When it comes to promoting your music, playlisting services can be a game-changer. You can go from having no audience to getting more streams and followers, including your superfans. This opens the door for many opportunities for artists.
But not all playlisting services (or playlists, for that matter) are created equal. Some use nefarious methods: bots.
Here's what we'll discuss in this blog:
Bots vs. No Bots in Music Promotion
Legitimate playlisting services operate with transparency and authenticity, aiming to connect artists with genuine listeners.
On the other hand, playlisting services with bots inflate follower counts and manipulate streaming numbers to give you a false boost. A popular way they do this is by hiring servers with many different IP addresses and getting them to go on a playlist to stream. These usually get detected by DSPs. Once they do, the DSPs will delete the fake accounts, causing a huge drop in the song’s streaming numbers. The scammy playlist owners ramp up another account, but you’re left holding the bag.
Spotify has continually tried to crack down on using artificial streaming, leading to several policy changes in the last year. If they find out your song has inflated streaming numbers or is added to a botted playlist, they’ll flag your account for artificial streaming. Often, distributors pull your music if it gets flagged because it’s not worth the reputational risk. If they don’t and you get more strikes, Spotify may remove the song.
Spotting the difference between legit playlisting services and playlists before you get pinged is crucial to safeguarding your music's reputation and genuine growth. Plus, you want real followers, not fake ones. These methods don't give you long-lasting results, and any short-term win is an empty victory even if you manage to escape detection.
Playlisting Services That Use Bots
There are a lot of scams out there (check out this article on how to spot them). Playlist services that use bots know they’re scams, so they often won’t admit it. It’s hard for an artist to tell at first glance, but there are a few things you can look for, like:
- Promising the moon for cheap: If they promise explosive streaming numbers for ridiculously low prices in a short amount of time, they’re probably using bots.
- Playlist placement numbers: If they list an exact number of playlists guaranteed (instead of a range for consideration for playlists), they’re putting you on a playlist that’s guaranteed by bots to deliver results. Playlists using bots lack organic growth and real engagement.
- Sudden spikes and dips in followers: Playlisting services that use bots will often have a spike of streams or followers overnight, and a huge dip once they’re found out.
- Inflated numbers that don’t make sense: If the playlist is compiled mostly of artists from independent labels and getting 1000+ streams a day, for example, it’s pretty suspicious.
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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: If they say they can get you immediate placement on editorial playlists instead of just consideration, watch out. Only Spotify can promise editorial placements, since those playlists are curated by staff. Where there’s one inauthentic practice, there is often another, and that could mean bots.
In other words, if it smells fishy, it is fishy. Trust your gut.
Legit Services and Playlists
Legitimate playlisting services show steady and genuine growth over time. Companies should be able to estimate results based on their experience, but they don't guarantee a specific number of streams.
Here are some other signs a playlisting service doesn’t use bots:
- They give an estimate, not a guarantee: They don't guarantee playlist placement, only consideration, and only start the process after approving your song.
- They use vetted playlists: Proper playlists are consistently updated, have steady growth, only take songs evaluated for quality, and have a lot of songs from major labels.
What to Do if You End up With Bots
If you discover that your song has been placed on a scammy playlist due to unscrupulous music promotion tactics, try reaching out to the list owner to request that they remove your song. If you haven't asked for playlist consideration and your song has ended up on a dubious list, report it to Spotify and your distributor. That will help you maintain your music's credibility.
Detecting whether your song has been artificially streamed is vital. To safely use playlists for your music promotion, it's essential to check the chart metrics associated with the playlists. Genuine curation and engagement often result in healthier, more stable chart performances. Additionally, verifying that the playlist curators are real people will help you steer clear of potentially harmful bot lists. Protect yourself by watching for sudden spikes or irregular straight lines in your streaming data. You can usually see this on Spotify for Artists or, better yet, Chartmetric.
How We Calculate Streams and Guarantee Results
We calculate streams and ensure results based on real audience engagement, organic promotion, and meaningful connections with listeners. For example, if playlist A typically receives 500 daily streams, and playlist B receives 1000, we know we can guarantee 1500 daily streams. If we run this campaign for 60 days, we would expect to net out 90K streams. In simple terms, if we add up the number of streams each playlist gets, we can predict how many placements will be needed to fulfill your campaign. The timeline and number of playlist placements you'll receive are determined on a case-by-case basis.
We work with people we trust who have been established in the music industry for a long time. When we pitch to playlists, every curator is carefully selected, and we take the time to review their playlists using data from Chartmetric and distributors before they become part of our network. We've even had face-to-face meetings with many of our curators and maintain regular weekly calls. We also look at data in great detail to see if it’s suspicious–reputation in this business is everything, after all.
Navigating playlisting services demands a discerning eye and a dedication to maintaining the integrity of your music. By understanding the nuances between genuine playlisting and botted lists, you can strategically harness the power of playlists to elevate your music to the right ears.
Authenticity and sustainable growth are a priority to us, so we can empower artists in their music promotion journey. The key to that is transparency and genuine results. If you’re ready to get started with us, let us know. We’ll help you get your music out there.
