How to Promote a Song: Every Channel Before and After Release

Song promotion is a plan that starts at least three to four weeks before the song comes out and continues for weeks after release. In short: deliver the song early and pitch it to platform editors, build curiosity with short videos before release, launch every channel at once on release day, then put a small ad budget behind your best-performing content and measure the results. Most artists who ask "how do I promote my song" do this in reverse: they release first and think about promotion afterward.

The clearest lesson I've learned working with artists like Murat Boz, Ebru Gündeş and Emre Altuğ, and many independent names, is this: promotion isn't a single move, it's the timing of channels that feed each other. I walk through it step by step below.

The 4 weeks before release

Build your calendar backward. Lock in the release date, then follow this order:

1. Week 4: Deliver the song to your distributor and prepare the cover art, metadata and lyrics. Come up with 3 to 5 different short video ideas.
2. Week 3: Submit your editorial pitch through Spotify for Artists. Write a press release and a short artist intro for radio.
3. Week 2: Start posting teasers on social media with the song's most memorable 10 to 15 seconds. Add the pre-save link to your profiles.
4. Final week: Send to radio and press, share the song with the creators you'll collaborate with, and prepare your ad creatives and target audience.

I explain in more detail why this calendar matters in my post on the song release plan.

The Spotify editorial pitch, in brief

In Spotify for Artists, you can pitch an unreleased song to editors for free. According to Spotify, if you pitch at least 7 days before release, the song is added to your followers' Release Radar; getting onto an editorial playlist isn't guaranteed. You can only pitch one song at a time. I cover the pitch form and tools like Marquee and Discovery Mode in detail in how to promote a song on Spotify, so I won't go into them here.

TikTok, Reels and Shorts content

A song's first moment of recognition often happens in a short video. The most common mistake I see here is posting the cover art with text on top. A short video isn't an ad poster; it should be a moment that makes people stop scrolling.

• Use a hook in the first one or two seconds: a striking lyric, an unexpected image or a question that sparks curiosity.
• Pick one section of the song and use it again and again from different angles. One strong moment works better than ten scattered clips.
• Try different formats like behind-the-scenes, the story behind the song, a live acoustic version or a simple trend fans can join.
• Keep posting after release. Most songs take off not in the first week but later, when a video catches on.

YouTube and music videos

YouTube is both a search engine and a music listening platform. If you have a music video, it should premiere on your official artist channel on release day; if not, a lyric video or visualizer is a good start. If you're wondering whether a music video is a must, see my post can a song work without a music video. On Shorts, linking short videos to the full video is the easiest way to move viewers to the whole song.

Radio, press and content creators

Here's something I know from my radio background: radio programmers, like editors, read quickly and skim. The song title, genre, standout feature and listening link should be in the first lines of your email. Long bios don't get read.

The same rule applies to the press. A short, personalized message to music sites, bloggers and regional outlets works much better than a mass-mailed press release.

When working with content creators (influencers), look at how well their audience fits your song rather than their follower count. A small but relevant account is worth more than a big but unrelated one. Paid collaborations must be labeled as ads, so discuss this up front.

How do I advertise my song?

The job of paid ads is to take something that already works organically to more people. Putting money into content nobody responds to usually burns through the budget. Here's a quick look at the channels:

Channel	What it does	When
Meta (Instagram, Facebook)	Shows Reels content to your target audience, drives traffic to your profile and listening link	With a video that's already getting organic reactions
YouTube ads	Viewers for your music video or Shorts, channel subscribers	When you have a music video or a strong video
Spotify Ads	Audio or video ads to listeners already using Spotify	Once your target audience is clear

Because I manage Spotify ad campaigns myself, I can say this with confidence: each channel measures something different, so you shouldn't make decisions based on a single metric. For the details of Spotify advertising, see my Spotify Ads guide.

Budget logic

Instead of spending your budget all at once, split it into three stages: test two or three different videos with a small budget, identify the best performer and put most of the budget behind it. I explain how much to set aside and how to split the line items in music digital marketing budget.

What should you measure?

To see whether your promotion is working, track these metrics in the first four weeks after release:

• The rate at which listeners save the song and add it to playlists
• Repeat listens and follower growth
• Watch time, saves and shares on short videos
• Cost per click on ads and whether clicks actually turn into streams
• Which cities and countries the streams come from

Write down these numbers on the same day every week. You can only see which content, which ad and which outreach moved the needle when you put them side by side, and your next song's plan comes out of these notes.

If the numbers aren't what you expected, you need to figure out whether the problem is the promotion or the song. My post why isn't my song getting streams is a good checklist for that.

Release day and the weeks after

Release day is when everything goes live at once. That morning, add the listening link to all your profiles, point people straight to the song in stories and posts, and if you have an email list, send it a short message too. Ask your followers not just to listen but to save the song and add it to their own playlists; these actions mean more to platform recommendation systems than stream counts.

The first two weeks after release take the most work. Reply to comments, share videos that use the song, and make different versions of your best-performing short video. If you got responses from radio or press, use them as content too. Most artists go quiet after release day and waste the song's most critical weeks.

Common mistakes

• Delivering the song just a few days before release and missing the editorial pitch.
• Spending the whole budget on a single ad on day one.
• Posting the same video with the same caption on every platform.
• Moving on to the next song without looking at the results.

If you want someone to promote your song

You don't have to do everything yourself. If you're hiring an agency or specialist for promotion, clarify these points: which channels they'll work on, whether the ad budget is kept separate from the service fee, whose name the ad accounts are opened under, and how often you'll see reports. Having access to the ad accounts and data means you won't lose your history if you want to work with someone else later. A good service won't promise you stream counts; it offers a plan, execution and transparent reporting.

Stay away from guaranteed stream offers

The most common offers artists get when looking for song promotion are "this many streams for this much money" or "guaranteed playlist" packages. Spotify's own rules explicitly ban third-party services that promise streams or playlist placement for money. When artificial streams are detected, consequences can include withheld royalties, the song being pulled from playlists and, in serious cases, the distributor taking the song down. On top of that, bot streams also stop the algorithm from recognizing your real listeners.

If you're hiring a promotion service, ask these questions: how do you reach listeners, which ad platform do you use, who produces the report? If the answer is "that's our secret", walk away. If you'd like to plan your song promotion with professional support, I explain how I work on my music strategist page.