Blog

For the last couple of years, I have been very active both as a playlister and as an artist submitting my songs to playlists through several different methods. And from time to time, I wonder ‘How are my Spotify playlists different?’.

Not always the experience as an artist is pleasant. Worse than getting a submission rejected is never hearing back from the playlister you submitted to. And that happens. A lot.

What about you? Do you feel that some playlist submission systems have a really low rate of response? Do you feel like some playlisters are out there to get the benefits of the artists’ submissions (who are normally followers for their own stuff) but don’t want to invest their time working on their side of the deal? Impressions may differ, I assume.

So, for starters, I can say that I review submissions every day, several times a day. Either on my own site or on Daily Playlists, I keep up to date with submissions daily.

Second. I try to be very inclusive. Independent artists do not have the support of record companies and we only have each other to rely on. So I have several Discovery playlists entirely dedicated to small artists in order to have space for everyone. Of course, I reject content with low quality, but I don’t reject tracks just because I don’t like them, as long as I feel they meet the spirit of a given playlist and meet good quality standards.

Third, I created my own submission system.

Fourth, I never charge for this service. There’s no upsell, no attempt to make you spend any money in any way. I do it as a free service where all artists give me back is follows and likes in my Spotify stuff (account, artists, playlists, tracks). And I work on my side of the deal relentlessly.

Another inclusivity aspect of my work is that you will find music from many different backgrounds in my playlists. Be ready to hear songs from different countries and in different languages. Some people may shy away from tracks not sung in English, but I am actually attracted to them. Arabic, Mediterranean, Indian and Asian rhythms are among my favourites and you will find a lot of them in my playlists.

I hope all the above gives you a good picture of my relationship with music, artists and the activity of playlisting itself. And, if you are an independent artist, I hope you’re soon part of one of my playlists.

You, like me, invested a lot of time in composing and producing your music and now it’s time to release and promote it. You will probably be surprised that you will spend way more time on this phase than you actually did on creating your production. Working on these two sides of music-making is not an easy task. You will spend countless hours promoting your music on Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other music communities. And you will probably get frustrated about how slow progress is. This page aims to give you some guidance about music promotion on a low budget.

Music promotion is not an easy task. Especially if you’re working with a low or limited budget. There are, however, a few ways to achieve some visibility while being budget-conscious. And even though it may end up being cheap money-wise, it will require a lot of dedication and it will be time-consuming. If you have the money to spend, then you save time by hiring other people to do the hard work of promotion for you. But, if you are reading this, you probably are, like me, on the other side of this story.

Music Submission Platforms

The first thing I would recommend is sending your music to playlists through websites that accept free submissions. This website is one of them (just go the Submit Music page), and there are a few others, as I explain on this page. Daily Playlists, Submithub.com and IndieMono can also help you with that.

Reddit

Second, I would add Reddit to your music promotion toolbelt, but you need to use it wisely. There are many subreddits that allow self-promotion, but it’s important to respect each community’s rules, so make sure you read the posting guidelines for each subreddit. It is very easy to be banned permanently from posting the wrong stuff in the wrong places.

YouTube Channel

Setting a Youtube channel also helps to increase your exposition. It requires, though, that you have your music in yet another format so it can be made publicly available. This should not be a big deal, once most distro platforms currently publish your work on YouTube as per default (using the release cover as the video image).

Japanese Music Market

If you’re setting your sight on the Japanese market, create a free page on https://topmusic.jp/. I still could not see any result from that, but the setup is not complicated, so it’s worth a try.

Facebook

Another channel you can try is Facebook groups, but, as with Reddit, you have to be careful and respect each group’s policies. Talking about Facebook, having your page on the social network is another good step towards visibility.

Hypeddit

There is also a tool I used for some time which is called https://hypeddit.com/. The free version of the platform offers limited benefits, but its real multi-platform power comes from a monthly plan that will allow you to exchange likes and follows in several channels. It costs US$9/month and you can cancel anytime. I used it myself for 2 non-consecutive months and it provided me with a great initial boost which allowed me to take further steps in my journey.

Other free platforms

At last, consider creating your SoundCloud and Bandcamp pages. Alone, they will not solve your problem of reaching a larger market but think of it all as an ecosystem. You have to be everywhere and all your channels must link to each other as much as possible.

Summing up

I hope these directions help you with some ideas about music promotion on a low budget. Feel free to use the contact page to ask me other questions that you may have in mind.

Again, feel free to submit to my playlists.

Here’s another song for your runs and workouts. Or parties. Worth The Price, by Urbano and RM4K is a top-notch track that has a Calvin Harris’ feel and a nice vibe. The rapping reminds me of Drinking from the Bottle and the female vocal is extremely competent and well-mixed.

The song is currently in the second position on my EDM, Deep, House, Electronica playlist.

A powerful bass line and great songwriting are what Caroline presents us with I Know Better.

The mixing is competently done and the song follows contemporary pop/electronica trends, so it’s hard to believe Caroline’s music won’t be a hit. She already surpassed 26,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and that’s no easy feat in the highly competitive music scene of these days.

Want to check out her work? It’s on this playlist:

My favourite type of chill music is the one that connects the listener with other parts of the globe. Yesterday, I recommended something on an Indian/Eastern line, and today I’m going with a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern track.

Oriental Sunrise, by Anne Lo, will transport you to the desert sands or a busy street market.

You can find this and other similar songs on my Mediterranean Chill playlist.