By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
Editorial-Piece
Last year, we decided to put together the Exclusive UBO Curated Spotify Playlist June 2020, merging UBOEntertainment recording artists and musical talent we write about here in UBO MAG and now we are in our sixth playlist that is released every two months.
With all the talk about how important it is to get onto Playlists, there have been some rumors about artists who are paying to get onto Spotify Playlists. These types of people are called, “Spotify Pay-to-Play SpotListers,” according to Digital Music News, an online source. What has been happening is that these Pay-To-Play wanna-be entrepreneurs are charging artists anywhere from $1 to hundreds of dollars to get a placement on their playlist.
SpotListers which what these money-hungry people are called is based off a Spotify page called “SpotListers” who charge recording artists $2 a track to get added to their platform where more than 1,500 curators will “consider” the track. SpotListers was created by two get-rich-quick college students, founded in 2016 where they took on up to 20 artists a month charging upwards $1000 and even up to $5000 per track to be securely placed on these playlists.
Now, it doesn’t take much more than a few swipes of a mouse, a left click here and bam, you are added to a playlist. So why charge so much money to be added to these playlists? As playlists began to grow, they hit a boom the last handful of years so you will see playlists with half-a-million to millions of subscribers and this is what is intriguing to artists looking to monetize their music and broaden their audience. What is not talked about much is that many of these Playlisters are botted out and tracks added are there to entice you since they can add anyone they want to their playlist, including big time celebrity talent.
SpotLister and other Playlist Curators who follow this Pay-to-Play method utilize what is called an Index Algorithm that analyzes and breaks down each song submitted and helps the PlayLister to decide which tracks have the right algorithm through the metadata. According to Spotify, 1/3 of content listened to is coming from Playlists which is a cause for concern for the digital platform that does not benefit at all from Playlisters charging fees to artists who are mainly independent.
“There is no ‘pay-to-play’ or sale of our playlists in any way. It’s bad for artists and bad for fans. We maintain a strict policy and take appropriate action against parties that do not abide by these guidelines,” according to a Spotify Spokesperson who was quoted in Digital Music News.
The rumor-mills out there are stating that Spotify has been shutting down thousands of accounts who are charging for playlisting. What do you think about charging to be on a playlist? Here at UBO MAG, we don’t play that game. We have an exclusive list that is build through our efforts of artist promotion from those we publish in UBO MAG and clients of UBOMEDIA; part of the HUB which is UBOEntertainment.
If you are interested in learning how to get on the Exclusive UBO Curated Spotify Playlist, we publish it every two months. Currently we are in the April-May 2021 and we continue to take submissions and add tracks for anyone we cover or work with during this time period. We also add you to the next consecutive list as a thank you for supporting UBOEntertainment and UBOMAG, tha e-zine since 2001.
TWO WAYS TO GET IT ON WITH UBO
1. Become A Client: Submit your Current Links, Bio, EPK or 1-Sheet for a free Review to see how we can help you! We offer many writing services such as EPK, 1-sheet, biography, accolade sheets, discographies, Wiki-pedia pages, website content and more. We also conduct, organize, book and manage your Traditional and Social Media Campaigns through organic marketing and publicity methods and help streamline your platforms in order to help brand you as an artist. If you need a website made, design work or are looking for full branding, we got you on that as well! We have a huge network of entertainment professionals we work with so if we can’t help you, we will refer you FOR FREE. If you are interested in playlist or music licencing/synch campaigns, we run those too (of course, only for free playlists!!).
2. Get coverage in UBOMAG! Have a new project, music video, book, film or clothing line with a fresh release, drop or have news about a performance or work with non-profits? We cover it all! Each article we publish includes a hand-crafted A.P.-journalism style written article (we never copy-and-paste your content, we have ethics here!), being added to our current Spotify Playlist, the article will include up to 3-5 images, 1-2 videos and any platform-based links you want to share (social media, music platforms, art-platforms, seller websites, film/network websites, etc). Our team then markets the story in our UBO Network through sharing authentic posts directing traffic to the article. Submit your EPK or Media Kit today to see if you qualify for our submission details! You can also get a track added if you pay for an advertisement. (All of our ads are under $50, so get in today!)
3. Become a part of our Team!! Most of our staff over the years are not just contributors to UBO MAG but are recording artists, visual artists, photographer and videographers and other types of artisan types… so with that being said, if you would like to be a part of our team (which means you need to contribute two pieces per month to UBO MAG!), we will add a track or an ad you upload to Spotify to our Playlist. Please E-Mail your Resume and/or samples of work and your cover letter to apply. We are currently looking for graphic designers, marketing managers, public relation specialists, reviewers, journalists and photographers. E-Mail here.
Lastly, we want to thank our staff, everyone who supports UBOEntertainment, our artists we work with and our audience who reads our stories here on UBO MAG! Check out the Exclusive UBO Curated Spotify Playlist, subscribe and please share with your friends!! Let us know what you think about it in the replies below.
ALL THE LINKS
Facebook UBOEntertainment & UBO MAG Business Page
Facebook Hawaii to Cali Events & News Group
Official UBOEntertainment Website
Your Here at UBO MAG
UBOEntertainment Advertising:
*This is an Editorial Article. Submit your EPK or MEDIA Kit For Review, Feature, News Article, Press Release Re-Post or one of our low-cost advertisements today! Someone from Our Staff At UBOMAG will reach out to you concerning your Business and Product info, Media Kit, Social Media, Websites and Other Vital Info you send us: consulting@ubomag.net. We will send you our Advertising Rates and Product Review Submission Information. If you like reading content like this and want to tip your writer, please do so by TIPPING HERE! (*Be sure to leave us a nice note so we know who you are!)
