In an ever evolving music industry, the team at Quite Great music PR are always thinking of new ways that we can gain coverage for our artists. Obviously, there are the standard media platforms which we approach, for example, press, radio and online, but with the way we listen to music having changed so much in recent years,  the needs of musicians are changing and this is something we have to take into account as a music PR business.

Of course, artists are always happy to hear that their music has been played on a radio station or been given coverage in a relevant publication, but the new generation tend to read their news on their phones and listen to their music via streaming services such as Apple Music or Spotify. Radio is by no means dead, but things have moved on a bit and as a result, musicians want to as well.

More and more often, artists come to us looking for PR and when we ask what targets they have for their music, many of them reply that they want to be featured on playlists, most commonly on Spotify.

Evidently, we want to follow the wishes of our clients and so we have begun to adapt methods of getting the artist’s music onto relevant playlists. Possibly the best thing about playlists is that no matter how many songs there are on it, the majority of listeners will simply click shuffle and this means that there is as strong a chance as any other that our artist’s song will be played. Not only this, but a well-themed playlist with the right title has the ability to be popular all over the world. If you get the keywords right in the playlist name, for example, ‘Concentration and Study music’, it’s likely that you’ll get a fair amount of subscribers. However, part of this is simply being the first to identify the niche!

If you’re an avid Spotify user, then you’re sure to be aware of the comprehensive playlists created by Spotify themselves. Clearly, there is a great deal of expertise behind these playlists, featuring wide ranges of artists and some of the best tracks around – as a streaming service, you’d expect them to have the know-how! But as mentioned, if you get the naming of your playlist right, along with some quality tracks, it will probably come up just below the Spotify curated ones. These are the playlists that we aim to get our artists’ music featured on. They might not be the biggest playlists for the genre or mood, but they can still reach a lot of people.

For example, our artist Edward Abela, a neo-classical pianist and composer, was featured on a ‘Studying with Classical Music’ playlist which has around 2,400 followers. (https://open.spotify.com/user/22okckb76eiyuca3mbb4g3nli/playlist/6bIPKM2dI0Wy9XZT60erug)

Also, our dance-pop sensation from Italy, Ginny Vee, has recently released her get-up-and-groove anthem ‘Give Me Dynamite’ which has been featured on a ‘House Party/EDM 2017’ playlist with around 1,100 subscribers. (https://open.spotify.com/user/geetzlaf/playlist/6oZNSVOv0GCAstCSauaO39)

Whilst some may dismiss these as just user generated playlists, they are arguably more effective than local radio plays or online blog features. Many people listening to the radio are likely to be having the music on simply as background noise, in the car or in the kitchen for example, whereas those who seek out playlists of a specific genre are actually engaged with the music as they want to discover new material. Playlists really are the way forward.

However, this is something you can try out as an artist yourself. Start small and work bigger, obviously, but find the sort of playlists you’d like your music to be featured on and do a bit of research. Find the curators of those playlists and see if you can find an email or a facebook link. Drop them an email or a message and see what they think, but remember to make your music as accessible as possible to them by providing them with the right links. At the end of the day, they can only say no and you’ll have to find another playlist. However, if you do manage to get featured on one, make sure to share it across your social media and credit the curator just to keep them happy, you never know, they might be inclined to share more of your music in the future.

Another thing you can do to increase your hit rate is get your profile verified. Once you have 250 followers, you can apply to have artist verification and this will greatly improve your chances of getting on playlists; you’ll appear more professional to curators, even if they haven’t heard of you before.

Arguably, having one of your songs played 2000 times on Spotify is better than getting the same amount of views on Youtube. This is because the Spotify hits are more likely to be people genuinely listening and searching for music, whereas the Youtube views could well just be those aimlessly browsing and not engaging with what’s actually playing.

Spotify has truly turned the way we listen to music on its head and it has come a long way since its inception over ten years ago. Yes, vinyl is having a resurgent revolution with music aficionados returning to the shops to find their new music, but Spotify has changed this without a doubt. Their features such as Spotify Radio and the ‘Discover Weekly’ playlists that each premium user gets have altered the way we discover music and broaden our horizons. It has become so easy to come across a fairly unknown artist whose music you love via ‘related artists’, who you wouldn’t have otherwise discovered in a CD or record store. The old-skoolers will argue about the ‘process’ of physically going out and browsing through albums, but you can’t deny the practicality and ease that Spotify has brought to the game.

So, if you’re an artist and you’re not on Spotify yet, what have you been doing? Get on that right now! But if you are and you want a bit of help with it, why not contact us at Quite Great?