How to Pitch Your Music: A Step by Step Guide

Pitching is a real skill and it still matters. What has changed is what you should be pitching, and to whom.

Sending a track to a stranger and asking them to feature it is the weakest version of a pitch, because you are asking for a favour with nothing behind it. The strongest version is showing someone that listeners already respond to the music, and inviting them to be part of what is already moving.

This guide covers both: the mechanics of a good pitch, and how to build the evidence that makes a pitch hard to refuse.

Step 1: Pitch Spotify First, Because It Is Free

Before anything else, submit the track through Spotify for Artists as an unreleased song, at least seven days before release. This is the only direct line you have to Spotify's own editorial team, and the submission also feeds Release Radar for your followers.

Do this every single release. It costs nothing and takes ten minutes.

Fill it in properly:

• Genre, mood, style and instrumentation, accurately, not aspirationally
• Culture and language tags where relevant
• Recording location and any notable collaborators
• A short description of what the song is and who it is for

You only get one submission per release, so submit the lead track.

Step 2: Build the Evidence Before You Pitch Anyone Else

This is the part most artists skip, and it is the part that changes outcomes.

Before you approach a curator, a blog, a radio show, a sync agent or a label, run a small paid test on the track. A few hundred in spend across Meta or TikTok, driving to a landing page with a pixel on it, will tell you within a week:

• Whether people save the song after hearing it
• Which audience responds, by country, age and interest
• Which creative angle makes people click through
• What your cost per genuine listener actually is

Now your pitch is not an opinion. It is a number. "This track holds a 13 percent save rate with women 18 to 24 in the UK and Germany" is a completely different conversation than "I think you'll like my song."

Step 3: Know Exactly Who You Are Pitching

Do the work of matching. A pitch sent to the wrong person is not a long shot, it is noise, and it costs you the relationship for next time.

For each target write down:

• Their name, and the specific show, publication, playlist or roster
• Three examples of what they have supported recently
• Why this particular track fits, in one sentence
• Where they want to be contacted, and in what format

Ten researched pitches beat two hundred blind ones. This is always true.

Step 4: Write the Pitch

Keep it short enough to read on a phone in fifteen seconds.

Subject line: Artist Name / Track Name / Genre / Release Date

Body:

1. One line saying who you are and what the track is.
2. One line of specific proof. Streams to date, save rate, a support point, a notable placement.
3. One line on why it fits them, referencing something real they have supported.
4. A private streaming link. Not an attachment.
5. Release date and what you are asking for, stated plainly.

Rules:

• No mass sends with a visible recipient list.
• No attachments.
• No paragraph about your musical journey.
• Never ask "did you get my email" less than a week later, and never more than once.

Step 5: Give Them Something Easy to Say Yes To

Make the yes cost them nothing:

• A working private link that plays instantly
• Artwork at full resolution
• A two sentence bio and a one paragraph bio
• A press photo that is not a selfie
• Any assets they might want, attached to the follow up rather than the first mail

Step 6: Follow Up Once, Then Move On

One follow up, five to seven days later, three lines maximum, with a genuine update in it. New numbers, a new support, a new video. If there is no reply after that, they are not interested in this track. Log it and keep them on the list for the next one.

Step 7: Keep Pitching Yourself, With Money

Here is the uncomfortable truth. Every pitch you send is a request for someone else to distribute your music. The only distribution you fully control is the one you pay for.

That is why at Shuffle every campaign runs the same way: heavy creative testing, paid placement across Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Google, a landing page with a pixel, retargeting for anyone who showed intent, and reporting on save rate and completion rather than clicks.

The campaigns do two jobs at once. They grow the release directly, and they produce the numbers that make every other pitch you send far more likely to land.

The Short Version

Pitch Spotify, always. Pitch humans selectively, briefly, and with proof. Build the proof yourself with paid campaigns, because a pitch backed by real listener data is not really a favour request any more. It is an invitation.