How to Promote Your Music Online [Part 3: Pitching]

Sara Mekinc

Nov 18, 2020

Making it onto a popular playlist, a well-read blog or into relevant news media can be a great way for a rising musician to get discovered. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to online music promotion:

➡️ Part 1: how to regularly upload and share your work.

➡️ Part 2: how to promote it across your socials to build your fanbase.

➡️ Part 3: how to pitch to promotors, playlists, venues, and tastemakers.

… and you’re reading the last chapter right now. Let’s get right on with it.

Part III: Pitch to playlists, curators, and tastemakers

While the hows and whys of strategically putting out new music to better engage your listeners are another topic in itself, the first step you should think about is selecting which playlists and channels you would like to be featured on. 

💌 Pitch to Spotify playlists via Spotify for Artists. 

The simplest thing you can do is open your Spotify for Artists dashboard, open the Music tab, choose “Upcoming”, and select the track you’d like to submit for playlisting. 

• Be smart when selecting a track. Since you can only submit one track per release, choose the one that will most likely get picked up – although we know that it can be as difficult as choosing a favorite child.
• Pitch unreleased music. Plan your uploads and submissions at least a week in advance. The earlier you pitch, the better your chances of standing out could be.

🎯 Pitch to playlist curators and creators.

We don’t have to tell you there’s literally thousands of popular playlists out there. While some of them are based on algorithms, and can be “hacked” with a simple follow (e.g.: Spotify’s “Release Radar”), a large number is curated and created by various users – real people.

• Cherry-pick who to pitch to. Do your research and selection process the same way you’d pick a venue you’d like to play a gig in: don’t immediately go for the “big league”, but take a couple of hours to explore playlists you think would suit your vibe the best. 
• Find the playlist owners and their contacts. Do some “online sleuthing” to find websites, social media or just e-mail addresses, and start building your roster of contacts.
• Get to the point. Make listening to your tracks as hassle-free as possible. Shortly introduce yourself and include links or quality files with all the metadata. 

Read these useful tips on optimizing your playlist performance. 

🙋Pitch to relevant media, blogs and podcasts. 

The above mentioned “playlist pitching” principle is pretty much the same for blog owners, journalists and tastemakers. 

• Try and establish a direct connection, as that can help you in the long run. Creating and maintaining a neat file with your potential leads can be very useful too, as you can gradually build a valuable contact book.
• What makes you special? Reach out to selected contacts with a concise, to-the-point message about what makes you different from the rest – and therefore worth mentioning. Your Viberate page can come in handy for the first e-mail and any follow-ups. 

📣 Promote everything you’re featured on.

When you manage to score a feature (your tracks are included on a playlist, a blog writes about you, your live gig gets covered, etc.), it’s your job to spread the word and drive traffic.

Cross-promote on your social media channels, share the playlist or link, ask your friends and fans to show some love. By growing your online community, you’ll get more traction.

🚀Finally: track your efforts with data.

Take these steps as guidelines and use Viberate analytics and insights to your advantage. 

🔎 Get to know your fanbase.

🎯 Learn from the best in your genre.

👣 Effectively track your promotions, new releases, and social media efforts.

🕸️ Work on your music network and find new collab opportunities.

🗺️ Research potential markets and find new opportunities.

But don’t just rely on numbers. Allow data to enter the equation once you've made your music, combine the insights with your growing experience, and see your hard work taking your music career to the next level. 

Let's recap...

Did we mention you can stay on top of music analytics with one easy-to-use tool? Do check out what the right music data can do for you – there’s a plan for almost everyone.