My friend (and 9 Clouds’ resident tech wizard), Allen Day, has taught me a lot about getting the most out of the Internet.

Recently, I asked him about some lesser-known Spotify features. Here are some things Allen said you should definitely be aware of while you listen.

Open the Spotify app on your phone and go to Your Library Playlists. Select the playlist of local music you created. Here I just called it “Local from PC” for simplicity.

My Top 8 Spotify Hacks (by Allen Day)

1. Collaborative Playlists

I started using Spotify for shared playlists while getting to know my now-wife. We later used one for our wedding.

Collaborative playlists are a great way to mark an occasion. At 9 Clouds, when Catherine was concerned she listened to too much Maroon 5, the team rallied together and built her a playlist.

How to Do It

Want to collaborate on a playlist?

Just right-click on the playlist, and choose Collaborative Playlist. Then, share it with your future collaborators.

2. Organizing Your Playlists with Folders

If you’ve been using Spotify for a while, you’ve probably accumulated quite a few playlists.

Did you know you can organize them into folders?

I didn’t, either . . . until I grabbed my wife’s phone to change up the music on a road trip and saw how organized her lists were compared to my mess.

Mind. Blown.

You can make as many folders as you want to organize your playlists so they make sense for you. Break them down by theme or genre — make a collection of playlists for the gym, driving, you name it.

How to Do It

Just right-click on a playlist, and select Create Folder. Once you’ve created your folders, you can drag playlists into them.

Note: You cannot create or organize folders on your phone; you’ll have to use the desktop app. Once they’re set up, though, you can still see and use them on your phone.

3. Customizing Playlists with Your Own Album Art

You’ve put a lot of listening time into your favorite playlists.

Whether you want to keep them private or share them with the world, those playlists deserve to look great and stand out in your Spotify app.

The ability to update cover art and playlist descriptions used to be limited to featured partners, but now it’s available for all playlists — public or private.

How to Do It

Open your playlist in the desktop app. Click on the cover art to upload your own photo, or click on the description to write a new one.

4. “Daily Mix” Playlists

Not sure what to listen to? Check out your “Daily Mix” playlists.

“Daily Mix” is a series of playlists with nearly endless playback that combines your favorite tracks with new songs Spotify thinks you’ll love — minus the effort that goes into creating the perfect listening session.

Spotify creates up to six playlists for you based on your own listening history. Each playlist is differentiated by a unique color and generally spans a single genre or theme.

When you’re playing one of your daily mixes, a couple new icons will appear in your player. You can ❤️ your favorite songs to add them to your Liked Songs.

5. Yearly Reflection: “Your 2019 Wrapped”

Each year, Spotify marks the holidays with a recap of what you listened to that year. For 2019, Spotify has released “Your 2019 Wrapped.”

Sign in to see your most-listened-to songs, albums, and artists in 2019.

Here at 9 Clouds, we love to compare stories and screenshots of our own “Years Wrapped.” Here’s mine from way back in 2017 (I listened to a lot of Alphaville — but in my defense, they released a new album for the first time in years, and I got to see them in concert after a 20-year wait):

6. Podcasts

The podcast industry has never been bigger. Podcasts have gone mainstream . . . which means Spotify is not just a music player anymore.

For years, I’ve tried recommending podcasts to friends and acquaintances. Too often, the response is that the podcast sounds interesting, but they don’t know how to use podcasts.

Now, I can just point people to Spotify. While it’s not my podcast app of choice, I am extremely excited to see Spotify offering them as a gateway to podcasts.

7. “Discover Weekly” and “Release Radar”

Spotify has a couple of weekly playlists custom-tailored just for you.

Every Monday, the first thing I listen to is my “Discover Weekly” playlist. This playlist is a mix of familiar tunes from your own playlists, plus new music Spotify thinks you’ll like. “Discover Weekly” tends to be pretty hit-or-miss, but it hits enough that I keep coming back.

The other weekly playlist I look forward to is the “Release Radar.” Similar to “Discover Weekly,” this playlist is based on your listening history. It features the newest releases by artists you listen to or follow.

If you haven’t already, search Spotify for “Release Radar” and “Discover Weekly.” Once you find yours, click the Follow button to add them to your playlists for easy access. They update every Monday and Friday, respectively.

8. Creeping on Your Friends

Want to see what your friends or coworkers are listening to?

Check out the Friend Activity panel in Spotify on your Mac or PC desktop. (Don’t see it? Turn on the right sidebar under the View menu.)

Of course, this goes both ways — your friends can see what you’re listening to, as well.

If you don’t like the idea of broadcasting your listening preferences to your friends, you can disable it in the Spotify settings. Toggle on Private Session to temporarily hide what you’re listening to, or disable Share my listening activity on Spotify to turn off your public activity for good.

Bonus: What Does Spotify Suck At?

Sure, we’re biased — we know a thing or two about superb targeting online.

Still, despite its awesome data, Spotify’s ad targeting could use a lot of work.

Only Spotify would advertise Chick-fil-A to me in a town hundreds of miles from the nearest restaurant — and always while I’m running. It should totally know I’m running because of data . . . and my playlist with the word Running in the title. C’mon, guys.

…Okay, It’s Matt Again Now

Thanks, Allen!

Before we put this post together, I didn’t know a thing about the “Release Radar,” and there are a few more features in here I definitely have to check out.

If you want hacks for more than just Spotify, 9 Clouds is always learning about new things and then passing that knowledge along. To get articles about marketing and playing better online, subscribe for our blog’s email updates.

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How can you submit music to several Spotify Playlists at once as an independent artist? Here are 12 awesome curators that manage more than one playlist. All musicians can submit to these curators for free.

Playlists should be a part of all independent artists’ marketing strategy. One of the best ways to get streams and income as an independent artist is getting into a Spotify Playlist. Or Deezer, Apple Music, Tidal etc…

But finding contact details and submission forms can be hard.

That’s why we created a shortcut for you.

But before we start…

Forget about pitching to Filtr, Digster and Topsify. These are owned by the majors (Sony, Warner & Universal) which means they’re very unlikely to feature independent music!

If you want to focus on writing music or find playlisting hard, sometimes all you need is someone speaking for you. If you have already released music via DistroKid and didn’t reach out as much as you would hope for, we can license your music to reach out. Read more.

Spotify Editors

In the summer of 2018 Spotify opened their submissions to their editorial playlists. This is a must in your playlist strategy.

Followers:

Several Playlists with more than a million followers.

Genres:

All kinds

Music Services:

• Spotify (of course)

When to pitch?:

A couple of days after you have distributed your song, but at least 1 week before the release.

How to submit music to Spotify Editors:

You will just need a little preparation.

1. Claim your Spotify Artist Profile and get verified at https://artists.spotify.com/
2. Distribute your song as usual (for example through DistroKid). Make sure to pitch at least one week before the release to appear on Release Radar with your chosen song.
3. The song will appear as an upcoming song on your Spotify for Artists Homepage
4. Just fill in the form according to instructions, and make sure to submit at least one week before (we recommend a lot longer than that).

Indiemono

One of the early independent Spotify curators. From Spain with lovely graphic design and beautiful artwork.

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 100 000 followers.

Genres:

• Sad / Love
• Indie / Alternative
• Hip Hop / Rap
• R&B
• Pop / EDM
• Happy
• Folk
• Latino
• Discovery

Music Services:

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to Indiemono playlists:

1. Go to Indiemono’s Music Submit
2. Choose the appropriate genre box
3. Follow some playlists, artists and Indiemono
4. Fill in the form

You can also see if you have submitted correctly by going to their automatically updated submission playlists.

Kolibri Music

An independent curator focusing on ALL kinds of genres. Both mainstream and very niche. Their mission is to find all the hidden music nectar in the world. Just awesome!

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 10 000 followers.

Genres:

All kinds

Music Services:

• Spotify
• Deezer

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to Kolibri Music playlists:

1. Go to their Playlist Submission
2. Depending on your genre, choose the correct submission box
3. Follow some playlists to unlock the password
4. Fill in the detailed form. Make sure to get the most relevant moods, contexts and genres. Don’t overdo it but don’t under do it. 4-5 moods if relevant. They will rank your song on those genres and then automatically assign you to all the relevant playlists matching those criteria.
5. You will get an email with the progress which is rarely the case with any music curator.

Soundplate

Soundplate is a record label and electronic music plattform.

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 10 000 followers.

Genres:

Mainly electronic music

Music Services:

• Spotify
• Deezer

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to Soundplate playlists:

1. Go to soundplate.com
2. Find some relevant playlist to your genre
3. Click on Submit Music
4. Analyze if your track is a good fit with their Track Analysing tool
5. Choose whether to pitch to Spotify or Deezer playlist
6. Follow Soundplate and a couple of playlists
7. Fill in the form

Work Hard Playlist Hard

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 1 000 followers.

Genres:

• Fashion Store Sounds
• Fresh Picks
• Funky / Disco
• New Electronic
• Fresh Hip Hop
• Wine Bar
• Poolside Jams

Music Services:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• Deezer
• YouTube
• Napster

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to WHPH playlists:

1. Go to https://workhardplaylisthard.com/submit/
2. Sign in with you Spotify account
3. Follow a couple of playlists
4. Fill in the form

If you don’t have a Spotify account, you can also pitch via this form:

https://workhardplaylisthard.com/tghjvkhgo8ysd7trtkjgjfhkfgyhvhkbj235t43

Daily Playlists

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 2 000 followers.

Genres:

• Electronic
• Hip Hop / Trap
• Indie
• Pop
• Rock
• R&B

Music Services:

• Spotify
• YouTube

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to Daily Playlists:

• Go to submit a track
• Search for your genre
• Click Submit on the playlist you would like to submit to
• Follow a couple of playlists
• Follow the instructions

For The Love Of Bands

Followers:

A couple of playlists with more than 500 followers.

Genres:

More indie and band driven

• Rock
• Alternative
• Americana
• Country
• Folk / Roots
• Indie
• Punk
• Singer-Songwriter
• Ska/Reggae

Music Services:

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams. Music submissions that are older than 3 months will not be accepted.

How to submit music to For the love of bands:

1. Head over to their submission page
2. Choose the option for Spotify playlist consideration
3. As a bonus you can also submit your track for review (do this as well)
4. Fill in the form

Tunemunk

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 5 000 followers.

Genres:

All kinds

Music Services:

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to:

1. Go to https://tunemunk.com/submit-music/
2. Click on the playlists you would like to pitch your music to
3. Follow the playlist
4. Fill in the form to contact the playlist curator

iMusician

iMusician is a Digital Distributor & Playlist Curator.

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 10 000 followers.

Genres:

All kinds

Music Services:

• Spotify

Follow On Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to iMusician:

Top Playlists

A lovely mainstream playlist and radio site from Spain with high quality playlists.

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 10 000 followers.

Genres:

Mainly Pop and Commercial music.

Music Services:

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

Download Spotify Playlist For Free

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to:

1. Click on their “Submit Your Music” button on their website: http://topplaylists.es/
2. An email address will be revealed. Make sure to add a clear subject, a short pitch/bio and your Spotify link, then send the email!

SpinGrey

A lovely playlist curator with cool artwork designs and a distinct brand.

Followers:

Several playlists with more than 5 000 followers.

Genres:

A wide range of contexts

Music Services:

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to:

1. Add your tune to their drop collaborative playlist here.

Neon Collective

A music marketing and promotion agency helping musicians get heard. They have a free submission with a strong foothold in alternative and indie pop

Followers:

A cumulative total of around 4500 followers on Spotify with the largest playlist garnering ~1500 followers. However, don’t misjudge on the size of the playlist since even small following count can get you a lot of streams in the end if it is a quality list.

Genres:

Primary Indie and alternative pop

Can You See Who Follows Spotify Playlist

Music Services:

Create Playlist On Spotify Free

• Spotify

When to pitch?:

On release day or when your song has gathered a couple of thousand streams.

How to submit music to:

1. Submission can easily be done by visiting their website: https://www.neoncollectivemusic.com

Nice to know:

If you find playlisting hard or if you already have pitched to these curators without success, sometimes all you need is someone speaking for you. If you have already released music via DistroKid and didn’t reach out as much as you would hope for, we can license your music to reach out. Read more.