How To Get More Followers for your Spotify Playlist?

The playlist ecosystem created by Spotify gave music lovers, many opportunities. The idea of making a Spotify playlist not only comes from a certain sense of love and passion for finding good music but also from the need to share that taste with the world. Making a playlist requires curation skills and a knack for discovering new and upcoming artists. But where do you go from here?

In this article, we have tried to answer a few questions:

1. How do you make a good Spotify playlist?
   
   
2. How to grow your Spotify playlist?
   
   
3. How to maintain the quality of your playlist?
   
   
4. Our Final Thoughts

How do you make a good Spotify playlist?

You can’t just add some tracks and expect the playlist to gain followers instantly. You will need to do some amount of research and prep before actively and seriously curating a playlist. 

Pssst…come here: Do not underestimate the power of a properly curated playlist on Spotify. As of 2024, there have been a total of 4 billion playlists that have been generated in total on the music streaming app! The idea of playlists isn’t going to die any time soon, so make sure that you give this your best!

Research 

This means following already existing massive playlists curated by independent playlisters on Spotify and tracking what is working for them and what doesn’t. Maintain a log where you can add your observations for a month and try to notice patterns. For example, some playlisters believe that a good playlist on Spotify should have a maximum of 60 songs. But don’t be surprised when you find playlists that have 150 songs. Our advice? 80-100 tracks is a safe bet. 

See what works for which genre and understand the genre you’d like to curate. It is always safer to start curating your first playlist in the genre you genuinely like and are passionate about. This means that you would innately pay more attention, and, most importantly have fun with it too. 

You could track other playlists and get all the data you will need through artist.tools. This tool provides data on different Spotify playlists, and contacts of the playlist curators. You also receive access to listener statistics, which is the demographics of each Spotify playlist - you can see for yourself if the playlist's listening has increased, remained stable, or decreased. You also have a chance to examine quality analysis on every Spotify playlist, which will provide you data on how many tracks are uploaded every month, how frequently updated the playlist is, and so on.

If you’d like to get a 10% discount on your artist.tools subscription, you can use this link here. 

Find your niche

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to pick your genre and find your niche. Note that anyone can make a playlist on Spotify so the competition is unbelievably huge. How do you stand out in the crowd?

This is where focus and attention to genre picking come in. The easiest possible way to narrow down what kind of music you’d like to curate is by picking one of these three lenses: subgenre, mood, and theme. For instance, if you’d like to curate dance music, then you could either narrow it down to Afrobeat or focus on making a playlist that’s probably great for a beach party or a sundowner theme. Experiment around with small and distinct bits and feelings from the songs and music you appreciate can end up in the creation of a one-of-a-kind playlist that will capture the interests of others! 

Pssst…come here: Irrespective of the genre you’d be curating, it is always a good idea to add the top 3-4 songs/classics first and then build your playlist. They will not only help you outline the kind of music you’d ideally want to add but also help with gaining more followers and reach. If you are making an alternative rock playlist 2024, then any of the songs from Arctic Monkeys or Cage The Elephants should be there in spots 1-4 in your playlist. If it is a playlist of the 2000s, or classics, then the music of the top artists should make the top positions.

Remember that specificity doesn't decrease your target audience, but makes your playlist much more unique and helps you find the right music for it as well. Find the top artists that make the kind of music you want to curate and check out other playlists that feature the artist’s music on the ‘Discovered on’ section on their artist profile (Sounds a bit complicated? Don’t worry, we got you, there’s more on this later in the blog). 

Pssst…come here: While you should always try and remain loyal to your taste and prioritize quality over anything, make sure that you keep an eye out for the trends and patterns that take place within the genre of music you are curating. Recognize those patterns and update your playlist accordingly. 

Playlist Title and Description

You have to be very careful and make a calculative decision when it comes to your playlist title. Make sure your playlist title is something people would actively search for on Spotify. That is also how you’d be able to rank for Spotify SEO. For example, if you have curated love songs, then your playlist should ideally appear as the 4th or 5th result as someone types ‘love songs.’ Cracking Spotify’s SEO is difficult and ranking your playlist will take a lot of time but that could be catalyzed by increasing followers on your playlists.

Keywords are extremely important when thinking of a title and description for your playlist. These keywords, as we mentioned earlier, are nothing but terms that people search actively on Spotify. Best indie music, indie chill, and so on, are some examples. You will find many playlists that have the same keywords in their titles and descriptions as well.

Pssst…come here: Understand your target audience and what they are actively looking for on Spotify. Pick a vibe and be consistent with it in the kind of songs you add. Once you wrap up, you will usually know what kind of playlist you have made in terms of the ambiance and what you should ideally call it. 

The idea is to strike a balance between making your title as creative as well as common in terms of keywords. We get it, this sounds tedious and sometimes, you really just have to compromise on one of these factors. But there’s a way. 

This is where you could think of moods or themes, or in today’s terms, vibes. If you have curated a Lo-Fi music playlist, the title cannot be something very generic like ‘Best Lo-Fi Beats.’ Something like, ‘Lo-Fi music to fall asleep,’ would have a better chance of gaining attention and traction. It’s crucial to remember that the title and description are both accessible within Spotify, so the information you put in both of them is fundamentally significant. Many Spotify users may search for specific artists without understanding the genres or kinds of songs they compose. A description is thus an ideal spot to mention the names of some of the most popular musicians featured in the playlist. You can also suggest other genres that might be included in the mix.

Once you have finalized the title, make sure that you do not change it. SEO will take time so once you have got some traction, changing it will mess up the search results. 

Pssst…come here: Let’s not forget the cover picture of your playlist. Visuals are everything; pick something that instantly speaks about your playlist or the kind of music your playlist has. It shouldn’t be too obvious and plain, like a picture of an acoustic guitar if your playlist has indie folk songs. Scroll through Pinterest and Instagram to find any inspiration. Check out what other playlists have. Listen to your playlist multiple times to understand the kind of visual aesthetic it produces. Many playlisters usually pick a high-quality image of the top artist of the genre and some others try to make playlist covers that are very similar to Spotify’s Editorial playlists, but you could use AI to make really good covers for your playlist. You just have to be very specific with your prompts. 

Some playlisters like to include the name of the playlist in the playlist cover image as well. You could make such edits using designing tools like Canva or PicsArt. They are super user-friendly. 

You have got a solid playlist ready. What next?

How to grow your Spotify playlist?

Meta ads

One of the most prominent ways of gaining followers and increasing traction is to make ads. You could promote your playlist on Facebook or Instagram through ads. 

Even with a daily budget of only $1, you can get decent results. Additionally, if your playlist ads are good, Facebook will give you a low cost-per-result and this way, you can start gaining followers on your playlists instantly without waiting for SEO to kick in. 

We had previously mentioned that researching is important because you’d discover data on demographics, and learn which countries or regions stream more of the genre you’d be curating. Meta ads also give an option to target a certain region with your ads. All you have to do is set up a Facebook business manager account and a landing page or in this case, the link to your playlist. 

YouTube Ads are another great way to promote your Spotify playlists. We don’t quite recommend this but it’s worth a shot. 

Playlisting sites

Find services that promote playlists, such as Sound Plate, and submit your own to a network of curators. Playlists.net is linked to the ‘Playlist a Day’ app, which is available for iPhone and Android. It generates randomized Spotify playlists and delivers subscribers one specialized playlist each day. 

Another site that helps promote your playlist is DailyPlaylist. It is a music promotion and marketing place, where you could sign up as a curator to promote your playlist and get track submissions from other artists who would like to get their music featured in your playlist. 

Music Blogs

Contact prominent music bloggers to arrange a partnership. Let the blogger post about it on their networking platforms, urging fans to follow. Famebit provides an easy way to reach influencers. Signing up is free, and you can connect with people from all over the world who publish on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok every day. 

Another way is to have your own music blog website. Make your own weekly blog post, maintain it up to date with the latest releases, and include links to your own playlist. You could also request an upcoming artist, whose music you have added to your playlist, to give a shout-out to your playlist on their socials 

Spotify Codes

Create easier-to-share playlists using Spotify Codes. The idea is to make the playlist very easily accessible and shareable, so you could ask your followers and friends to scan your playlist code on their phone which will instantly go to your playlist and play it. You can find your playlist’s code by clicking the ellipsis (...) menu, and it will be attached to the bottom of your playlist artwork. You can then store it on your camera roll for quick sharing. You could also post the scan on your social media. 

How to maintain the quality of your playlist?

Many playlisters start to gain traction and eventually lose listeners. Why? 

This is when maintaining the quality of your playlist becomes important. This is the one place where you HAVE to be picky. It is important that not only do you get an audience for your playlist but you also need to keep them engaged enough for a longer period. Once the listener has streamed your playlist, it is only natural that they want something new and something similar. This is where you remove older songs and add new ones every once in a while. Playlist cleaning is extremely important in maintaining the quality of your playlist. 

While choosing songs, make sure that you add those tracks that actually sit well with the overall theme and musical aesthetic of your playlist. Do not add tracks just because you have to have a playlist that has at least 50 songs. This will ruin the entire purpose of your playlist and reduce the quality, and it will show. 

Check different Spotify Playlist Analyzers. You will get all the data, the listening for your playlist, the list of artists your playlist appears on the ‘Discovered On’ section, and so on. A good playlist has frequently updated music, features independent and upcoming musicians, and has an upward growth in terms of streaming. At first, you’d want to focus on gaining followers so your playlist would obviously feature classics and more popular tracks. But as and when your playlist grows and has a solid 20k - 50k followers on Spotify, you could start curating music from emerging musicians in the genre. 

Pssst…come here: Your playlist should make the listener want to return to it and play it again and again instead of searching for another alternative. Quality assures longevity. 

Our Final Thoughts

Making a solid playlist will take time and getting it the traction it deserves will take longer. So, be patient and keep sharing your playlists. Promote your playlist on all social media platforms (even Reddit), and keep track of where your listeners are coming from. Consistency and quality help bring long-term results, so have fun while you are at it! 

We at GreaseRelease, have a bunch of curators on our network who are looking for new & exciting music to push on their massive playlists. If you make music and want to reach a wider audience, check out our submission platform and get a chance to reach millions of listeners! Submit your tracks now!