Submitted to Spotify editorial 12 times.

Here's what I learned about what works:

❌ WRONG:

"This is my track and deserve a audience..."

✅ RIGHT FORMAT:

— Mood: [specific feeling, not genre]

— Tempo: [BPM]

— Best for: [activity — driving, gym, focus]

— Sounds like: [2 known artists]

— Release date: [at least 7 days ahead]

The mood and activity description matter

more than the genre tag.

What's worked for you in editorial pitching?

I'd like to boost my numbers and it seems like playlists are the way to do it. I've been thinking about making play lists of more popular artists and sneaking my songs in, does that work? I play folkpunk which is kinda a niech thing and I don't feel like I'd fit in with most of the big projects I see on here. Im also terrified of accidentally getting botted/ai streams so how do I avoid that?

Thanks in advance

Most independent artists upload tracks

with wrong or missing metadata.

What Spotify's algorithm reads:

— Genre tags (be specific, not just "Hip-Hop")

— Mood tags (dark, aggressive, melancholic)

— Tempo and key

— Language tag

— Release country

For niche genres like dark phonk or ethnotrap —

the more specific your tags, the better

Spotify maps you to the right listeners.

Anyone else found that specific genre

tagging improved their Discover Weekly reach?

After months of chasing stream numbers I realized

I was measuring the wrong thing.

The metric that actually matters: SAVE RATE.

If 10%+ of listeners save your track,

Spotify starts pushing it algorithmically.

If under 5% — you're invisible to the algorithm.

How I improved mine:

— Shorter intros (under 10 seconds)

— Drop within first 30 seconds

— End strong, not fade out

What's your current save rate sitting at?

hey guys, how much would you say i should be earning if I get 1.2 million streams a month on spotify as i switched distro and i belive im being underpayed as they claim i keep 100% of royalties which i know in most cases isnt true but they seem to be taking around 50% of what I used to earn on my old distro with same streams (edit: my top 3 countries streams come from are USA, Indonesia and Mexico, the rest of my top 10 are all European countries with the exception of brasil)

If you know you know so this post won’t be for you. But if you don’t know this is an audio interface that’s not really pricey at all, but has been the best investment I’ve made. Not cause it’s magically better than my cheap Boya audio interface, but because it comes with so much free stuff that it’s really enhanced my sound and workflow, and I’m excited for my Spotify releases in July onwards even more because of it. Can highly recommend if you are like me on a shoestring budget and looking for ways around mixing and mastering and different plugins.

Prior to February 6th 2026I had approx 25 songs on spotify with only 3 or 4 of them with any plays. In November I released two albums with 12 songs on them each. then on February 6th I had ten songs put on "mixes" 10 songs put on "radio". 10 songs put on ""daylist" 10 songs put on "smart shuffle" 10 songs "on repeat" 10 songs on "release radar" 9 songs on "Discover weekly ' 3 songs put on "repeat rewind" and 3 "your daily drive"......I was elated. I went from 41 monthly listeners to 14,000. then I scheduled a releases of a 22 track album for march 31st. this earned my account to be flagged and now since I have been shadow banned m account is now back at 14 monthly listeners. with some 778 followers. EVERY STREAM I GOT WAS FROM SPOTIFY. HOWVER THEY HAVE ACCUSED ME OF ARTIFICIAL STREAMS. IT WOULD TAKE A HUMAN BEING ALL OF TWO MINUTES TO LOOK AT THE SOURCE OF THE STREAMS BUT INSTEAD MY CHEAPO DIST. "WALLSTREAM" WOULD NOT FIGHT FOR ME. I am beside myself in so much stress and sadness I don't know what to do. I am shaking as I try to type this. Seriously NOT RIGHT. I have reached out to spotify for artist thru their chatbot for the last month. all they tell me to do is to contact my list. my distributor. which I have already done and they are a joke and will not help. I have worked everyday for 4 years at songwriting. I thought I was finally reaching a place where I could see some results. instead I have had my name and account ruined.

here are some of the conclusions a.i. came to I also have plenty more data screenshots and tons of other proof. that I'm not sitting here full of shit and actually hiding something. I challenge anyone to look at the raw data and not my shitty post. As I am beyond upset and not doing a good job of putting forth a cohesive post.

• The "Slow Burn" Growth: Real botting usually happens in huge, instant spikes (e.g., 10,000 plays in 2 hours). Growing from 41 to 13,000 over two months is the hallmark of a song being picked up by the Spotify Algorithmic engine and slowly expanding to new listeners.
• The "67-Song" Impossibility: To fake growth across 67 songs simultaneously while maintaining the Legitimate Stream ratios shown in your WallStream email would require a level of sophistication and expense that makes no sense for an independent artist.
• The "Source of Entry" Trap: If your plays started on February 6th because you were added to Spotify Playlists, then Spotify's own "Discovery" system is the one that vetted and served those plays. They are essentially accusing themselves of serving your music to bots.
• Context of Time: The growth was a 60-day steady climb (Feb 6 – March 31), not a one-day bot spike.
• Total Catalog Impact: It is statistically impossible for 67 different songs to "accidentally" be part of a fraud campaign unless the platform's own serving algorithm is the source.
• The YouTube Multiplier: The jump to 4,500 YouTube views during this exact window is the "Human Receipt." Bots on Spotify don't go watch videos on YouTube.

https://preview.redd.it/yni231igx32h1.png?width=2486&format=png&auto=webp&s=4013c9939edd42c3387049100a5714eacdfac1e0

there is the definitve proof that there were no artificial streams

The Math Doesn't Lie: Human-operated bot networks cannot deliver perfectly mirrored, uniform 44/56 decimal-split ratios across entirely separate historical releases. This uniformity only happens when Spotify’s automated distribution system groups an entire Artist ID into a specific algorithmic bucket, serving the catalog to an audience tier that their automated system later purges as invalid.

4. The Source of Entry Contradiction

My Spotify for Artists dashboard splits out the data clearly. The 31,300% growth spike is explicitly cataloged under "Personalized playlists, autoplay, and mixes."

Third-party bot operations can spoof user playlists or hide referral traffic, but they cannot inject data into Spotify’s proprietary internal Radio and Autoplay queues. By permanently demonetizing these streams, Spotify is effectively declaring that its own recommendation engine served my music to fraudulent listener accounts, punishing the artist for the platform's choice of audience distribution.

I’m an independent EDM producer preparing to release my upcoming progressive house track, “HIGHER THAN I’VE EVER BEEN.” This is my first serious release, and I want to understand how to use TikTok effectively to grow my music organically.

My music is in English, and since TikTok is banned in my country, I post using a VPN. I know TikTok has become one of the most powerful platforms for music discovery, and I’d love to learn how artists are using it successfully.

Questions I Have

1. How does the TikTok algorithm work for music?

• What signals does TikTok use to decide whether to push a video?
• How important are watch time, completion rate, rewatches, saves, and shares?
• Does posting consistently help more than posting occasionally?

2. What kind of content works best for promoting music?

• Cinematic edits
• Emotional storytelling videos
• Lyric videos
• Behind-the-scenes production clips
• “POV” or relatable videos
• Trend-based content using my own sound

3. How should I structure my posts?

• Best video length
• How quickly should the hook happen?
• Should I show my face or can I use visuals only?
• How often should I post?

4. Is it possible to grow while posting from a country where TikTok is banned?

• Does using a VPN affect reach?
• Should I focus on targeting audiences in the US and Europe since my songs are in English?

5. What metrics should I pay attention to?

• Views
• Average watch time
• Completion rate
• Shares
• Saves
• Profile visits
• Sound uses
• Followers gained

6. How much should a beginner spend on TikTok promotion?

• Is organic growth enough?
• When does it make sense to use paid ads?

7. What mistakes should I avoid?

• Posting overly promotional content
• Uploading too many low-quality videos
• Ignoring trends
• Using weak hooks

If You Were Releasing Your First Track Today...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO

Finally hit 500 followers after a 11 months. All from the bedroom. So feeling good :) many mistakes, and still making em, but getting there.

Last year I spent about 6 months trying to get on Spotify playlists.

In total, I ended up with around 1,200 streams across all my tracks.

At the time I thought that was the only way to “make it” as an independent artist. Get playlists → get streams → grow.

But I’ve started to think that mindset is wrong for most artists.

A lot of advice online focuses on the “breakout moment” — going viral, hitting algorithm playlists, blowing up overnight.

But for most of us, that’s not how it actually plays out.

What I’ve noticed is this:

Streams don’t always equal fans.

You can get thousands of streams and still have nobody who actually cares about your next release.

What matters more (at least for me now) is building real connection.

Even a small group of people who actually follow you is more valuable than random passive listeners.

That’s why I started focusing more on:

• Collecting emails / direct contacts instead of just streams
• Making it easier for people to find all my links in one place
• Thinking about long-term fans, not one-time plays

I also started using a smartlink tool (Copythistune) to put my music, merch, and support links in one place so people can actually engage beyond just Spotify.

Now I’m wondering:

Is chasing Spotify growth actually overrated for most independent artists who aren’t already viral?

Would you rather have:

• 100,000 random streams or
• 100 people who actually follow you everywhere and support you?

I’m genuinely curious how other artists see this.

A lot of us hyper ventilate over release dates, times and content but I’m curious to know if anyone’s just done a full send, abandoning previous techniques and it actually worked for them?

I feel like cattle sometimes being herded towards the same goal, algorithm.