How To Get On Spotify’s Discover Weekly (Like Clockwork)

You just saw it happen: An AI-based band, The Velvet Sundown, goes from virtually unknown to over 1,395,634 monthly listeners in a single month. While most artists hit the comments to complain when AI artists start blowing up, savvy musicians know the real move is to reverse engineer the strategy and steal what works.

So, let's break down what The Velvet Sundown did differently—and why most artists keep getting stuck in the playlist hamster wheel while only a handful pull off explosive growth.

Here's what made The Velvet Sundown's rise so remarkable: they didn't just get lucky with one viral song. They executed a precision playlist strategy that targeted high-quality user-generated playlists with proven growth patterns—and they landed on them almost immediately after release.

- Over 500,000 monthly listeners in just 14 days
- Featured on more than 30 user-generated playlists within hours of their songs going live
- Most placements came from just four strategic Spotify accounts
- Their track "Dust on the Wind" scheduled to reach MILLIONS of streams

But here's the real genius: these weren't random playlist submissions. The Velvet Sundown (or their team) had clearly analyzed these user-generated playlists beforehand—targeting ones with strong follower growth, engaged audiences, and the exact demographic profiles that would signal value to Spotify's algorithm.

This wasn't spray-and-pray playlist pitching. This was surgical playlist targeting that knew exactly which curators would deliver algorithmic pickup.

The Velvet Sundown's strategy reveals how Spotify's algorithm really works. When their songs hit these carefully selected user-generated playlists with engaged listeners, it created a domino effect:

1. Strategic playlist placement → Immediate streams from engaged audiences
2. Algorithm recognition → Spotify's system flagged their music as "engaging" based on completion rates and saves
3. Discover Weekly inclusion → Reached thousands of targeted listeners automatically
4. Release Radar distribution → New releases instantly reached followers of similar artists
5. Exponential growth → Each algorithmic placement fed the next

Music industry analysts noted that The Velvet Sundown was "recommended by Spotify's Discover Weekly algorithm" within days of their launch. This doesn't happen by accident—it's the result of targeting user-generated playlists with the right growth patterns and audience engagement that signals to Spotify's algorithm that this music resonates.

Here's a brutal truth of the modern music game: If you're submitting to playlists the traditional way, you're probably wasting 70-90% of your budget on rejection. Sites like SubmitHub and Playlist Push make you pay upfront to submit—no matter if your track is accepted, ignored, or just gets a generic "doesn't fit" DM. The numbers are ugly:

- SubmitHub: 71% rejection rate
- Playlist Push: 68% rejection rate (with a$285 min spend)
- Groover: 80-90% rejection rate

That means $100 spent often turns into $10 of real exposure and $90 worth of "sorry, not for us."

The artists blowing up are using a totally different playbook. The Velvet Sundown didn't "get lucky." They targeted data-rich playlists on the rise—using Playlist IQ to filter thousands of playlists by actual results, not just follower counts.

Here's exactly how Playlist IQ flips the script:

No Blind Submissions: See which curators already like similar music and only pay when there's real interest.

AI Predictions: Estimate your likely streams before spending a dollar. No more guessing if a playlist will deliver.

Filter by Conversion, Not Hype: Sort by follower growth rate, estimated streams, niche audience, and much more.

Curator Trust Scores: Instantly know who actually delivers on their claims—and who just collects submissions.

Budget Control: Allocate your money only to playlists that matter, not a giant list of maybes.

Instead of paying for "no" after "no," you're investing directly into placements with actual ROI. This is how labels run playlist campaigns—and now independent artists can, too.

The era of "spray-and-pray" playlist pitching is over. Spotify's algorithm promotes tracks that break early traction by hitting the right playlists—especially ones with rising, engaged listeners. That's how The Velvet Sundown triggered their viral moment and why most artists who play the traditional submission game get nowhere.

Playlist IQ is a behind-the-scenes tool major labels have been quietly using for years. Now, it's accessible to anyone serious about building lasting streaming numbers.

Ready to stop wasting budget and start hitting the playlists that move the needle? You can access the same curator database that labels use at the button below.

Create your free account to see exactly which curators are actively building playlists with real engagement, filter by growth patterns and audience demographics, and target the same type of strategic placements that launched The Velvet Sundown into Discover Weekly and Release Radar.

Set your sights on real growth—this is how you stop hoping for success and start engineering it.

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