Todays Top Independent Spotify Playlist Curators: A List
Much is made of official Spotify curated playlists and the importance of getting your music on them, but there are also a number of independent playlists with broad reach and massive followings on the platform worth pitching your music to. Here we look at the top 25.
Guest post by Rutgers Ansley Rosenborg of Chartmetric
Here are 25 of todays top independent Spotify playlist curators. While we cant tell you how to contact Spotify playlist curators, we can help you investigate for yourself.
For many artists, landing on a big Spotify playlist likeTodays Top HitsorRapCaviaris a dream. But getting there usually means finding success elsewhere first, whether its on theTikTok chartsor on influential Spotify playlists that arent curated by Spotify or major record labels.
Todays playlist ecosystem is actually quite similar to the structure of the music industry writ large, with a handful of influential corporations at the top and a diverse array of independent companies and individuals filling in the rest.
Generally speaking, any curator who generates Spotify playlists will fit into one of three distinct categories.
1]Editorial:Spotify employees, algorithms, and proprietary recommender systems
2]Major Label:Filtr [Sony Music Entertainment], Digster [Universal Music Group], and Topsify [Warner Music Group]
3]Non-Editorial:independent Spotify playlist curators like the 25 companies or individuals youll find in the table below, plus brands, artists, and everyday users
For emerging artists, getting added to editorial playlists is likely the ultimate goal, but non-editorial playlist adds can be a very important and usually more achievable step toward that goal. Its also important to note, however, that many independently curated non-editorial playlists can be just as important for an artists career as acontextual editorial playlistlike Beast Mode or Songs to Sing in the Shower is.
Just remember: Always avoid playlist payola, and do your own research on curators and their playlists before reaching out. Not only will they respect you more and be more likely to add your track, but youll also be saving yourself from a lot of rejection and wasted time!
With that in mind, here are 25 of todays top independent Spotify playlist curators, filtered by most playlist followers gained in the last 28 days, as of mid-June 2020.
Well continue to update this list every month, but in the meantime, while we cant necessarily tell you how to contact Spotify playlist curators or provide you with a direct line to these curators, we do provide a filter that allows you to see which curators have social URLs. From there,you can investigate for yourselfon their Chartmetric curator profiles.
We also have aPlaylist Journeys featurethat gives you an idea of the smaller playlists that tend to feed into larger playlists and what non-editorial adds might get you onto that editorial playlist youve always dreamed about.
Subscribeto have more curator lists and insightsdelivered to your inbox when we publish. You can alsoshare your own insights with uson our socials.