How to Pitch Spotify Playlist Curators

1. Who you can actually reach

Only curators who publish a contact can be pitched directly. As of November 13, 2026, PlaylistLookup tracks 401,000+ Spotify playlists, and 115,000+ of them have at least one public contact channel on record. 28,000+ list a public email address and 86,000+ an Instagram account; many list both, so the two numbers overlap.

These figures describe the PlaylistLookup database, not all of Spotify: the playlists in it were largely found because their description shows a contact. What counts as a contact channel, and how the numbers are rounded, is explained on the Spotify playlist curator statistics page. A playlist without any published contact is not asking for pitches, so leave it out of your list.

2. Choose playlists that fit

A pitch to the right playlist does more than a perfect pitch to the wrong one. Before you write to a curator, check four things:

• The sound. Play a few tracks from the playlist. If your track would stand out as the odd one, skip it.
• Recent activity. A playlist where no track was added for months is unlikely to add yours. Look at the dates tracks were added, or the last activity date in a directory.
• The curator's rules. Many descriptions say how to submit: email only, a form, "DM for features", or genres the curator does not want. Follow them.
• Your own profile. A curator who clicks through sees your Spotify artist profile. Add a photo, a short bio and your links before you start.

For a folk or acoustic track like the example below, start from playlists in the folk, acoustic and indie genre pages, then listen before you add one to your list.

To check whether a playlist has real listeners before you add it, read how to tell if a Spotify playlist is botted.

Two shortcuts in PlaylistLookup: a search by a similar artist starts from an artist you sound like and returns playlists with the same genre mix, and a playlist health check estimates whether a playlist has real listeners. It is an estimate, not proof, so still listen before you pitch.

3. When to pitch and when to follow up

Spotify's editors: before release

Spotify's editorial playlists are pitched through Spotify for Artists, not by email. Spotify asks you to deliver your music at least 7 days before release, accepts only a song that has not gone live yet, and lets you pitch one song at a time (Spotify for Artists: pitching music to playlist editors, checked October 8, 2026). Pitching there does not guarantee a placement, but it costs nothing. The guide to the Spotify editorial pitch versus independent curators sets the two routes side by side.

Independent curators: once the track is live

An independent curator can only add a track that is on Spotify. Our advice is to start pitching when the track is live, or when you have its final Spotify link, and to keep going through the first weeks after release. Use the time before release to build and check your target list, so you can start sending on release day.

Follow-up: once, after 10 to 14 days

If a curator has not replied after 10 to 14 days, send one short follow-up with the link again. Do not send a second one. A curator who did not answer twice has made their choice, and more messages only make the next pitch less welcome.

You will see advice about the best weekday or hour to pitch. We know of no reliable public data on that, so pick a moment when you can send carefully.

4. What goes into a pitch

A pitch to a playlist curator needs five parts, roughly in this order. A workable target for the whole message is about eight sentences or fewer.

1. The playlist by name, with one real observation. It shows you listened and is the line a copy-paste pitch cannot fake.
2. Your Spotify link, early. In the first or second sentence, so the curator can press play without searching.
3. One sentence on the sound. Genre, mood and one detail, for example "a slow indie folk song with fingerpicked guitar and close-mic vocals".
4. One sentence of context. Where you are from, which release this is, or one notable thing about the track. Not your life story.
5. A calm close. Thank the curator for listening. No pressure, no request to share or follow.

5. A worked example, line by line

The artist, track, playlist and addresses below are made up. June Lantern, an indie folk artist, pitches the single "Paper Boats" to a playlist called Slow Tide Indie, whose description says "submissions: demos@slowtideindie.example".

Why each line is there

• The subject names the track, the genre and the playlist, so the curator knows what it is before opening it.
• The opening line names the playlist and one real detail about it. That is the personal part, and it is short.
• The link sits in the second sentence, and "out today" tells the curator the track can be added right away.
• The sound sentence lets the curator judge the fit before pressing play.
• The context sentence is one line, enough to make the artist a person.
• The close asks for nothing beyond a listen, which keeps the door open for the next release.

6. Templates: email, DM and follow-up

Fill in every bracket and add one real observation about the playlist. A template you send unchanged reads like one.

Email

Instagram DM

Follow-up (once, after 10 to 14 days)

7. Common pitching mistakes

• Pitching playlists that do not fit

  Listen before you pitch. A curator who gets an off-genre track learns to skip your name.

• Writing too much

  If the pitch needs scrolling on a phone, cut it. One sentence on the sound and one of context is enough.

• Hiding the link

  Put the Spotify link in the first or second sentence, never only at the bottom or as an attachment.

• Pitching independent curators before release

  An independent curator can only add a track that is on Spotify. A pre-release pitch usually means a second message later.

• Ignoring the curator's rules

  If the description asks for a form, a subject line or only certain genres, do exactly that.

• Following up more than once

  One follow-up after 10 to 14 days. More than that turns a maybe into a no.

• Sending the same text to everyone

  Change at least the playlist name and the opening observation, so the pitch is clearly written for that playlist.

8. What to do when there is no contact

Some playlists you would love to be on list no email, social account or submission link. Before you give up on one, check the curator's other public playlists and any linked social account, because the contact is sometimes published there instead. If nothing turns up, skip the playlist: a curator who publishes no contact is not asking for pitches. The guide on how to find Spotify playlist curator contact info walks through where curators publish their details and how to check them by hand. In a PlaylistLookup search, the published contact is shown next to each playlist, so you can skip the ones without one before you start listening.

9. Pitching many curators without losing quality

A workable target per release is 20 to 40 personal pitches, picked from a list of 30 to 50 playlists that fit. That is enough to give a track a fair chance and few enough to write each pitch properly.

• Build the list before release day, with the contact and any submission rules for each playlist.
• Write one base pitch for the track, then change the opening observation and the playlist name for every curator.
• Keep a simple log: playlist, contact, date sent, follow-up date and result. It stops you from pitching the same curator twice.
• Start with curators who added an earlier track of yours; they already know your music.

If you pitch by email, you can also send from inside PlaylistLookup through your own Gmail account, so replies land in your own inbox. How that works, and what it does not do, is on the page about sending pitches from your own Gmail.