Spotify for Artists pitching: the deadlines, the rules and what a pitch can and cannot do

Spotify for Artists has one tool that every independent artist is told to use and almost nobody explains in full: the pitch to Spotify's playlist editors. Advice about it tends to be either mystical ("the algorithm loves a good pitch") or cynical ("nobody reads them"). This guide sticks to what Spotify itself writes in its help pages, so you know the hard rules before you decide how much hope to invest.

If you want help with the words in the pitch itself, our earlier piece on what to write in the pitch note has templates and examples. If you are planning the weeks before a release across every platform, see the six-week release timeline. This guide is the rulebook in between.

Everything below is as we read Spotify's support pages on 24 Oct 2026. Spotify changes these pages without notice, so check the linked originals before a release.

The deadline: 7 days, and why it is really earlier

Spotify's pitching page gives one number: pitch at least 7 days before release. It also says to deliver your music at least 7 days before release "so our editors have time to listen".

Two things follow from that. First, the 7 days is a floor, not a target. You cannot pitch a song that Spotify has not received from your distributor, and distributors need their own processing time, so the practical deadline is "7 days plus however long your distributor takes". Second, the clock is about release day, not upload day. A song you uploaded a month ago but scheduled for next Friday is still pitchable until it goes live.

You can keep editing a pitch right up to release day, but Spotify warns there is no guarantee editors will see late changes. Treat the first version as the one that counts.

The limits: what you can and cannot pitch

The pitching page sets out a short list of hard limits:

• One song at a time. You can pitch only one unreleased song at a time. Once that song is live, you can pitch the next.
• No compilations. Various-artists releases are out.
• No features. You cannot pitch a song on which you are only a featured artist. The main artist's team has to do it.
• Nothing already live. Once a song is out, it is no longer eligible for a song pitch.

The one-song rule matters most for album and EP releases. If your EP comes out on one day, you pick a single track to pitch and the rest ride along. Spotify's page also says editors may choose a different song than the one you pitched, so the pitch is a nomination, not a lock.

Who on your team can pitch

Access in Spotify for Artists is per team, and Spotify's access levels page lists three main levels: Admin, Editor and Reader. Admins and Editors can pitch upcoming releases; Readers cannot. Team Admin is a separate, optional layer for inviting and removing members and changing their access, and only Team Admins can change access levels.

The pitching page adds that anyone with Admin or Editor access can view and edit the pitch. In practice that means your manager, your label contact and you may all be able to change the same pitch. Agree who owns it before release week, so nobody overwrites the version that was already seen.

Label-only pitches

Labels and licensors can mark a song pitch as label-only. Spotify says the artist can then still see the song and who pitched it, but not some details, such as the genre, mood and culture tags. If you are signed and the pitch fields look blank, that is likely why; ask your label what they submitted.

The form: where it lives and what it asks

You find the pitch form in Spotify for Artists under Music, then Upcoming. Choose the song and fill in the form. Spotify's advice on this page is that more detail gives your song a better chance.

The help page names genre, mood and culture tags among the details a song pitch carries, and it does not publish character limits for any field. Our advice: fill in every tag honestly rather than aiming for the biggest playlist genre. A tag that gets your song heard by the wrong editor is worse than a narrower one that gets it heard by the right one.

Video pitching, rolling out

Spotify says video pitching is gradually rolling out, so you may not see it yet. Where it exists, it sits under Video & Visuals, then Actions, then "Pitch your videos", and the option only shows if you have an eligible video.

The rules differ from song pitching in useful ways:

• Eligible videos are official music videos or performances that are unreleased or were released within the past 7 days. They must be delivered by a label or distributor, or uploaded through Spotify for Artists.
• The form asks about the video's story, genre, mood, visual style and marketing plans.
• More than one at a time. Unlike songs, you can pitch several videos at once. Each video has one pitch, shared by every eligible team.
• Who pitches depends on how the video arrived. For a label or distributor delivery, an Admin or Editor on the artist team, or a label team with rights to the release, can pitch. For a video uploaded through Spotify for Artists, only the team that uploaded it can.
• The 7-day window starts at the release date for delivered videos and at the upload date for uploaded ones.

Songs and videos are pitched separately, so pitching a video does not count as your song pitch, and vice versa.

Release Radar: the one thing a pitch reliably does

Release Radar is a personalised playlist of new releases that updates every Friday, according to Spotify's Release Radar page. Listeners get songs from artists they follow, artists they listen to and artists Spotify thinks they will like.

Spotify is explicit about the pitch's role: if you pitch a song at least 7 days before release, Spotify includes that song in your followers' Release Radar. If you do not pitch, Spotify picks which song from your release goes in. That is the real, guaranteed value of a pitch. Even if no editor ever adds you, you decide which song your followers hear first.

The page also lists the rules that decide whether a song appears at all:

• Listeners get at most one song per artist each week.
• A song is left out for a listener who has already played it, though another song from the same release may be included.
• You must be a main or featured artist on the song; remixers do not count. Remixes themselves are included.
• Various-artists songs and re-releases of songs already on Spotify are excluded, as are some alternate versions such as acoustic, karaoke and live versions.
• A song can stay in a listener's Release Radar for up to 4 weeks if they have not played it.

You can check placements in your song's stats in Spotify for Artists, under the Playlists tab.

This Is pins

If you are eligible, the pitching page says you can pin a pitched song to your This Is playlist. Pins take about 3 days to take effect after the song is available, you can make one pin request at a time, and pinned songs appear for up to 28 days after release, in the order you requested them.

What a pitch cannot do

Spotify's own wording is plain: pitching does not guarantee playlist placement. Nothing in its help pages promises that editors will listen to every pitch, reply, or explain a pass. Spotify's help pages describe no status that tells you an editor passed; the only signal they mention is the Playlists tab after release. A pitch also cannot rescue a song that is already out, cannot be made for a song you only feature on, and cannot be used for more than one unreleased song at a time.

Paid services that promise Spotify editorial placement are a separate thing entirely. Pitching is built into Spotify for Artists, and its help pages describe no paid route to editorial playlists.

A short checklist

1. Deliver the release to your distributor early enough that it reaches Spotify well over 7 days before release day.
2. Confirm who on your team has Admin or Editor access, and who owns the pitch.
3. Pick the one song you most want followers to hear first; that is the song you pitch.
4. Fill in every field and tag in Music > Upcoming, honestly.
5. Submit at least 7 days out; avoid late edits.
6. If you have an eligible video and the feature is live for you, pitch it separately.
7. After release, check the Playlists tab and, if eligible, request a This Is pin.

What we think

The pitch form is the closest thing an independent artist has to a front door at Spotify, and it is built into the dashboard you already have. That is worth defending. But the honest framing is that you are filling in a form for two audiences: an editor who may or may not hear it, and your own followers, who definitely will through Release Radar. Most artists write only for the first and forget the second.

We think the smart move is to choose the pitched song for your fans, not for an imagined editor. It is the one decision in the process that Spotify guarantees will land. Then treat any editorial add as a bonus rather than the measure of whether the release worked.

We would also like Spotify to be more transparent. A simple "listened" or "not selected" status would cost little and would stop thousands of artists from guessing, and from paying third parties who claim inside access. Until then, read the rules, hit the deadline and put your energy into the listeners you already have.