Promotion · 6 min read
How to Get Your Music on Playlists: Spotify, Apple Music and More
Playlists are one of the main ways listeners discover new music. Landing on a big playlist can bring thousands of streams in a week. No one can guarantee it, but you can improve your chances significantly.
Three types of playlists
Editorial — curated by platform staff: genre, mood and seasonal playlists.
Algorithmic — generated automatically for each listener: Release Radar and Discover Weekly on Spotify, “My Wave” on Yandex Music.
User-curated — created by listeners, bloggers, labels and independent curators.
Pitching to editors
On Spotify, an unreleased song is pitched to editors via Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release. Other platforms build their playlists differently — through the distributor or the artist dashboard.
SONOMUSE offers release pitching — submitting music to official platform playlists. The main rule: upload your release early, 2–3 weeks before release day.
Be specific in your pitch: genre, mood, similar artists, the story behind the song and your promo plans — a video, TikTok, live shows.
How to get into algorithmic playlists
Algorithms look at listener behavior: do people finish the track, save it, share it, come back to it? So in the first days after release it's important to bring a warm audience to the track — your followers, friends and fans.
Fake streams from bots are a bad signal: platforms detect them, remove the track and may ban the artist.
User-curated playlists
Look for curators in your genre on Telegram, Instagram, VK and curator submission services. Write personally and briefly, with a single link to the track.
Never buy placements in playlists that grow with bot streams — it's a direct path to getting banned.
Pre-release checklist
Release date set 2–3 weeks ahead.
Pitch submitted.
Pre-save link shared with your followers.
3–5 short videos ready for TikTok and Reels.
Artwork and Canvas ready, social announcement scheduled.
Summary
Playlists are the result of preparation, not luck. Release early, pitch, and bring your first listeners yourself. With SONOMUSE your release goes to 450+ platforms, with pitching and stats in one dashboard.
Ready to release?
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