The world is digital these days, and for most musicians you cannot ignore the pull of streaming. Especially since Spotify and Apple Music control most of the streaming music world. For those reasons getting a boost in plays for your songs on those platforms can mean growth for your audience and future opportunities. I wouldn’t count on making a ton of money, but there are some practical strategies you can put into place so that you get your music to the ears of more people. The best part is that these are all free approaches and can push you forward with just a little bit of effort.

Before We Get Started

One thing to add to the validity of any approach or pitch you make is to ensure that your profile on the various streaming platforms looks professional and legitimate. Therefore, make sure to “verify your Spotify profile” or “claim your Apple Music profile” before beginning with the steps below. You also need to make sure your digital house is in order. All links to websites, social media accounts, e-mail addresses must be current and working. Otherwise you can quickly derail any hope of getting the ramp-up you want from releasing your music.

The Pre-Save

Getting noticed on Spotify and Apple Music can have a lot to do with the early release approach. So this is definitely the first place to start. Spotify calls this a “pre-save” and Apple a “pre-add” (why do they have to be cute and change things? It just forces me to add extraneous words to this blog.). What becomes important about this approach is there are lots of “algorithmic playlists” (i.e. done solely by computer programs). When on your release date there are a bunch of new plays / adds / saves / favorites the computer sees this and may add your music to their “trending” or “discovery” playlists. Note that for Apple Music you will only be able to do a “pre-add” if it’s an album (or EP) release with an “instant gratification” track.

But how do you get an effective pre-save going for your music? First you have to get things set up appropriately. CDbaby has arranged to have Show.co be a free provider of pre-save links for your fans to use, Distrokid uses a feature called HyperFollow to facilitate the pre-save, and many of the other digital distributors will provide something similar (for a detailed comparison of online music distribution providers, check out this blog post). Regardless, the key is to get the appropriate URL / URI so that your audience has something to click on.

The real trick is that you need to give them a reason to click the link. Instead of the standard “Pre-Save our New Song!” you should go for something a little more provocative (“Listen to the song that got us kicked out of a country bar!”). An alternative would be providing a physical incentive. For Apple Music this is easy because you must provide an “instant gratification” track which means that those who pre-order get to listen to one or two songs off of the album before it releases. You could also enter all the pre-save e-mails into a contest to win a t-shirt, album, coozie, or date with the band member of their choice. The key in all of this is to make sure there is a reason to click the button. This is where the momentum builds.

Band and Fan Built Playlists

One of the best things about being a musician in a band is the communal experience with other artists. Playing live in your town and going on tour allows you to meet a lot of incredible people who make their own music. Think of all those cool people you know, and then arrange to build compilation playlists of each other’s music. This allows each of you to get your songs in front of a wider audience and builds on the camaraderie and goodwill across the music scene that you participate in.

Likewise, invite fans to build playlists that include your music with similar artists that they like. This again allows music to spread to their friends and can grow your influence. Occasionally some of these user generated playlists can get pretty popular. Which leads to the next point…

Reaching Out to Large Playlists

There are a wide range of user generated playlists. Some of these may be the perfect opportunity to place your music in front of the exact right fan. But the question is how do you reach them? There’s a great free tool at chartmetric.io. Just create an account and you can see a wide range of statistics on various playlists (official Spotify playlists as well). You can then select different curators to see if they have linked any social media accounts or a website that you may be able to contact them through. There’s lots of YouTube videos providing guidance on the technical details, so I want to focus on who you target and how.

First, make sure that you find a playlist that has music that matches your style. Your music must stand up in sonic quality to the songs that it will be compared to. No garage recorded demo is going to fly with this sort of approach (let me know if you need help with this). You also want to look for playlists that at least have a decent number of followers (more than 1,000) but don’t start by going straight for the top (hundreds of thousands or more). You need to plan on slowly working your way up. Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, actually subscribe to the playlist and listen to it for a while to make sure it’s something you think your fans would enjoy as well.

Assuming you follow that approach, it’s time to make the pitch. First, don’t be sleazy and try to cozy up to the curator by acting like their friend only to drop the whole, “hey, put my song on your playlist” in a week and then never talk to them again after they do. It’s important to be both personal, professional and courteous. So in your message, use their name (or company name) to introduce yourself. Then tell them which specific playlist you subscribed to and that you are really enjoying it (many of these users create a bunch of playlists). Tell them you have recently released some music which you feel is similar to what they have curated and invite them to take a listen if they have the time and to consider putting it on their playlist. Then thank them and be on your way.

Much of the time you may never hear back, but if out of 10 simple messages you can get one person to add a song to their playlist it can mean thousands of new people discovering your music. And this is just a simple, quick habit you can get into over time. And as your music is discovered by more fans and your audience grows you can continue to approach larger and larger playlists without looking like a brand new band.

Submitting for Official Spotify Playlists

This is going for the whole enchilada and while the odds may be slim that you get placed here, following the tips above over time may help your case. And now once you have music on Spotify they have created a more transparent process that allows your music to be considered for their playlists. To be able to accomplish this you will need Spotify for Artists, but once you have this set up you will be able to submit your music for consideration directly through that account. With the right growth and plays coming in from other sources, you just might land that coveted spot.

You can pick and choose which of these work for you, but by applying all of them and being persistent in broadening your audience you can grow your plays on Spotify and Apple Music. Let me know if any of these strategies work for you, I would love to share your story in the future.

If you need your help getting your music ready for the streaming world, feel free to reach out to me here and see how I can help you. For examples of my previous work check out the playlist.