Playlist pitching has one fixed end. Spotify’s own pitching page asks for the pitch at least seven days before release day, so the week has a deadline you cannot move once the date is set. What follows is that week as a work schedule, with a day given to each piece of it and the independent curator sends queued for the day the song goes live.
Six of the seven days are list work. One day is the pitch itself, and it takes about twenty minutes once the rest is done.
In This Guide You’ll Learn
- Which two dates the whole week counts back from
- What to do on each of the seven days, in order
- Where the editorial pitch sits and why it cannot wait
- Why the curator sends happen on release day rather than during the week
- Which three days repeat on every release
- What this plan does not cover
How Long Does Playlist Pitching Take?
About a week of part time work, ending on the deadline above. Spotify wants the pitch and the delivery in place by then, and that one rule sets the shape of everything else. Building and screening a curator list takes most of the remaining time, and the sends to those curators happen later, on the day the song is live.
The Two Dates Everything Hangs On
Write both dates down before anything else. Release day is the first, and the pitch deadline is a week ahead of it, which Spotify’s pitching guidance states as a minimum rather than a target.
Those two dates split the work in half. Everything editorial has to be finished by the earlier one, and everything involving a curator who needs to hear the finished song starts on the later one.
Day 1. Set the Deadline and Check the Delivery
Open Spotify for Artists and confirm the release appears under Upcoming. Delivery carries the same deadline as the pitch so editors have time to listen, and a release that has not landed yet is the one thing on this list you cannot fix in an afternoon.
Where the release is missing, that becomes the day’s only job. Call the distributor rather than starting on the list.
Day 2. Build the Long List
Search by genre and by mood, and write down more playlists than you intend to pitch. A long list of forty is normal for a short list of twelve, because most of what you find will not survive the next day.
Where you find each one matters less than recording it consistently. Playlist name, owner, how they take submissions, and the date you found it.
A directory shortens this day rather than replacing it, since the names still have to fit the record. Searching PlaylistFeed for verified playlist curators is free, every playlist is verified before it goes on the directory, free accounts can send a limited number of pitches, and the paid plan can be tried for free.
Day 3. Screen What You Found
Read each playlist rather than its follower count. Recent added dates, a mix of known and unknown artists, an owner who runs a few lists instead of thirty, and submission terms that do not ask you for a fee.
Screening removes the most names and saves the most time later. A message to a list nobody maintains costs the same to write as a message to a real one, and it returns nothing at all.
Mark why each name went, in one word. Frozen, wrong genre, fee, owner runs thirty. Those notes make the next release faster, because a list you rejected in March is a list you would otherwise find again in June.
Day 4. Cut to a Short List and Rank It
Order what survived by fit rather than by size. Genre first, then how recently the playlist added an artist at your level, then follower count last, since position on the list and audience quality move streams more than the total does.
Twelve names in a ranked order beats fifty in a spreadsheet. You will send in that order and you will read the replies in that order.
Day 5. Write the Message Once
Draft one message and leave one line open. The open line names something specific about the playlist you are writing to, and the rest of the message stays identical across the whole short list.
Keep it short enough to read in an inbox that holds hundreds. Song, genre, where it fits on their list, link, done.
Day 6. Submit the Editorial Pitch
Go to Music, then Upcoming, choose the song and fill in the form. Spotify’s pitching page says more detail gives the song a better chance, that you can pitch one song at a time, and that a pitch can be edited up to release day with no promise the editors see the change.
Two limits are worth knowing before you start. Compilations and songs you appear on as a featured artist cannot be pitched, and once a song is live it stops being eligible, so this day has no second attempt.
Meeting the deadline buys two things beyond editorial consideration. The pitched song goes to your followers through Release Radar, and where you are eligible for a This Is playlist you can request a pin, which the same guidance says takes around three days once the track is live and handles one request at a time.
Day 7. Queue the Curator Sends and Set the Follow Up
Write the sends and schedule them for release day. An independent curator needs a link that plays, which is why curator outreach lands after the song is out rather than before it.
Put a date beside the follow up while you are here. One reminder around a fortnight later, on the curator route only, and a note to open the Playlists tab in Spotify for Artists once the song is live, where Spotify shows the top hundred playlists holding your music ordered by how many of your listeners each one brought.
Outreach records are what most artists lose between the search and the inbox. PlaylistFeed keeps the reply history beside the search, so the second release starts from the first one rather than from nothing.
The Seven Days in One Table
| Day | Work | Ends with |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm the release and the delivery | Two dates written down |
| 2 | Search by genre, record what you find | A long list of about forty |
| 3 | Screen each playlist on the page | Most of the long list gone |
| 4 | Rank what survived by fit | A short list of about twelve |
| 5 | Draft one message with one open line | A message ready to vary |
| 6 | Submit the editorial pitch | The deadline met |
| 7 | Queue the curator sends | A send date and a follow up date |
Why the Curator Half Waits for Release Day
An editor works from an unreleased song inside Spotify for Artists. A curator running a public playlist works from a link, which means nothing to send until the track is live.
So the week ends with two things scheduled rather than two things sent. Spotify has your pitch, and your short list has a date beside it.
What Changes When the Genre Changes
The schedule holds and the list does not. Days two, three and four produce a different set of names for a house release than for a folk one, while the order of the work stays where it is.
Genre also changes how long day two takes. A narrow subgenre gives you twenty candidates instead of forty, which makes day three shorter and day four harder.
What This Plan Does Not Cover
Seven days is enough to pitch well and not enough to build an audience. The plan produces a send, and what happens after the send belongs to the weeks that follow, when saves and repeat plays decide whether anything carries.
Spotify’s editors have also said publicly that they cannot answer pitches individually and that around twenty percent of songs pitched through Spotify for Artists land on at least one playlist. Plan the release to work without a reply.
Nor does one week fix a targeting problem you already have. Where three releases in a row have gone out to the same twelve names and returned nothing, the fault is in the list rather than the calendar, and day three is where that gets solved.
Common Mistakes
1. Starting the week without the release date confirmed
Days two through five go nowhere while the delivery is still in transit, since the pitch has nothing to attach to.
2. Sending to curators during the week before release
A curator who opens a link that does not play has been given a reason to stop reading. Wait for the live track.
3. Screening after writing the messages
Written messages create pressure to send them. Screening first makes the cut cheap, because nothing has been drafted yet.
4. Ranking by follower count
Size is the easiest column to sort and the least useful. Fit and recent activity carry more.
5. Treating day six as the end of the work
The editorial pitch is one send out of a dozen, and it is the one you hear about least often.
Conclusion
Playlist pitching fits a week because the deadline is fixed and the work divides cleanly. Six days of list building and one day for the form is the honest split, and the sends that need a live song sit on the far side of release day where they belong.
Run days one and two on the next release before you plan anything else. Where the release is confirmed and the long list exists by the end of the second evening, the rest of the week has room in it.
Next Step
The seven day schedule holds up. What repeats is days two through four, the same afternoons of searching, screening and ranking, and they come back on the next release and on the one after it, always before you send. Searching PlaylistFeed returns verified curators with the vetting already done, so those three days collapse into a filter, and the pitch draft and the reply record sit on the same screen. You can start building your list for free.
FAQ:
How early can I submit the editorial pitch?
As soon as the release appears under Upcoming in Spotify for Artists, which depends on when your distributor delivers it. Spotify sets seven days before release day as the minimum for the pitch and the delivery, so earlier is safer. The form stays editable until release day.
Can I pitch more than one song from a release?
No. Spotify allows one song at a time, and another pitch becomes possible once the pitched song goes live. Editors may also choose a different song from the release than the one you pitched, so the choice matters less than most artists assume.
Does the same seven day plan work for an album?
The schedule holds, with one difference. You still pitch a single song to editors, so day six covers one track while days two through four build a list for the record as a whole. Curator sends can name the album and lead with the strongest song.
What happens if I miss the seven day deadline?
The editorial route closes for that song and the curator route stays open. Your release still reaches followers through the Release Radar refresh, and independent curators can be pitched once the track is live, so a missed deadline costs you one channel rather than the campaign.
How many curators should be on the short list?
Around a dozen for a first release, more once you have a list that has answered before. Small ranked lists get sent properly and read properly. Long lists tend to get half sent, then abandoned when the replies start arriving out of order.
Should I pay a service to submit for me?
Spotify says services promising streams, followers or a playlist placement for money are not legitimate and should be avoided, and to be highly skeptical of anything charging to be considered. Direct outreach and the free editorial form in Spotify for Artists carry no such risk.
When do I follow up on a curator send?
Around two weeks after the send, once, and only on the curator route. Editors do not reply individually and there is nothing to chase there. A single follow up recovers more placements than a same week reminder, which reads as pressure.
Leave a Reply