💥How to Get Featured on Spotify📈
🤸♀️Podcast marketing: let's have some fun. 🌈
Ciao, bimbi!
Being featured on a podcast app can really help your numbers, but actually making it happen can feel like a murky, hard nut to crack. For awhile, Apple and Stitcher had application forms, but getting space on Spotify in particular always seemed a mystery. Clients would say to me, “I was featured in Spotify…did you submit me?” And while I would have loved to take credit for it, the answer was usually “no, someone at Spotify must love your podcast.”
Recently Spotify launched the RADAR Podcasters initiative to spotlight podcasts like yours on the platform. Creators in the U.S. can submit their podcasts for consideration here.
Join me on this adventure behind the Spotify curtain as I talk to Spotify’s Isabella Way about how Spotify picks shows to feature.
xoxo lp
[Podcast lover] Isabella Way is Podcast Programming Lead on the US Podcast Editorial Team at Spotify. Formerly: Scripted producer at Parcast, and FUN FACT—actor/dancer. Credits include Ricki and the Flash (w/Meryl Streep), the BET Awards (back up dancer for Mo’nique), and a bunch of national commercials. Follow her on Instagram here and Twitter here.
How does Spotify choose which shows to highlight?
Our team discovers podcasts in many ways: newsletters, social media, recommendations, networks, and now our recently launched Editorial Submission Form. Our team is made up of specific editors that curate towards their communities and areas of expertise so they listen and choose the content they curate. For the pages I manage like the Podcast New Releases page, I am looking for great new shows or seasons.
Here are some articles that tell you more about my wonderful team!
The Eyes and Ears Behind Spotify’s New Podcast Editorial Submission Form
Dive Deeper Into Your Favorite Artists and Genres With Spotify’s Music Podcast Playlist theLINER
What are the different ways people can submit to be featured?
They can submit via our newly launched submission form. Our team is also always looking for podcasts so we also check out podcast newsletters and social media.
Do indies get more or less attention than shows that are associated with a network?
Not necessarily. I championed and launched the Editorial Submission Form so that we could discover more podcasts, especially indie podcasts and creators. The team I work with is very diverse and we believe in curating different voices.
Any tips for submitting a favorite episode?
Send us the one episode you think reflects your podcast the best. (If there isn’t a favorite submitted, we’ll just pick one to start with.) We just use that as a starting point when listening to your submission and we usually don’t have time to listen to multiple episodes. And hot tip: Take some care when filling out the submission form so if it asks for your Spotify link, I would highly suggest giving us your SPOTIFY link;) and so on, so forth.
What if the show doesn’t have a large social following? Does that matter?
We have never based our selections off of social media following nor do we look at your show stats. We look for great content that speak to the different communities that we’re curating for and our team consists of a diverse group of editors that can speak to those communities. We love supporting indie podcasts and creators.
How often should people submit their show?
My team reviews every submission that comes in and we request that people do not submit more than one time a month. However, I would say in general, submit once and then submit again if you have changed format, your audio quality has improved, etc.
What is the Spotify team looking for when considering shows to feature?
We look for great content! What does that mean?? It’s hard to give a short, objective list of what we look for as art and creativity is subjective but here are some qualities we look for are good audio quality, compelling storytelling or hosts, something that moves us to feel some sort of emotion, or a podcast that teaches us something in an interesting way.
How important is it that people tweet about the promotion, or mention it on their show or on their show’s website?
It’s important! Do share your feature on IG or twitter and tag us! Our team loves to see these and we share them internally and we get excited about every single one we see! We have also seen that this will most likely help you build your audience and fanbase.
What kind of shows especially excite the Spotify curation team?
TBH, this is hard for me to answer because of the diversity of the team and the different communities we curate for. I’m excited to see the podcast space grow and hear new voices and hopefully help new listeners and podcast lovers find their next listen. We want to help great creators grow and build their fan base and start on a journey with them. We want to get excited about your show and then see what you do next and so on.
Can you recommend a show to us?
I’m loving so many shows right now: Normal Gossip, Scamfluencers, Mega, Feeling Asian, ICYMI, The Cheat, Maintenance Phase, Rotten Mango, Peak 2000s, and Heavyweight. Safe For Work and It’s A Wonderful Life, Urgent Care were great when it was running. Pretty Bobby and that 3rd episode reveal! This American Life is classic and always a great listen. Secretly, I love a good 90 day podcast. This is just a small taste of what I listen to regularly.
Anything I didn’t ask you that you want to say?
I’m so honored to be included in your newsletter, Lauren and I too love cruises!
⏰ Podcast marketing: If U Only Have Time for 1 Thing ⏰
Schedule a feed swap for the summer when you might be on vacation or need a week off. That's valuable space, your listeners will be expecting something, and it's an opportunity to grow your audience when you partner with another show that also needs a break. Find a podcast to work with here.
Show notes:
🪄Ochenta Studios released a guide to making fiction podcasts particularly useful for independent creators.
🪄Changing The Minds Of Non-Podcast Listeners One IHNI At A Time [Podcast Pontifications]
🪄Magnetic Content: A How-To on Lead Magnets for Independent Podcasters [Simplecast]
🪄Mini Marconis is a been-there-done-that miniseries from Newton Schottelkotte for the next generation of audio drama creators. Launching soon.
🗃 From the Desk of Tink ✏️
ICYMI, Tink Media is a podcast growth and ideas company that helps shows with pitching to apps and media, setting up promo and feed swaps, advertising, wild out-of-the-box thinking, and more.
This week I’m highlighting one of our clients Love and Noraebang from Sonoro and The Mash-Up Americans. The trailer and episode one launched this week.
Sonoro, a groundbreaking global entertainment company, and The Mash-Up Americans, a trailblazing independent studio that centers audiences of the future, have released their highly anticipated new series Love & Noraebang. Featuring Randall Park (Fresh Off The Boat) and Justin H. Min (The Umbrella Academy), Francia Raisa (How I Met Your Father, Grown-ish) and Emily Tosta (Mayans M.C.), the collaboration brings together two of the biggest TV formats in the world, the K-Drama and Telenovela, resulting in a never-before-seen, brilliant romantic comedy that unites two scintillating worlds, the vibrant Korean and Mexican communities that make up so much of the United States.
Set in present day Los Angeles, the ten part romantic comedy chronicles the whirlwind romance between the heir to a Korean chaebol, Jaesun, and Ana, a Mexican American entrepreneur whose love is pushed to the limits. Lined with the spirit of the two cultures, the series features a rich original music score that integrates K-Pop, Reggaeton, Pop Ballads, Latin Trap, and of course, Noraebang (karaoke for the uninitiated).
Great interview Lauren! I will definitely be taking a look at the submission form.