Recently I was hit with a question on social media — “how do you choose which music goes into your playlists?”. I’ve seen this question asked many times online and I want to share my answer with you.

I can’t speak for everyone, but for me it’s all about personal taste. I started curating playlists for myself, it is fun and I chose to make the public. Over a long time they started to gain a following.

Upon surveying a handful of curator friends, it seems that choosing the music comes down to a few things:

1. Production quality. Is it mastered? Does it sound good when played amongst other songs in the playlist, or is the volume too low, vocals too loud?

2. Is it a good song? Is there something that makes it stand out, whether it’s well written, has an amazing vocalist, killer riff, or a great story?

3. Will it fit one of the current playlists? Listen first before submitting.

4. Many curators listen to music in the order it was submitted. Sharing your music as soon as it is mastered and ready is key.

5. Keep in mind that if a curator is interested in your song they may want more information. Making sure that press kits, bios, and social media accounts are up to date is very important. Imagine if a curator looked at your IG right now, what would they see?

6. Some have stated they don’t care if an artist has 100 streams or 1 million streams. If they like the song, they will add it.

7. Editors at streaming platforms want to know the artist is active on that platform. This means claiming your artist profile, adding your photo, bio and pitching music using the proper submission forms available on “for Artists” websites.

In saying that, I love supporting indie artists. I also produce and release music independently… nothing excites me more than seeing an artist gain some new fans as the result of being added to one of these playlists. If I hear a great song and the artist hasn’t taken the time to verify their Spotify and Apple Music profiles, I will reach out to them with feedback to help them. Good music deserves to be heard and it’s my hope that this could be the push they need to make them standout when editorial teams look at them.

If you are a curator, i’d love to know what you look for in a song. If you know an artist, feel free to pass this on to them.