Promoting a song is a sequence of deadlines, not a burst of posts. Four weeks out, claim Spotify for Artists and build one pre-save link. First-release artists can claim Apple Music for Artists after their content has been live for five business days. At least seven days out you pitch Spotify. On release day you activate everything at once. The week after release decides whether any of it held.
Most advice on how to promote a song is a pile of tactics with no clock attached. That is the wrong shape. Every platform that matters runs on a submission deadline you cannot move, and missing one quietly removes an option you were counting on.
Luminate's 2025 year-end report counted 106,000 new ISRCs delivered to streaming services every day, up from 99,000 in 2024. That same year, 120.5 million tracks got 10 streams or fewer. The difference is rarely the song. It is usually whether anyone knew it was coming.
This is a checklist for one song. For promotion across a whole catalog, read Music Promotion Guide (With and Without a Budget), and see How to Market Your Music by Career Stage for what changes as you grow.
Work Backward From the Deadlines
Only the last row is yours. Fix the other dates first and the campaign arranges itself around them.
Step | Deadline | Set by |
|---|---|---|
Spotify for Artists access | Before you can pitch anything; standard claim requests are reviewed manually and can take a few days; preferred-provider submissions may receive automatic access | Spotify |
Spotify editorial pitch | At least 7 days before release | Spotify |
Apple Music editorial pitch | At least 10 days before release for full consideration, 7 days for late adds | Apple |
Audio delivered to your distributor | Your distributor's stated lead time, which you should look up this week | Your distributor |
Pre-save link live | Before your first announcement | You |
Four Weeks Out: The Setup Block
Claim Spotify for Artists before anything else
You cannot pitch to Spotify's editors without a Spotify for Artists account. Standard claim requests are reviewed manually, and Spotify's own guidance is that approval "can take a few days." Preferred-provider submissions may receive automatic access instead.
If nothing of yours is live yet, there is a documented path. Spotify tells artists to ask their label or distributor for their artist link or URI, then contact Spotify with that link plus the UPC or EAN of the upcoming release.
Do this the day you lock a release date. Everything downstream waits on it.
Claim Apple Music for Artists once you are eligible
Apple lets artists and artist managers request access by claiming their artist page, and claiming requires content that has been live for at least five business days. If you already have music on Apple Music, do this now. If this is your first release, it becomes a task for after release day. It is where you set your artist image, lyrics, and artist details. It also shows listener data and lets you add team members, so a manager or bandmate can work in the same account.
Build one link, not five
You want a single URL that holds the pre-save before release and the streaming links after. Prices below were current in August 2026.
Tool | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
HyperFollow (DistroKid) | Free for DistroKid members | Created automatically for every upload, collects Spotify pre-saves and fan email addresses, switches to full streaming links on release day |
Feature.fm | Free tier, then $8, $19, or $39 per month | Free includes one pre-save service; Basic includes three; the $19 and $39 plans include all supported pre-save services |
Linkfire | $27 per month, or $21 per month billed yearly | Every plan includes pre-release links |
Check that a tool still exists before you build a release around it. Older promotion guides recommend smart-link services that stopped working years ago, and a dead pre-save link on announcement day is not recoverable.
Pitch Spotify at least seven days out
Spotify's instruction is direct: "Deliver your music at least 7 days before release so our editors have time to listen."
The part first-time artists miss is what else that deadline buys. Pitch an unreleased song at least seven days before release and Spotify adds it to your followers' Release Radar playlists. That happens whether or not an editor picks the song up, which makes the pitch worth sending even when you expect nothing from it.
Two limits to plan around. You can pitch only one song at a time, and you cannot pitch compilations or songs you are a featured artist on. How Far in Advance to Submit to Spotify goes deeper on timing.
Ask your distributor about Apple
Apple's editorial pitch runs through Apple Music Connect, which Apple's own site describes as "A resource for labels and distributors." Apple asks for pitches at least 10 days before release for full consideration, and at least seven days for late adds.
So this is a question, not a task. Email your distributor this week and ask two things: do you submit Apple Music pitches, and what is your cutoff? It costs you one email and it moves your whole timeline.
Send curator submissions
Two submission platforms are worth the money at this stage, and both attach a guarantee to the fee.
SubmitHub lists more than 1,800 quality-checked Spotify playlisters, music bloggers, and influencers. If a curator does not give feedback within 48 hours, listen to at least 20 seconds, and write at least 10 words when declining, your premium credit is returned automatically.
Groover prices in euros. One Grooviz costs 1 euro, and reaching a curator or industry professional costs 2 Grooviz. Top-tier contacts can cost 4, 6, or 10 Grooviz; check each contact's current price. Curators have up to seven days to reply, and you are refunded if they do not.
Neither one buys placement. You are paying for a listen and a written response, which is genuinely useful on a first release because it tells you how the song reads to strangers. Anyone selling guaranteed placements or a stream count is selling something else, which is covered in Music Promotion Scams to Avoid.
Release Day: A Short List, Executed
Release day is not the day to invent anything. Everything below should already exist as a draft.
Swap every bio link to the release link: Instagram, YouTube, X, and your email signature. Update TikTok's website link where eligible—currently 1,000+ followers or a Registered Business Account.
Post one announcement per platform, in that platform's native format, rather than the same screenshot everywhere.
Pin the announcement wherever the platform allows it.
Email your list, however small it is. These are the people who already said yes once.
Send the personal messages by hand instead of posting one story asking everyone to stream.
Reply to every comment for the whole day. This is the part you cannot schedule in advance.
If you met the seven-day pitch deadline, Release Radar is already delivering the song to your followers. That one runs without you.
The Week After: Where First Releases Die
Most first-time artists stop on day two. The song can stay live for years if you keep its distribution active, and the week after release is when platform algorithms are still working out what to do with it.
Give the song new entry points
Repeating the announcement stops working fast. Giving the same song a different door keeps working: an acoustic take, a live clip, the story behind one specific line, a fan reaction, a breakdown of how the beat was built. How to Market One Song for 60 Days has the full set of angles.
Know which ads you qualify for
Spotify's own display campaigns are usually out of reach on a first release. Spotify requires at least 1,000 streams over the last 28 days in a target market to use display campaigns at all, and at least 5,000 monthly active listeners in the target market for the Marquee format. Budgets run from $100 to $10,000, with a $250 minimum if you book through a Spotify representative.
TikTok and Meta sell against audience targeting rather than streaming history. TikTok's Spark Ads run an existing organic post as an ad and attribute the ad's engagement back to the original post, so a video that already worked keeps its own numbers while you pay to widen it. Put money behind a post that already performed, never behind one that did not.
The free list
Short-form video using your own song as the sound. Cross-posts with artists at a similar level. Genre communities you were part of before you had something to promote. Local press and college radio both still cover artists from their own area.
None of this costs money. For a new artist with no budget, it is the whole toolkit.
What to Track and Where
The Spotify metrics come from the account claimed before release. First-release artists can add Apple Music for Artists data after becoming eligible post-release.
Number | Where to find it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
Streams by source | Spotify for Artists | Whether Spotify streams came from your profile/catalog, listener libraries and playlists, editorial or personalized playlists, or algorithmic surfaces |
Saves and follows | Spotify for Artists | Whether people want the song again, or just heard it once |
Listener data by song and region | Apple Music for Artists | Where the song is landing outside your own circle |
Post engagement | Each platform's native insights | Which format to make more of next time |
Write down what you learn before you start the next release. On a first release, that record is the real output.
Common First-Release Mistakes
Releasing before the profiles exist. If the Spotify for Artists claim is still pending on release week, the editorial pitch never happened, and you lost the ability to choose the Release Radar track; Spotify may still select one.
Announcing before the link works. Test the pre-save link on a phone, logged out, before it goes anywhere near a bio.
Stopping on day two. The week after release is when the song either builds listening history or does not.
Buying reach before anything is working. Ads widen a post that already performed. They do not rescue one that did not.
Comparing a first release to a tenth. Their tenth release had a list, a following, and a curator relationship. Compare your release to your own last one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance should I start promoting a song?
Four weeks covers the Spotify and Apple deadlines discussed here, but distributors and marketing partners may require five to six weeks or more. Four weeks provides buffer. Spotify asks for seven days, while Apple asks for ten days for full consideration and seven for late adds.
Can I pitch to Spotify if I have never released anything?
Yes, but claim Spotify for Artists first. With nothing live, Spotify's instructions are to get your artist link or URI from your distributor, then contact Spotify with that link and the release's UPC or EAN.
Should I pay for promotion on a first release?
A small curator budget buys listens and written replies, not placements. Spotify for Artists display campaigns require 1,000 streams in a target market over 28 days. Spotify Ads Manager offers a separate self-serve music-ad product. Start with the free list.
How many streams is good for a first release?
Hundreds is normal. Luminate counted 120.5 million tracks with 10 streams or fewer in 2025, so sustained listening from real people is the signal worth watching. Compare each release to your own last one.
Read Next
Orphiq is where you plan the release timeline for a single. Apollo, Orphiq's AI music strategist, generates that timeline working backward from your release date, reworks it when a date moves, and can draft the pitch you send to platforms.