Submit Your Christmas Song to Spotify Playlist Curators
Match your song with fitting Christmas playlists worldwide.
Disclaimer: we sell a pitch so placements are not guaranteed. However, if you get zero results from your campaign we refund your pitch. See exactly how it works in our FAQ.
Submit Your Christmas Song
About Christmas music playlist pitching
Christmas music, also known to curators as "Holiday Music", has had a huge impact on the careers of some of the world's biggest artists; see Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey. While a small group of iconic artists/songs dominate the charts, this lower variation offers opportunities for independent artists. Compared to many other genres, the pool of artists that appear in the Top 40 (Christmas) hits is relatively small, and many listeners would love to find new songs for more variation. With the right strategy and execution, a well-produced holiday track can become a big Christmas hit.
There are not many submission platforms that offer a pure Christmas playlist pitch to artists. We can guarantee that your pitch is only sent to the Christmas playlist that best fit your song style, as long as you don't order a Christmas promotion plan for more curators than 28 playlists.
How to get your Christmas track on these Spotify playlists
Choose how many curators you want to pitch to
Every playlist curator personally listens to your track and responds within 5 days. You can follow every response live in your Artist Dashboard. If your song receives no playlist additions, you'll receive a full refund.
We target the right Christmas playlists for you
We match your Christmas track based on genre, mood and style. This ensures your music reaches playlist curators who genuinely enjoy your sound.
Receive your playlist placements
Curators approve or decline your song. Results appear live in your Artist Dashboard and at the end in a summary email. Approved tracks remain on playlists for at least one month.
Do Christmas playlists accept songs from all major genres?
Yes, for regular playlists curators are a lot more geared towards a specific "niche" (sub)genre, as their listeners expect this from a playlist. The listeners of Christmas (a.k.a. Holiday Music) playlists are often listeners of many different genres, allowing curators to mix more genres into their playlists. This is because the playlists all have one shared theme: "Christmas". Curators do make some differentiation to prevent that their playlists sound really "random", meaning that some go towards that "typical" more Jazz/Soul/Classical Christmas sound, where other curators lean more towards energetic Christmas playlists, for example with "Rock" & Pop combinations, or towards Christmas Dance (House, EDM, Dance Pop) playlists.
Do you pitch to true Christmas playlists or regular playlists that accept Christmas themed songs?
PlaylistsForYou is one of the few playlist submission platforms that can offer exclusively "true" Christmas playlist pitching. Many curators struggle to find advertisements with good conversions for "true" Christmas playlists, but we have enough curators in our network to offer this promise. This means that your Christmas songs get better results, as the listeners of these playlists already expect a Christmas song. If you pitch your music to "regular" playlists, not themed around Christmas, some listeners might not be in the mood for these specific songs leading to lower results for your song.
What is the best time to make and share Christmas music to Spotify curators?
The optimal release schedule for Christmas songs (monthly actions)
Writing and Composition
Take your time to study other Christmas songs, and what makes them so successful. Write the main melody, chords, and the lyrics.
Production and Recording
Build the beat. Record clean vocals with a good microphone. Make sure your song has that typical "Christmas" feeling, e.g. with some (Christmas) bells or other "typical Christmas" elements.
Editing
Cut out bad takes and fix timing or tuning issues. Remove background noise from audio files and turn your Christmas song into a real hit.
Distribution + Start Promotion Round 1 around 26 October
Upload the song to your distribution service to have it added on Spotify in time. Start promoting your new release around 26 October because that allows two pitching rounds for the same song. Starting the first round early gives your song more time to be discovered by the Spotify algorithm, and means that you have an advantage compared to all the songs being released only a month later.
Start Promotion Round 2 around 26-30 November
The ideal moment to start your second promotion push for a Christmas song is around 26-30 November. If your song already received a push before, this second campaign should be even better, also due to more people looking for Christmas playlists.
Stop Promoting at the End of December
Christmas songs are not sustainable to advertise all year long, as the costs to acquire new listeners is very high after Christmas. This means your song can be saved, and if your campaign was very successful with PlaylistsForYou, you can always try to go for an even better campaign next year!
What Happens When You Order?
A straightforward 3-step process to get your music heard by thousands.
Pick Your Package
Select the package that matches the number of playlists you want to pitch to.
We Pitch Your Music
We share your song(s) to relevant curators. Responses arrive within 5 days. Average acceptance ratio: 10-25% of pitched curators.
Get Your Placements
See which playlists accepted your track and get a full report of your placements. Tracks are added for at least 1 month.
About Christmas playlists - FAQ
Can original Christmas songs get playlist placements as easily as covers?+
We don’t have the exact statistics yet on the difference between “originals” vs. “covers” available yet, but there has not been a very noticeable difference in the acceptance rate between these submissions. I do think there is a slight negative bias towards the covers of the “top 10” Christmas songs, due to the fact curators can only have 1-3 of these “covers” in the same playlist. If you do a great cover, but are very late with “White Christmas” or “All I want for Christmas is You”, you might have a more difficult time getting accepted into playlists. Beyond that, covers perform just as good compared to “originals”.
Is it still worth it to pitch my Christmas song a few days before Christmas?+
It is difficult to give a definitive answer, but you can always get on a Spotify playlist a few days before Christmas, but as you can imagine as soon as December 25th passes, Christmas and Holiday music consumption drops significantly. So make the consideration if the shorter promotion period, together with the lower chance to land on "Christmas" algorithmic playlists is worth it for you personally.
Are there free alternatives to get your song on Christmas playlists?+
An option we have recently been introduced to by an artist was to contact local shops and restaurants. Most coffee shops, restaurants, and retail stores are always looking for new and relevant music to entertain their customers while shopping/eating. You can create a holiday playlist yourself, for example created around a specific venue (or multiple) and share the link with their manager. Alternatively, you can simply ask them to add the song to their Spotify playlist if they use Spotify for Brands. The first option is likely the most efficient as you really help out someone, and if you are really successful you can even become a Curator on PlaylistsForYou (Become a Curator).
Are holiday songs promoted only during December?+
Christmas playlist start getting traction already end of October/ early November. However, please note that the conversions on advertisements are not yet at their peak, leading to slightly more “expensive” or lower listeners numbers on average. The closer it gets to Christmas, the more popular these Christmas playlists get. However, around that time also more Christmas submissions are received, so in general there should be an decent balance between November and December in the playlists activity, with a small increase towards Christmas.
What types of Christmas songs perform best on playlists?+
If your song is towards a very niche genre, the placements can be more limited and difficult. However, in general, most Christmas playlists are a combination between many genre’s, and as long as your song matches the general vibe and energy level of a playlist, also more niche genre’s can be accepted by a curator. The best performing Christmas song genre’s on PlaylistsForYou are Pop, Jazz, and Rock Christmas songs.
Can I submit a Christmas song that mixes multiple genres?+
Similar to the question above, in general, most Christmas playlists are a combination between many genre’s, and as long as your song matches the general vibe and energy level of a playlist, also more niche genre’s can be accepted by a curator. This means that a mix of different genres works relatively well in Christmas playlists. Where in regular genre’s curators are more hesitant towards songs that are a combination of multiple genre’s, the Christmas playlists are already a combination of many major genre’s. Songs that are a mix of genre’s can perform just as well in Christmas playlists.
Can instrumental Christmas music be submitted?+
Yes, instrumental Christmas songs can be submitted. Even though they will likely end with playlists that also feature a lot of non-instrumental songs, they can still perform just as well as non-instrumental songs.
Do Christmas playlist campaigns differ from regular playlist promotion campaigns?+
Christmas playlist campaigns are not different in any major way compared to regular playlist promotion campaigns on PlaylistsForYou. The price per curator is the same, the split shared with our curators is the same (80% of revenue goes to the curator). The main difference is that the supply of Christmas playlists is a bit more limited compared to some of the major genre’s on PlaylistsForYou, but because most Holiday playlists accept multiple genre’s this is still balanced.
Do Christmas playlists accept songs in languages other than English?+
Yes, we do accept songs in other languages than English. The most important element is that the vocals of a good quality. Please note that our listeners are majority English speakers, so a foreign language song needs to have a really good flow as well. There is a slight disadvantage towards foreign language songs, but this is not very substantial. Its difficult to give an estimate, but good quality foreign language songs get about 80%-90% of listeners numbers English speaking songs get. Still, this means there is plenty of opportunity for non-English Christmas songs.