Music Promotion Glossary
Key terms and concepts every independent artist should know about Spotify playlist promotion - from curator pitching to algorithmic playlists.
Acceptance Rate
The percentage of curators who accept a submitted track for placement. Industry average is 10–25%, depending on genre fit, track quality, and the number of curators pitched. Higher acceptance rates usually indicate better genre matching.
Active Listener
A listener who engages with an artist's music more intentionally, for example by streaming multiple songs, saving tracks, following the artist that is featured, or later revisiting songs they've heard in the playlist.
Algorithmic Playlist
A Spotify-generated playlist created using listening behavior and recommendation algorithms rather than being made by human curation. Popular examples include Discover Weekly & Release Radar.
Approval Rate
Percentage of playlist submissions accepted by a specific curator. Calculated using: Accepted Submissions ÷ Total Submissions × 100.
Audience Retention
The percentage of listeners who continue listening to a track after the initial play starts.
Bot Streams
Fake streams generated by automated bots or click farms. Bot streams artificially inflate play counts without real listener engagement. Spotify actively detects and removes bot streams, and artists associated with them risk having their music removed from the platform.
Campaign Budget
The total amount spent by an artist on a single music promotion campaign on Playlistsforyou.
Campaign Report
A detailed summary provided after a playlist promotion campaign ends. PlaylistsForYou reports include which curators received your track, which ones accepted it, and the specific playlists where your song was placed.
Cost Per Follower (CPF)
The average cost required to acquire one new Spotify follower. Calculated using: Campaign Spend ÷ New Followers gained during campaign.
Cost Per Listener (CPL)
The average amount spent to generate one unique listener. Calculated using: Campaign Spend ÷ Unique Listeners during campaign.
Cost Per Save (CPS)
The average amount spent to generate one Spotify save. Calculated using: Campaign Spend ÷ Total saves gained during campaign.
Cost Per Stream
The average amount spent to generate one stream. Calculated using: Campaign Spend ÷ Total streams gained during campaign.
Curator
A person managing a (Spotify) playlist that is selecting which tracks are included. Playlist promotion platforms generally connect artists with Spotify curators to have their track taken into consideration.
Curator Vetting
The process of verifying that a playlist curator maintains real, active playlists with genuine listeners. PlaylistsForYou vets curators by checking for consistent follower growth, regular playlist updates, and authentic engagement metrics before accepting them into the network.
Discovery Mode
A Spotify promotional tool that allows artists and labels to opt songs into algorithmic recommendations at a reduced royalty rate. Unlike playlist promotion services, Discovery Mode only affects Spotify's own algorithmic playlists and does not involve independent curators.
Editorial Playlist
A playlist curated by Spotify's editorial team rather than by independent users. These playlists are typically known for having large follower and listener numbers.
Engagement
The amount of listeners that stream a playlist or song, depending on the context.
Engagement Rate
The percentage of listeners who take actions beyond listening, such as saves, shares, follows, and personal playlist additions. Calculated using: Engagement Actions ÷ Listeners × 100.
Follow Rate
The percentage of listeners who followed the artist after exposure to them in a playlist. Calculated using: Followers increase during campaign ÷ Listeners during campaign × 100.
Follower Growth
The increase in artist followers during a campaign. Calculated using: Ending Followers − Starting Followers.
Genre Targeting
How (efficiently) a submission platform is able to pitch a song to correct genre curators. Large submission platforms tend to struggle with this aspect if they don't know a curators genre very well.
Global Reach
The number of countries, regions, or cities reached by a campaign is not limited to one of these in specific. For example, Playlistsforyou targets all English-speaking countries with their META advertisements, e.g. US, UK, IN, NI, etc..
Impressions
The number of times a track or advertisement is displayed to users. No engagement is required to count as an impression.
Independent Playlist
A playlist managed by an individual curator rather than Spotify.
Listener
A unique user who streamed a song.
Listener-to-Follower Rate
Measures how efficiently listeners become fans. Calculated using: Followers ÷ Listeners × 100.
Monthly Listeners
The number of unique Spotify users who listened to an artist within the last 28 days.
Organic Growth
Growth generated through genuine listener interest rather than artificial activity from e.g. botted playlists.
Organic Stream
A stream generated naturally from listener discovery, search, playlists, recommendations, or sharing.
Payola
The illegal practice of paying for guaranteed playlist placement without disclosure. Payola violates Spotify's terms of service and can result in the removal of tracks, playlists, or entire artist profiles. PlaylistsForYou does not engage in payola - curators are compensated for their review time, not for guaranteed placements.
Pitch
A Pitch is the process of submitting an unreleased song to curators or Spotify for Artists for consideration. The reviewer has the option to accept or decline this submission, and if accepted, the song gets added to a playlist or playlists.
Playlist Addition Rate
The percentage of listeners who add a track to their own personal playlists. Calculated using: Playlist Adds ÷ Listeners × 100.
Playlist Followers
The combined follower count of a playlists.
Playlist Network Size
The total number of playlists available within a promotional network like Playlistsforyou.
Playlist Placement
Inclusion of a song within a playlist. No placements are guaranteed with a pitch, strictly following the terms and conditions of Spotify.
Playlist Reach
The total audience size of all playlists that a track is pitched to.
Pre-Save Campaign
A marketing strategy where fans are encouraged to save an unreleased track to their Spotify library before its release date. Pre-saves signal listener interest to Spotify's algorithm and can help generate momentum on release day.
Reach
The number of unique users exposed to content.
Repeat Listener Rate
The percentage of listeners who streamed a track multiple times. Calculated using: Repeat Listeners ÷ Total Listeners × 100.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Measures profitability relative to campaign cost. Calculated using: (Revenue − Cost) ÷ Cost × 100.
Save Rate
Measures the percentage of listeners who saved a track. High save rates often indicate strong listener engagement and this is a strong signal to potentially trigger the Spotify algorithm. Calculated using: Saves ÷ Listeners × 100.
Skip Rate
The percentage of listeners who skip a track before the completion or the 30 seconds mark depending on where it is used. Calculated using: Skips during campaign ÷ Total Streams during campaign × 100.
Spotify for Artists
Spotify's free analytics platform for artists and their teams. It provides data on streams, listeners, playlist placements, and audience demographics. Artists can also pitch unreleased tracks to Spotify's editorial team through this platform.
Spotify Royalties
The payments artists receive from Spotify per stream. As of 2026, the per-stream rate averages between $0.003 and $0.005 depending on the listener's country and subscription tier. Organic playlist placements can help artists accumulate meaningful royalty revenue over time.
Stream
A qualifying play recorded by Spotify on your Spotify For Artists page.
Unique Listener
A distinct Spotify user who listened during the reported period. If a person listens to multiple songs, or repeats a song multiple times this is only counted as one instance.
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