What is Playlisting and how do I get onto Playlists?

What is “Playlisting”?

Playlisting is where a store/streaming platform or independant curator creates their own list of chosen songs specified to a genre or mood wherever it fits best. For example, you can have Hip-Hop, Pop and rock playlists, as well as calming playlists with chilled out moods, or party playlists fit for thrilling moments. It does not matter who you are or what music you like, there will always be a playlist for everyone.

Some of these playlists are ran by the actual store/streaming platforms themselves. For example Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer are all examples of a store/streaming platform that has it’s own playlists. There are also some independent platforms that may not work for the actual store/streaming platform, but will use that platform and have their own channel. A good example would be the famous YouTube Nations, I.e. Trap Nation and House Nation. Another good example would be Alex Rainbird Music or The Drunken Coconut.

Why is Playlisting important?

In todays times, technology dominates the majority of our lives in many ways. From how we interact with each other, to how we consume our entertainment and to how we consume music. With the improvement of technology, streaming and downloading has stolen the limelight for the main method of how we consume our music. This is why such a big focus has been placed on playlisting, and every artist wants to be in the biggest and best playlists. They have become a part of our source of finding great new music and talented artists. They are also one of the best ways for artists to reach a new audience which could potentially mean new fans, likes and listeners.

How do I benefit from Playlisting?

Playlisting definitely has benefits. Exposure to a new audience, more streams, and potential listeners are all some great effects that playlisting can have. However it would be wise to consider playlisting efforts to be mainly kept for short term use, and not a long term usage to base a career around. It is not always guaranteed that your tracks will be playlisted by curators for each release. Just because you may have had some success with getting one track playlisted, this does not guarantee success with the rest of your releases.

A common misunderstanding is that artists do not tend to focus on their own following, and neglect things like a strong social media presence. This leaves any chances of new releases being successful all down to whether their track gets playlisted. Whilst playlisting is such a great tool to use and take hold of, it is important to remember the significance of things like a strong social media presence, playing live at gigs, and to just plainly work on building a core following. If playlisted, the results can be great, but they will be determined due to the audience demographic of that playlist.

How do I go about playlisting?

The bad news is that these Playlisting curators and editors are not all in one place, so it takes a lot of time and effort to find these contacts (and contact details for that matter) and pitch your music to them. The good news is that you can search online for blogs and playlists which appeal to your sound to pitch your music to.

There are also some services out there which are provided by companies which are dedicated to gaining these playlisting curators and editors as contacts to pitch your music to them for a fee. Horus Music offers a playlisting service which you can find here: https://www.horusmusic.global/services/playlisting/

We are more than happy to help and answer any questions which you may have.