What are Spotify Playlists and How Are They Formulated?
If you use streaming services to listen to music, you may have a set repertoire of songs you often listen to on repeat. A key feature that many DSP’s (Digital Service Providers) contain is the ability to curate playlists of songs to cater to what different audiences enjoy. This basically means that listeners with different tastes in music can discover new music that they will likely enjoy based on their listening habits, rather than what they can find on a shelf. Spotify’s algorithm is known to be very accurate when catering to different the different preferences listeners have, and for artists, Spotify playlists play a huge part in getting discovered on the app. As an artist, whether you are independent or signed, it is important to understand Spotify playlists and how they are formulated to increase exposure for your music.
In this article we will break down the functions a user has at their fingertips when creating Spotify playlists, and the breakdown of the different curated playlists made by Spotify.
User Playlists
As mentioned, Spotify playlists are compilations of songs that fit a certain genre, feeling, event or category. Users have the ability of curating their own playlists of songs they already enjoy and share them with other listeners. They also have the ability to control who has access to the playlist, and who can edit them. Collaborative playlists can be shared amongst multiple users and can be edited by anyone who is granted access. Playlists can also be made to be viewed by the public or set to private for just the owner to enjoy. However, Spotify users can also enjoy the millions of other compilations that already exist on the platform, either created by other individuals, artists, and even Spotify themself. Spotify playlists can be placed into three categories: Algorithmic, Editorial and Listener Playlists.
Algorithmic Playlists
Algorithmic playlists are specifically tailored for each individual listener and are labeled on the app under the tab Made For You. These are based on the user’s listening activity and the habits of other users that have similar music taste such as what they like, what they save, and what songs they often skip. They track these listening trends to suggest other songs that are similar to what yourself as a user may enjoy, and what new songs released within the past week may fit into your particular taste. Aside from listening habits, metadata (information tagged with the song or artist) like genre, location, and the spoken language are all taken into account by the algorithm to create playlists on an individual basis.
There are six Made For You playlists that Spotify offers to users at various times: 1) Daily Mix, which includes six mixes of genres you already listen to with songs ranging from your regular listens to Spotify’s recommendations for you; 2) Discover Weekly, which is sent out every Monday with Spotify’s song recommendations; 3) Release Radar, which consists of new releases from that week that fit users’ taste; 4) On Repeat and 5) Repeat Rewind, which are users’ most played recent songs; and lastly, 6) Daily Podcasts which are podcast episode recommendations.
Spotify also offers Artist Radio and playlists that pertain to a certain artist you may listen to often. For example, someone that may frequently listen to Drake may be offered other rappers and R&B artists that fit the similar vibe or overall sound that Drake has in his music. Spotify may also offer the original artist’s full song repertoire in case you as a listener have not been exposed to all of their music. These playlists are formulated specifically for you as a listener and are not available to other users.
For artists, these playlists can greatly help your streaming numbers as your music would be exposed to a targeted audience of users that are more likely to love it based on their listening activity. These users also tend to be more engaged with the app as they are actively searching for new music to enjoy and can likely turn into loyal fans.
Editorial Playlists
Editorial playlists are a different ball game mainly because every song is hand selected by actual people who are experts in curating playlists for different users, rather than the app’s algorithm. These are often found under the Made For Everyone playlists tab.
Made For Everyone playlists are “curated by music experts around the globe” as Spotify advertises on their website. These playlists can be found in Browse or Search on the app, and are often categorized into different music genres or moods. They can range from Classical Piano Music to Alternative Rock in terms of genres, or even Anxiety Relief to promote relaxation or Pumped Pop for upbeat workout tunes. Sometimes, these curators can get comically specific with the titles of these playlists. To provide an example from my personal profile, Life Sucks and Make Out Bops are very self explanatory, yet oddly particular moods. This just shows that the platform is very versatile and offers up a large variety for all listeners to select depending on what they are looking for at a given time.
These playlists usually have a large following (either thousands or even millions of users) and offer a lot of opportunity for artists to get their music discovered by other audiences outside of their niche. However, the challenge is catching the eye of these curators to make it onto one of these playlists. Artists or labels typically pitch songs to music experts in hopes of earning a spot on a popular playlist. While Spotify claims to listen to all songs independent of the artist’s following, unfortunately, not all songs that are pitched can be accomodated. This is why it is important to advertise your music on other platforms and have some sort of established following. Once these curators see your music gaining traction, they will be more inclined to include it in a popular playlist.
After an artist submits their music to a distributor, and the music is delivered with ample time to the DSP, Spotify will notify you that you have an upcoming release on their Spotify For Artists app. The best way to submit your music to these Editorial playlists, is to do so though their app, and accurately describe it for possible future placements.
Listener Playlists
These playlists, as mentioned before, are user generated and maintained by individual listeners themselves. Users can choose to make their playlist ‘secret’ or ‘public’ and can also collaborate with others on the platform to maintain them. While individual listeners typically curate these playlists for themselves, some Listener Playlists may also be created by businesses, companies, or public figures to extend their branding and appeal to more customers.
These types of playlists still hold value in earning streams because they hold the potential to gain a significant number of listeners for your music, which is especially helpful for smaller artists that are trying to break into the industry. These listener playlists can also influence Spotify’s algorithmic playlists, as these track listener habits and can likely expose your music to other people with similar taste as the creator of a user generated playlist. Thus, creating new long-term fans and growing your audience.
Free Playlists You Can Submit To Right Now
EAR has Spotify playlists you as an artist can submit your music to right now. Click here to submit your music.
