clear idea of what was required to be included. I tended to make too many variations (in nuance as well as in rhythm), playing too many notes as well. I repeated the same melodic phrase (if you can call it a melody lol) several times, with a few tiny variations. It was hard, even against nature, because I always liked to give free rein to my imagination, not to lock myself into too rigorous a framework.

It paid off, maybe not for those reasons, but Spotify likes tracks that are clearly legible in terms of genre. There, for this playlist, it is necessary to propose background music, without too much relief which could disturb the readers.

6. Being added in trending playlists

As you can see, weeks before January and being added to the editorial playlist, I had a streams / listeners growth.

Thanks to trending playlists.

That’s what it is written in the spotify advices : first the good curators and then editorial curators.

For example, my music was in « Winter Instrumentals » playlist, made by Magnata Playlists.

And this winter, this playlist had an incredible growth in listeners / streams, with 2 of my musics.

This helped me, I think, in the success of the playlist integration.

7. Conclusion

I hope this post will help you, who are reading this, and will give you some ideas to be added in editorial playlists.

The truth is I didn't understand why my music was added, when I compare my poor work with the great piano musics of the other artists. I'm a perfect amator, independant artist who make music for his pleasure, as a hobby. I have a job that I love (teacher), and music is just my break ! So, maybe it's true : Spotify is a chance for - I wanted to write everybody - anybody !

Good luck !

8. New thoughts

Three weeks after this great news, my next music has been added too, in 3 editorial playlists !

This time, I took a picture of the pitch.

You see, nothing extraordinary ! And I didn't mention any spotify playlist in particular, so...

I have new ideas. Again, just hypotheses !

Once you are added, it's easier to be added again !

When I pitched the latest release, in my profile there was the editorial playlist "Instrumental Reading". Spotify recognizes me, knows I have been added and the algorithm may place my music again.

This time, it's another genre of music, another playlists, so it is great !

I noticed it for some other artists who are now added almost for each new track !

Listen to the playlists you have been added

I always listen to my musics in the playlists they have been added. Not all the playlist, just 4/5 songs before it, and 4/5 songs after it. The algorithm can say : "Ok, this music generate new listeners, streams".

Promote other artists

In social medias, (and that is François who told me that again) I talk a lot about other artists, not only self promotion. Maybe it is very good too, to generate trafic on Spotify ; this is like free advertising for them (podcast, blog, articles, interviews...)

Cinematica (1800 followers)

Hauntology (63 000 followers)

Ambiente (80 000 followers)

Hope these new tips could be useful for you !