Best Spotify Playlists [5 PlaylistsYou Can Submit To]
Updated: Oct 21, 2020
We listen to a lot of music.
Actually, let me say that again. We listen to A TON of music!
At Neon Collective, we're constantly listening to Spotify playlists. Whether its listener playlists, editorial playlists, or our personal algorithmic playlists. We've done enough listening to share with you what we think are the best Spotify playlists for independent artists to get on in 2020. Not to mention, just to enjoy the music in the actual playlist. I'm sure you'll discover new artists you've never heard of.
With this collection of the best Spotify playlists in 2020, unfortunately, it's not always free to submit but if there is a charge it is usually quite reasonable.
If you're new to the Spotify playlist world, it might be helpful to understand what the three different Spotify playlists are before you jump in.
IndieMono
IndieMono has managed to become a mammoth in the Spotify playlist world. They have what seems to be hundreds of Spotify playlists and adding fresh ones everyday. We would be very surprised if you couldn't find a genre that fits you.
From sad songs, workouts, Friday music, undiscovered, and summer nights. IndieMono seems to have it all.
Music submission is fairly straightforward. Go to IndieMono by clicking this link. Navigate to the playlist that fits your music and style the best. It helps to take a few minutes and listen to a few songs on the playlist to get the vibe,
You'll need to submit your name, email, and track URI code from Spotify. You can easily get this code by going to the song share option in Spotify. See below.
There is no limit to submitting songs on IndieMono but to be honest we don't know how they manage their incoming playlist requests. They must be getting over 1000 song submissions a day. That's too many to keep up with. Think of the compounding?
Because of this, back and forth communication is a little weak so don't expect a reply. Even if you get accepted! So keep an eye out on their playlists every so often to see if you made the cut.
For a better chance to get on the IndieMono playlists we recommend to search for the new playlists they create or playlists that have smaller followings. You'll notice on these playlists that there's many more independent artists on them.
Neon Collective
I know... I know what you're saying. How could you promote your own playlists on a best Spotify playlist list? I think it's because we're a little biased but we love our playlists! We put a lot of time and energy into our playlists and really take pride in them.
What do we like to see in music submission?
First off, we like to see respect. We get so many requests that are most obviously spam. Not even a hello. Just a link.
If you don't put the effort in and just spam us a link then the probability of us listening or replying to your submission is very low. Do you reply to the junk email you get? I don't think so. This is just because we get too many requests so we have to prioritize somehow.
So, what else other than respect?
You don't have to write an essay. Just tell us when the song was released. Tell us about your promotion plans. Tell us if this is your first song released or if it's your 100th. We want to know a bit of context that's all. We especially want to know there is another human on the other side. Not just a robot.
Here's how you can submit. Head to our homepage and figure out what playlists you think you would be best for you. Here are some of our favourites:
Howard Zhu
Howard Zhu is a regular guy doing a huge favour to thousands of independent artists looking to get their music featured on Spotify. Howard accepts free submissions but he does ask that you follow some of his playlists in return.
This is potentially a warning sign.
Why is that?
If playlist curators are making it a requirement to follow a playlist before you submit then it's a warning sign that the playlists could seem much bigger than they are. For example, a playlist with 1,000 active listeners is much better than a playlist with 10,000 listeners who never listen. So never be fooled by monthly listener numbers or likes on playlists. Unfortunately, you'll never know the true quality of a playlist until you get on the playlist. This is just how Spotify works.
Anyways, not to say that Howard has a bunch of fake listeners or we wouldn't put him on our list. He has over a whopping 100,000 followers so I'm sure you'll be in good hands. Just being transparent with you guys.
It's easy as 1,2,3 to submit to Howard's Spotify playlists. Just head to think link. Fill out the information and wait to hear back.
MYSPHERA
Mysphera is a great matchmaking tool for you, the artists, to meet other curators or tastemakers. It's somewhat of a different approach to the other curators that we list on this list but they're just as strong. In fact, we quite like their approach!
Keep in mind Mysphera is a paid business so they are pushing you to run a paid campaign. However, you do have the opportunity to submit to their curators for free.
Here you will be able to find the curator that best suits your genre. All you will need is your email, some genre tags, and the Spotify link. There's not even a space to write a msg so it's quite easy.
Here's what the submission box looks like:
Marble Collective
Marble Collective is one of our favourites. They are a new curator with already a significant following which is likely because they're really strong curators. They are primarily in the genres of indie, folk, and pop. But they also have some playlists in rock and alt pop.
Marble Collective is a paid submission. However, you can likely be certain that you'll hear back from them to know if your submission was successful or not.
We've heard about some artists getting great feedback on their music from Marble. Even if they weren't selected. So that really speaks to the quality of their team.
It's quite easy to submit to Marble.
Head over to their site here. Find a playlist that you might think best suits your genre. Fill out your name, email, and write a msg to the curators. Finish the checkout and wait to hear back.
Conclusion
This list of best Spotify playlists that you can submit your music to is certainly not exhaustive but it includes some our favourites.
A few others that you might quickly want to look into are the following playlist curators:
You can always go to SubmitHub and submit your music for free to a variety of playlists, bloggers, and influencers. Although we're not huge fans of SubmitHub, sometimes it does work so if you've never tried it, you should give it a go.
If you're looking for even more help we suggest looking into AudioHype. They are an active collective made up of artists, promoters, influencers and programmers working on a common goal: to educate and provide the resources required to promote music in today’s industry.Â
We hope these playlist curators will help you get closer to your goals as a musician. You can also always take a chance on your own and reach official Spotify curators by trying to get on official Spotify editorial playlists too.
As always, submit to us at Neon Collective and we'll help you get your music heard.