Streaming Promotion
In partnership with Indie Music Academy.
Learn how we effectively grow your Spotify fanbase... ethically.
The “Why” Behind Spotify Playlisting
Spotify Playlists are the single most cost-effective way to generate traffic (i.e. streams) for your music on Spotify. However, the music industry is very much in a “Wild West” when it comes to fake plays, bot playlists, and low-quality listeners. It’s important to be intentional about putting your music in front of new fans in a way that matters.
Is it enough to get on playlists with the right “genre” to boost your music in the Spotify algorithm?
No - it’s really not enough and Spotify doesn’t pay attention to genre as much as you think. Spotify cares more about the quality of your listeners and how they engage with your music in their platform.
Here’s what a QUALITY SPOTIFY LISTENER does:
They use the Spotify search bar.
They consume multiple types of music across multiple genres.
They drag songs into their own playlist libraries.
And they click the heart button next to your song.
What other benefits come from quality listeners?
Simply put, you need real people listening in order to build reliable demographic information and to land a spot in Spotify’s “Related Artists” algorithm… which will continue to push your music ORGANICALLY to people who would actually be interested in it.
In the “wild west” of streaming, most Spotify playlists don't provide artists with real listeners. They simply drive up your Spotify numbers without trying to engage real fans. Did you know that if a playlist doesn’t have the right kind of listeners for your music it will actually hurt your algorithm… even to the point of being banned from Spotify??
So…How does Pressed Fresh Collective work to attract QUALITY listeners & get your music on legitimate Spotify playlists?
Because of this reality, we made it our goal along with Indie Music Academy to offer access to legitimate, high-quality influencers so they can trust that their music career is not at risk of being jeopardized. We only pitch to influencers who have playlists that organically rank in the Spotify Search Engine. As we know, playlists that do not rank in the Spotify Search Engine could have bot activity, low-quality overseas traffic, or other types of risky and unethical practices.
Playlist Analytical Legitimacy Checklist:
No deleted followers or sudden dips in the growth trend line.
Playlist Keywords / Playlist Name Have Popularity in Google.
Playlist ranks at least in the top 10 in Spotify Search Results.
The listeners are from a variety of countries. (Spotify is a global app)
30-day playlist follower growth ≠ 0. (This means the playlist is inactive)
In general, we avoid playlists that are losing followers.
Playlists that meet the above-highlighted criteria are some of the most valuable and active playlists on a streaming platform.
The points above are the criteria and processes we use to approve the legitimacy of our playlists and influencers so that our artists know that their investment in playlist promotion is worthwhile.
For Artists Growing an International Audience - This process works in multiple languages since Spotify is a multi-country app.
Identifying Bot Playlists (Red Flags)
One of the biggest red flags when analyzing playlists is a sudden drop in thousands of followers. Spotify regularly deletes accounts that it deems to be “inactive” or “bot” accounts. When there is a noticeable dip in the number of playlist followers, this indicates that the playlist audience was built using sketchy tactics.
Playlist Vetting Procedure
Our Promise:
100% Real & Organic Human Listeners
No Bots, Low-Quality Ads, or Engagement Schemes
Our Unique Approach is powered by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & is Spotify Terms of Service (TOS) compliant which means you never risk the safety of your music
All with a 100% Refund Guarantee
FAQs
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We work with 3rd party influencers and are currently one of the only promotion services to offer real / authentic plays through a network of SEO-grown (marketing) playlists. Other playlist networks are over run by computer generated results or “bots” as they are typically referred to.
These other companies sell you on “reach,” rather than a guarantee. Our team guarantees the minimum amount of streams you purchased by leaving your track in our most active playlists until the campaign goal is achieved. With our minimum guarantee, you are able to secure your goal while having a great chance to exceed it by putting your music in front of real and engaged fans.
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You can start your campaign anytime before, during or after your song release. We are flexible and want to work with you and your release schedule.
Please note, due to the organic nature of our promotion process, it is difficult to time a playlist placement with an exact release date because most influencers update their playlists according to a set update schedule which might not align with the date of your release.
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Promoting an unreleased song is simple and easy! We can promote unreleased songs using our normal registration process, all you have to do is put in your future release date and we’ll get it in the queue.
If your song is still un-released and you would like for us to take a listen ahead of time, you can send us a private streaming link for us to start pitching it to our influencers in advance.
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Yes! We love scheduling promotion campaigns in advance. If your song is not yet released, you can still complete the checkout process by placing a “Preview Link” (SoundCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or other) rather than a Spotify link.
This will complete your order and get the process started with our team.
The next step happens the night before the release date. Most distributors provide a Spotify URL the day before your release. When you have that Spotify Song URL, simply email us your Spotify link to the song and we will have everything we need to begin!
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There are an overwhelming amount of risky bot-driven playlists on Spotify and we would never want to risk jeopardizing your music career with a bad placement. So with our campaigns we shoot for quality over quantity.
We follow the rigorous “Playlist Legitimacy Checklist” above that actually disqualifies many playlists from our usage. But we do this on purpose to protect the artist and their craft. For most campaigns, we land the song on 1-2 playlists to reach the desired streams, but this is highly dependent on the package purchased.
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First, you will select your campaign type, then you will submit your track and our team goes to work identifying the most successful playlists for your song! We have hundreds of playlists in our network and can assure that wherever we place your song will be the best possible fit. Our network is growing larger each day and we are always on the forefront of new playlists to give our clients the very best. Some of the many playlists we have include genre-based, movie and TV soundtracks, TikTok, festivals, workout, and more.
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Your song will remain in the playlist(s) in the range of three (3) to eight (8) weeks depending on the campaign size you select. However it will remain within our network until it has reached its minimum campaign goal in full.
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Our process is very manual and is executed by our small team. Real humans handle all the listening, planning, and pitching for our clients, so as you can imagine, the process is not instantaneous.
Our influencers take the time they need to make sure your song finds the best placement, which typically takes 10 business days, or more depending on the volume of placements.
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We recommend that you always track progress on your Spotify Artist account to monitor your success—however, with more advanced tools, you can see a more detailed picture of what’s happening.
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YES! People who listen to your track will engage if they enjoy it. We provide the opportunity for your music to be in front of a much larger, genuine audience than is possible on your own. Engagement, as always, is based on the caliber of your track, though.
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YES! Pitching to the Spotify Curators through your "Spotify for Artists" portal does not interfere with our process and is actually recommended by our playlist experts. On the other hand, using low-quality 3rd party playlisting services that do not meet our "Playlist Legitimacy Checklist" could result in poor engagement and long-term damage on your Spotify analytics.
3rd party playlist promotion services are risky and are not the same as submitting to the Spotify Curators inside your "Spotify for Artists" portal. We suggest carefully choosing your playlisting partners with utmost scrutiny as not all of our competitors meet our playlisting standards.
For more information, visit IMA Spotify Promotion FAQs.
Spotify Tips + Tricks
Visit our blog for helpful tips + tricks and view our Spotify-related posts below: