Curator Secrets part. 1
As an artist, you know how it feels: You spend hours fine-tuning your song to perfection. You release it on Spotify, hoping to reach the right audience… But it doesn’t get picked up by the algorithm and barely gets any streams.
The song that you have created might be great, but advancing your music career and finding your audience can be tough. In order to try and find new audiences, you might have sent your song to a bunch of playlist curators, only for it to be turned down by many of them. Getting turned down on song-submission platforms can be a discouraging experience. Maybe you have wondered ‘how do playlist curators actually choose which songs they accept?’
You are not alone. For many independent artists, pitching songs to playlist curators feels like a black box. You send a pitch, reach out to many new curators, paid and unpaid, and hope for the best… and hear nothing back, or receive a short reply that does not help you any further.
It’s time to shine some light on that black box! As playlist curators working closely together with a large network of 30+ curators we have compiled some key insights in how to pitch your song to a curator and have the greatest chance of being accepted.
1. Great songs that don't match a playlist's style still get declined.
Curators are not just listening to find good music. We have had to decline many amazing songs on song submission platforms because they simply did not fit the exact vibe of the playlist that they were pitched to. A curator’s playlist isn’t a random collection of songs - it’s a story, often within a specific mood, only featuring songs that match their specific genre and subgenres. Listen to a curator’s playlist before you submit to them, and see if your song contains elements that are repeatedly found in the playlist such as energy level, genre selection and overall mood.
On some platforms like Playlistpush & playlistsforyou, this process is already done for you. On Playlistpush, the playlists that you pitch to are pre-selected by the platform only based on genre. At PlaylistsForYou, we take this one step further: we work with the same curators very extensively and know their playlists in detail. This more personalized approach helps to find higher quality playlist matches efficiently using your budget.
2. Instant fit
Curators don’t listen like your fans. They scan many, many songs a day. On music submission platforms, curators often review between 10 and 100+ songs in a day. Because of this, they will probably not listen to the full song very closely. Reeling them in right at the start with a great opening and really showcasing what the mood of the song is right away will help create an instant connection with the song. Curators will be able to immediately notice that the song might be a fit for their playlist and will pay extra special attention to your song.
3. Building up a relationship
Playlist growth isn’t just about pitching a lot - it is just as much about the networking it involves. A curator who has accepted one of your songs before already thinks that you match his playlists’ style, energy, quality requirements, flow, mood, and much more. You'd be wasting money if you don't send them your next song as well. Another reason to go more often for the same curators, is that a curator is much more inclined to give a song that is only a partial fit with their playlist the benefit of the doubt because he knows that you are happy to also pitch your next song to him again.Repitching new releases to curators that have showcased interest in your earlier music in their playlists can be more rewarding than pitching to new curators, but it is not the only way to improve the likelihood of a curator being able to help you out. Focusing on building a long-term connection with curators is beneficial for both the curator and you as an artist. A great example is an artist that reached out directly to us and asked if we had some playlists in his niche: a combination of blues, country and rock. We did not, but he said he was looking to build a longer-term partnership, and so we started building out a playlist that suited his style. He was very happy that someone was finally able to find listeners for him that actually matched with the niche that he wanted to grow in.
4. The artist - curator (symbiotic) relationship
The unspoken truth that some curators don't dare to say out loud: pitching your song for free to curators won't get you any significant results. Curators invest a lot of time and money into advertising their playlists and finding new audiences for small artists. As an artist, when you invest in a pitch, that helps sustain the growth of the playlists that you pitch your music to. Ultimately, this is the engagement that you will profit from. Growing your number of streams from organic listeners, getting picked up by the Spotify algorithms and editorial playlists is the start of your growth as an artist and your way to fame. Direct pitches to curators, without an intermediary platform taking up 50% or more in fees, means that the money paid for a pitch will actually go towards the playlists that help your song grow. It is more difficult to find the curators, but once you are there you'll notice that the results are better than they will ever be on intermediary platforms. This is why playlistsforyou.com was created: direct pitches to a network of playlist curators is the easiest way to get in touch with curators yourself.
We hope that these tips will help you pitch your song to curators and kick-start your music career. If you need any help with pitching your songs or would like to talk about the options that we offer to help your music find its audience such as personalised pitches and playlists, feel free to reach out.
And because it is difficult to reach these curators directly and to build up this relationship as a small artist with songs coming out only once a month, or twice a month, we came here to bundle powers. When the curators know enough orders come in, they're able to give a bit extra back to the artists that come in from the network of playlistsforyou.com. this is why we can get you better results then when you'd pitch to these curators yourself.
1. Do your research on the curators’ playlists
2. Hook them with the first 30 seconds
3. Repitch new music to your succesfull pitches
4. Focus on long-term collaborations
5. Invest directly with curators to get high quality playlists