SubmitHub vs. Playlist IQ Review: The Clearly Better Alternative?

In the competitive world of music promotion, playlist placement has become essential for independent artists looking to grow their audience. Two major players in this space are SubmitHub and Playlist IQ (by recordlabel.ai). While both platforms connect artists with playlist curators, their approaches differ significantly—especially when it comes to how they handle the most frustrating aspect of playlist promotion: rejection rates and wasted promotion budgets.

This article provides a detailed comparison to help you decide which platform better serves your music promotion needs.

SubmitHub uses a credit-based system where artists pay for each individual submission to curators. Curators have 72 hours to respond. 

You pay regardless of curator interest, with each submission costing between $1-$4 in credits. The acceptance rate as of March 2025 is stated to be 29%. 

This means that artists are paying for 71% rejection notes & resulting in no streams for their music.

Playlist IQ: Unlike other platforms, Playlist IQ first allows curators to indicate whether they're interested in your music without charging you. 

This revolutionary approach means you don't waste 70-90% of your music marketing money on rejections—you pay for feedback from curators who have already expressed interest in your music!

Playlist IQ Campaign Types:
Playlist IQ offers two distinct campaign options that give you complete control over timing and budget:

RUSH Campaigns: When you need results lightning fast, this option incentivizes curators to respond quickly with the fastest initial response time in the industry:
- 12-hour response: 4 credits
- 24-hour response: 3 credits
- 48-hour response: 2 credits
- 72-hour response: 1 credit

After 72 hours: Standard campaign rules apply

Standard Campaigns: Maximize your budget if you can potentially wait up to 7 days:
- Initial responses are completely free
- Review curator interest at your convenience
- Strategically allocate budget only to your preferred interested curators

With both campaign types, you maintain full control over which interested curators receive your detailed feedback budget.

SubmitHub requires playlists to have at least 1,000 followers but places the burden of evaluating playlist quality largely on the artist as there are no filters for selecting playlists by their estimated stream counts. They track monthly listeners through artist-submitted Spotify for Artists data.

Playlist IQ requires all playlists to have at least 100 followers and employs a thorough vetting process to ensure no bots or suspicious activity. 

Additionally, Playlist IQ implements a transparent Trust Score system that holds curators accountable for their actions (i.e. saying they will place a song in a good position then they suddenly move it down 50 positions in their list, not putting a song in a playlist when they said they would, etc.)

SubmitHub allows you to manually search for and select individual curators. Overall, they have decent filters for selecting playlists, but some of the filters that are key for obtaining the most streams for your dollar are lacking.

Playlist IQ offers the most advanced filters for playlist selection in the industry. You can filter playlists by Total Followers, Follower Growth Rate (followers gaining/losing per day over the last 7 days), Estimated Streams, Trust Score, Genre, Mood, Language, & Detailed Feedback Price.

This allows you to laser focus your playlist search to find the exact lists you want.

SubmitHub charges $1-$4 per premium submission using their credit system. According to their own stated acceptance rate of 29%, this means most artists will be paying for mostly rejection notes.

Playlist IQ offers a credit system (you can get a credit pack for as low as $77) where you pay for credits & assign those to curators through two campaign types:

Standard Campaigns: Free initial responses from curators, then you choose which interested curators to pay for detailed feedback

RUSH Campaigns: You pay for expedited initial response + can still allocate your budget during the detailed feedback stage
Playlist curators get to set 3 prices for detailed feedback per list (Low, Medium, & High). They have to write more feedback depending on how much the artist desires.

Typically, when an artist desires more feedback, the curator has already expressed that they believe the song is a good fit for any position on their list. Thus, the curator has no problem giving the artist a favorable list position rather than placing it at the bottom of their playlist.

Playlist IQ gives both artists & curators more control over their budget & pricing.

SubmitHub & Playlist IQ both provide streaming predictions for playlists; however, only Playlist IQ allows you to filter your playlist search by estimated streams during the selection process.

SubmitHub pays curators $0.50-$2.00 per (premium) submission & forces curators to listen for 90 seconds + write manual feedback for the submission.

Playlist IQ allows curators to set their own rates (3 prices for detailed feedback per playlist), recognizing that many invest thousands in growing and promoting their playlists. 

This creates a more sustainable ecosystem where curators are properly compensated for their work and investment, leading to higher-quality playlists participating in the platform.

SubmitHub claims a 29% acceptance rate (meaning a 71% rejection rate).

Playlist IQ doesn't publish specific acceptance rates because our model fundamentally changes the equation. 

Since you are paying for curators who have already expressed interest, your effective "paid acceptance rate" is significantly higher—often approaching 100% for the feedback you actually purchase.

The most significant difference between these platforms is their approach to the "rejection economy" that plagues the music promotion industry.

With traditional platforms like SubmitHub, artists pay upfront for all submissions, including the 70%-90% that will be rejected depending on whom you submit to (based on their own stated acceptance rate). This means MOST of your promotion budget is likely spent on things that won't ever lead to streams for your music.

Playlist IQ seeks to eliminate this wasteful spending by charging for curators who have already expressed interest in your music. This revolutionary approach means:

- You don't waste all your budget on rejection feedback
- Your promotion budget is properly allocated toward curators who actually want to feature your music
- You can make data-driven decisions with AI-assisted streaming predictions
- You maintain complete control over which curators receive your budget

Choose SubmitHub if:
- You don’t mind not being able to filter playlists by estimated streams
- You don't mind paying for 70-90% rejection notes
- You don’t mind less control over your music marketing budget

Choose Playlist IQ if:

- You want to know which playlists are interested in your music before spending money
- You prefer more control over your promotion budget
- You value transparency and data-driven decision making
- You want to eliminate wasted spending on rejection feedback
- You're looking for a more artist-friendly approach to playlist promotion

In an industry where artists routinely waste 70-90% of their promotion budgets on playlist feedback rejections, Playlist IQ's innovative approach represents a significant advancement in how artists and curators connect. 

By deterring the "pay-for-rejection" model that has dominated the industry, Playlist IQ creates a more transparent, efficient, and artist-friendly platform for music promotion.

Ready to stop paying for 70-90% playlist rejections? Try Playlist IQ today using the button below!

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