Playlists have become one of the most important parts of growth in the music industry, especially for independent bands that need exposure to a larger audience. The right playlist can certainly introduce your music to new audiences and sometimes can even rocket your music career to the top of the industry and maybe even the music charts. Maybe you’re not looking to make it big in the music business and just want to reach a specific niche, a playlist is one of the best promotion tools you can use.
Creating a playlist that can be found and indexed by search engines.
If you create a playlist that is just like every other playlist out there then it is unlikely that streaming platform search, and other search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN will bring it up as a search result. How many playlists can you find with a sort of generic, general name like “Road Trip” or “Coffee House”… Far too many to sort through and search engines will likely display the most popular “Road Trip” or “Coffee House” playlist on the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) and other playlists with similar names will not even come close to appearing on the first page of Google search results.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned and some of the mistakes I’ve made when creating playlists that are not only search engine friendly, but they also add value to listeners once they follow the playlist which will keep them coming back to the playlist.
What makes a good playlist?
Sticking with a specific genre for each playlist: Too many different genres in a playlist doesn’t follow listening habits of the casual music fan. Switching moods and genres by having a mix that is too wide spread may lead to listeners skipping a song on your playlist, or worse yet, it could cause them to find a different playlist altogether. There are many things that streaming platform algorithms look for in a playlist and no one really knows exactly what each point is that makes or breaks a playlist on a platform, but having tracks that increase listener skips on your playlist will likely make your playlist less favorable in ranking stats and SERPS pages. Pick a genre and stay close to the original genre or idea of the playlist to retain listeners and encourage followers.
Niche specific playlists: The more specific that your playlist is the more potential it has to get the attention of the streaming services algorithm. For example: I created a playlist to help me figure out how to calm and ease the symptoms of my IBS. When I made the IBS playlist, I didn’t expect it to really get any more attention than my other playlists on Spotify, which at the time was basically no attention at all. I began to see that listeners were somehow finding my IBS calming playlist and following it. At the time of writing this, the playlist has 68 followers and I have not gone to any great lengths to advertise or promote the IBS playlist. This could be the result of several things at play. Because of the very specific focus of the playlist, I think Google search, and the Spotify algorithm may be showing the playlist in search results when users search for IBS related information.
Listener engagement: Music streaming algorithms measure stats about listener engagement such as song skips, how long a listener engages with your playlist, how many listeners decide to follow the playlist after hearing it and many more ways of measuring the playlists value most of which is part of the apparently “top secret” formula used in complex algorithms like Spotifys “BART”. One way to maintain a quality playlist that is most friendly to all algorithms is to keep the playlist unique, focus on a specific need, hobby, or event, and keep it fresh. If you make a playlist and don’t listen to it yourself if may still get some traction but making playlists that you listen to any enjoy is the key to attracting others that find the same quality in the playlist as you do.
Create playlist cover art: Spotify allows you to upload your own artwork to use as a type of branding for your playlist. This gives your playlist a unique identifier visually that listeners recognize and when they go though their library of playlists they’ve followed looking for it, they can easily identify it by the artwork and click to listen. If you choose not to upload your own artwork for your Spotify playlist, Spotify will simply use album cover art from some of the artists that you have added to the playlist and this is fine, but if you are working to brand your playlist or company, then I suggest creating artwork that is unmistakeable to your brand and playlist. For example: I have a Spotify playlist called Christmas Classics Plus and I have created a Christmas themed album / playlist cover art to use to make it recognizable, fun and so it reflects the Christmas spirit that I hope to have captured with the songs in the playlist.
You don’t need to get your music on the biggest playlist there is, you just need to get it on quality playlists that have natural listener engagement. Trying to compete for search engine attention with playlists that have been done before isn’t going to work. I have had the most luck creating playlists that grow somewhat slowly, but many have been steady. We learn as we go and algorithms are continuously changing so trial and error is always going to be a part of learning how to playlist in a sustainable manner and see slow, but measurable growth.
Coffee and a Playlist hosts a growing list of curated playlists that bands can submit tracks to for consideration. If you are in a band and would like to share your track, please fill out our music submission form.
Coffee & a Playlist 