In today’s digital music landscape playlist placement has become a crucial element for artists looking to expand their reach and grow their audience. With millions of tracks vying for listeners’ attention on streaming platforms getting your music featured on popular playlists can significantly boost your visibility and streaming numbers. Navigating the world of playlist curation can be challenging especially for independent and emerging artists.
This article aims to simplify that process by introducing you to 10 of the best playlist curators that accept music submissions. These curators range from independent playlist brands to comprehensive music promotion platforms each offering unique opportunities for artists to showcase their work. Whether you’re a seasoned musician or just starting your career understanding how to effectively submit your music to these curators can be a game-changer in your promotional strategy.
Playlist Curator
Playlist Curator is a prominent online platform dedicated to curating diverse music playlists that cater to various themes and moods. The platform distributes its curated playlists across major streaming services including Spotify YouTube Music and SoundCloud making it accessible to a wide audience.
Playlist Curator is known for its meticulous selection process, ensuring that only high-quality tracks that fit the specific themes of their playlists are included. This makes it an excellent option for artists looking to gain exposure and reach new listeners through well-curated playlists.
Submitting music to Playlist Curator is a straightforward process designed to ensure that only the best tracks make it to their playlists. Artists interested in featuring their songs on Playlist Curator’s playlists can start by visiting the music submission page on their website. Here, they are required to fill out a submission form, providing details about their track and the playlist they believe it fits best.
Playlist Curator receives hundreds of submissions each month, and each track is carefully reviewed by their team. They use strict criteria to assess the quality and relevance of the submissions, ensuring that every song added to their playlists aligns with the specific theme and maintains a high standard of quality.
SubmitHub
SubmitHub is one of the most established and widely-used platforms for music submissions. It connects artists with a vast network of playlist curators, music bloggers, record labels, and influencers.
Artists can create a free account on SubmitHub and browse through thousands of curators. You can filter curators by genre, platform (e.g. Spotify, YouTube), and other criteria. When you find suitable curators, you can submit your track along with a pitch. Curators have the option to accept or decline submissions, and are required to provide feedback if they decline.
SubmitHub offers both free and premium credits. With free credits, curators aren’t obligated to listen to your full track or provide feedback. Premium credits, which cost money, guarantee that curators will listen to at least 20 seconds of your track and provide feedback if they decline. This system ensures that artists receive responses and potentially valuable insights from industry professionals.
Daily Playlists
Daily Playlists is a platform that focuses on connecting artists with Spotify playlist curators. It offers both free and paid options for music submissions.
To use Daily Playlists, artists first need to create an account and connect their Spotify profile. The platform provides a weekly allocation of free credits that can be used to submit tracks to Standard curators. Artists can earn additional credits by providing feedback on other community members’ tracks.
Daily Playlists also offers a paid “Artist Pro” tier, which includes access to an automated submission system and other exclusive features. Premium credits can be purchased to submit to Premium curators, who guarantee feedback if a track is not accepted.
The platform uses Spotify’s API to streamline the submission process, ensuring a secure connection between artists and curators. Daily Playlists also implements a curator vacation mode and a quota system that rewards Premium curators for reviewing Standard submissions, encouraging active participation from both artists and curators.
SoundCampaign
SoundCampaign is a music promotion service that focuses on Spotify playlist placement and helping independent artists grow their fan base.
Artists can create campaigns on SoundCampaign by submitting their tracks and selecting relevant genres and languages. The platform’s algorithm then matches the tracks with appropriate playlist curators from their network of over 1000 curators.
SoundCampaign offers a unique feature where curators provide feedback on submitted tracks, even if they don’t add them to their playlists. This feedback can be valuable for artists looking to improve their music. The platform also implements an “Artist protection program,” where they return the budget for reviews that don’t receive feedback from curators.
Campaigns on SoundCampaign start at $80, which can reach up to 6 curators. The platform emphasizes transparency, providing regular updates on campaign progress and a final comprehensive report on overall performance.
SongRocket
SongRocket is a relatively new platform, launched in April 2021, that aims to simplify the playlist pitching process for independent artists.
SongRocket connects artists with a curated network of over 170 independent playlist curators who collectively have more than 11 million followers. The platform was created by Lukas, a music industry veteran with 25 years of experience.
To use SongRocket, artists can start by uploading their track details and selecting relevant genres. The platform offers a low entry point, with campaigns starting at just $6 USD. SongRocket emphasizes quality and community-building, ensuring that their curator network consists of reputable individuals and record labels.
The platform takes a personalized approach to playlist pitching, crafted from an artist’s perspective. This includes looking for track quality, cohesion, and emotional resonance in music selections. SongRocket also offers insights into what catches curators’ attention during pitch submissions, helping artists craft more effective pitches.
iMusician
While primarily known as a digital music distribution service, iMusician also offers playlist pitching services to help artists gain more exposure.
iMusician’s approach to playlist pitching is part of their broader suite of artist services. While specific details about their playlist submission process are limited in the provided information, they likely leverage their industry connections and expertise to pitch artists’ music to relevant playlist curators.
One unique feature of iMusician is their referral program, which can be beneficial for artists looking to save on submission costs. Through this program, artists can invite friends to join iMusician and receive promotional credits when their referrals make their first purchase.
While not exclusively focused on playlist pitching, iMusician’s comprehensive approach to artist services, including distribution and promotion, can be valuable for artists looking for an all-in-one solution to manage their music career.
Soundplate
Soundplate is a music platform that offers free playlist submission services for artists. They have a wide range of playlists across various genres and moods, making it a versatile option for musicians looking to gain exposure.
Soundplate’s submission process is straightforward and user-friendly. Artists can browse through the available playlists on the Soundplate website, categorized by genre, mood, and activity. Once they find a suitable playlist, they can click the “Submit Music” button on the playlist page. Artists are required to follow the playlist and the curator on Spotify before submitting their track. This approach helps curators grow their following while giving artists a chance to be featured. Soundplate emphasizes the importance of submitting only to relevant playlists to increase the chances of acceptance. After submission, curators review the tracks and decide whether to include them in their playlists.
Rizing Playlists
Rizing Playlists is an independent playlist brand that supports unsigned and upcoming musicians through playlists, PR, and social media promotion. They focus on bringing the “Best Vibes” from talented artists across the globe.
Rizing Playlists accepts submissions through various channels, including their website and platforms like Groover. Artists can submit their tracks for consideration, and the Rizing Playlists team reviews each submission. They look for a wide range of genres, including indie pop, singer-songwriter, dance music, and more. Rizing Playlists emphasizes the importance of professional production and finished tracks. If a track is selected, it may be added to one of their playlists and promoted through their social media channels. They also offer additional services like PR and social media promotion to help artists gain more exposure.
Boost Collective
Boost Collective is a music distribution and promotion platform that offers a range of services, including playlist promotion. They focus on helping independent artists grow their fanbase and increase their streams.
Boost Collective’s playlist submission process is part of their broader distribution and promotion services. Artists can sign up for their platform and distribute their music through Boost Collective. As part of their services, Boost Collective submits artists’ music to their network of playlist curators. They use a combination of algorithmic matching and human curation to find suitable playlists for each track. Boost Collective also offers additional promotional services, such as social media advertising and blog features, to help increase visibility for the artists’ music. While their basic distribution service is free, some of their promotional services may require purchasing credits or subscribing to premium plans.
MySphera
MySphera is a music promotion platform that connects artists with playlist curators. They offer affordable campaign options for artists looking to get their music on playlists.
MySphera operates on a campaign-based model. Artists can sign up and submit their tracks for a campaign, which typically runs for about a month. During this period, MySphera’s team pitches the artist’s music to relevant playlist curators in their network. The platform uses both algorithmic matching and human curation to find suitable playlists for each track. Artists can track the progress of their campaign through MySphera’s dashboard, which shows the number of playlist adds and streams generated. MySphera emphasizes transparency and provides detailed reports on the performance of each campaign.
