Spotify recommends pitching your song at least 7 days before release, and that same 7-day mark decides which track from your release reaches your followers' Release Radar. Because your distributor needs time to deliver the song first, upload at least three to four weeks out. Spotify's own advice is that the earlier you pitch, the better.
Your Spotify submission timeline is really two deadlines stacked on top of each other. The first is your distributor's, which controls when the song exists inside Spotify's system. The second is Spotify's, which controls whether an editor sees your pitch and which track lands in Release Radar.
Artists and managers miss editorial windows because they plan for the release date and forget the delivery date sitting weeks in front of it. This guide works backward from release day using what Spotify and the major distributors publish themselves, checked in August 2026. For the wider planning framework, start with How to Plan a Music Release: Step-by-Step Checklist.
The Deadline Chain
The Spotify for Artists pitch is the one direct route to editorial playlist consideration. It works on unreleased music, which means the song has to be sitting in Spotify's system with a future release date before you can touch the form.
That creates a chain: upload to distributor, delivery to Spotify, submit pitch, editorial review, release. The chain is only as long as its slowest link, and the delivery step is the one artists underestimate. Everything downstream inherits that delay.
Distributor Lead Times
Distributors publish their own guidance on how far ahead to upload, and the numbers are not the same. These are each company's stated recommendations as of August 2026, taken from their help documentation.
Distributor | Published lead-time guidance |
|---|---|
DistroKid | Upload about 4 weeks ahead for a same-day launch everywhere; at least 2 weeks ahead if you want a song available to pitch to Spotify editors |
TuneCore | Distribute more than 3 weeks before a required release date; review generally takes about 2 business days |
CD Baby | At least 3 weeks in advance, with 4 to 6 weeks described as ideal |
Ditto | At least 3 to 4 weeks before the planned release date |
Two things worth noting before you count on a pitch window. DistroKid limits future release dates to its higher plan tiers, so a base plan may leave you releasing on delivery with no gap to pitch into. And TuneCore's review clock is separate from the store's own processing, which runs after approval.
Our own planning advice: give yourself about a week of buffer between uploading and expecting to see the release inside Spotify for Artists. That is a cushion, not a published figure. Artists and teams running their own releases should treat it as the baseline rather than the best case.
The Pitch Window
Once the release appears in Spotify for Artists with a future release date, the pitch lives under the Music tab, then Upcoming. Anyone with Admin or Editor access can generally view and edit the pitch, though Spotify says label-only pitches may hide some details and prevent artists and managers from editing them.
Spotify's current guidance, as of August 2026, is to deliver your music at least 7 days before release so editors have time to listen. It is worded as a recommendation rather than a hard cutoff, but 7 days is also the line that governs Release Radar, so treat it as the floor rather than the target. Spotify's playlisting page puts it plainly: the earlier you pitch, the better.
You can pitch one song at a time. Once that song goes live, you can pitch another, so a multi-track release means choosing your lead single deliberately rather than submitting the whole record.
The form asks you to pick a top-level genre plus up to three subgenres, up to three music cultures covering language and cultural influence, up to two moods, up to two song styles, and the instruments featured on the track. It also asks whether the song is a cover, a remix, or an instrumental, and whether it was recorded in a studio or live. Spotify describes this metadata as optional, though more detail gives the song a better chance. For how to write the free-text portion, see the Spotify for Artists Playlist Pitching Guide.
Optimal Timeline
Working backward from a Friday release. The 7-day pitch line is Spotify's; the rest is our recommended spacing, built to leave room when a step slips.
Milestone | Timing |
|---|---|
Final master complete | 6 to 8 weeks before release |
Upload to distributor | 4 to 6 weeks before release |
Release visible in Spotify for Artists | 3 to 5 weeks before release |
Submit editorial pitch, set up Countdown Page or pre-save | 3 to 4 weeks before release |
Spotify's stated pitch recommendation | At least 7 days before release |
Final promotional push | Release week |
Song goes live | Release day |
For pre-save setup and the promotional campaign around it, see How to Market a Music Release (Pre-Save Guide).
What If You Are Running Late
3 Weeks Before Release
Upload today, but three weeks is below some of the published guidance above, so submit the pitch as soon as the release surfaces in Spotify for Artists.
2 Weeks Before Release
Tight but workable if your distributor moves quickly. The risk is not the pitch itself, it is delivery eating the gap and pushing you past the 7-day mark. Check daily that the release has landed.
7 Days Before Release
This is Spotify's stated line, not a lost cause. If the song is already in Spotify for Artists, pitch it now and you still meet the guidance that puts your chosen track in followers' Release Radar. If the song has not been delivered yet, that window is likely gone.
Under 7 Days
You are past the guidance Spotify publishes, and editorial consideration gets unlikely. Your followers still get a song from the release in Release Radar, but Spotify picks which one. Put your effort into direct promotion and give the next release a longer runway.
Why the Timeline Matters
Editorial Planning Cycles
Spotify's editors work from pitches submitted ahead of release, and the 7-day guidance is framed around giving them time to listen. Spotify says its editors listen to as much music as possible but receive thousands of pitches a week. A pitch that arrives the day before release competes against that volume with no lead time behind it.
Release Radar Is Not the Part You Lose
This is the piece most timeline advice gets wrong. Your followers get songs from your new release in their Release Radar whether or not you pitch. What pitching at least 7 days ahead buys you is control: pitch a song and Spotify includes that song, and if you do not pitch, Spotify picks which songs from the release go in.
Spotify does publish exclusions. It does not include a song in a listener's Release Radar if they have already heard it, and it covers only tracks where you are a main or featured artist rather than the remixer. Various Artists releases, re-releases of songs already on Spotify, and some alternative versions such as acoustic, karaoke, or live cuts are also left out. Each listener gets one song per artist per week.
Countdown Pages and Pre-Saves
Some pre-save tools can begin collecting pre-saves as soon as a distributor upload is complete, while Spotify Countdown Pages require delivered release metadata; either way, a late upload shortens the promotional runway. The Countdown Page comes with conditions worth checking early.
As of August 2026, you need at least 3,000 monthly active listeners, and only new and original albums and EPs qualify. Singles are not eligible, and neither are rereleases including deluxe editions, anniversary editions, reissues, remasters, and compilations. The option to create one appears within 72 hours of your licensor delivering release metadata via DDEX, and you can create and edit the page any time before release.
Common Mistakes
Waiting for the perfect master. Endless revisions push back the upload date. Set a mastering deadline and hold to it. The gap between revision three and revision seven is rarely audible to a listener, but a missed pitch window does not come back.
Forgetting metadata. Incomplete or incorrect metadata causes distributor rejection and adds days to your timeline. Prepare credits, ISRC codes, artwork specs, genre tags, and lyrics before you start uploading.
Ignoring holiday periods. Distributors publish holiday cut-off dates most years, which is a signal that those weeks are worth planning around. If your release date sits near a major holiday, check your distributor's posted deadlines and add buffer.
Not checking delivery confirmation. Uploading is not the same as arriving. Verify the release appears in Spotify for Artists rather than assuming it did, because catching a delivery problem early is what preserves the pitch window.
After You Submit
You can edit your pitch up to release day, though Spotify notes there is no guarantee editors will see the changes. Spotify says it will email you if the song is picked, but its editors say they cannot respond to every pitch with individual feedback because of the volume they receive. Pitching does not guarantee placement.
For a sense of scale, Spotify's editors put the share of pitched tracks landing on at least one playlist at around 20% in a 2020 Q&A. Treat that as an old number rather than a current rate, but it is the closest thing to a published benchmark.
What you can track in Spotify for Artists after release:
Playlist adds, under the Music tab
Source of streams, separating editorial, algorithmic, listener playlists, and your own profile
Save rate during release week
For a walkthrough of the dashboard and how to read the numbers, see Spotify for Artists Analytics: What to Track.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change my release date after uploading?
Usually yes, with limits set by your distributor. Pushing the date back generally buys pitch time. Pulling it forward is more often restricted, so check your distributor's policy before promising anything.
Can I pitch more than one song from a release?
No. Spotify says you can pitch one song at a time, and you can pitch another once the pitched song goes live. Choose the track you most want editors to hear.
Does Spotify review every pitch?
Spotify does not promise that. Its editors say they listen to as much music as possible but receive thousands of pitches a week, and Spotify states that pitching does not guarantee placement.
Is it worth pitching if I am a new artist?
Yes. Spotify's editors say they aim to include new and smaller artists across playlists and run dedicated programs such as Fresh Finds for emerging acts.
Read Next
Orphiq helps you plan a release backward from your release date, and Apollo, Orphiq's AI music strategist, generates the timeline when you ask and reworks it when your dates move.