How To Get On RapCaviar: Spotify's Largest Playlist (2024)
It’s every struggle rappers dream, a placement on the most coveted playlist on Spotify. Also a big check from the streams gained and new fans sliding into the DM’s like no tomorrow doesn’t hurt either.
Why Rap Caviar?
Well it is one of the biggest playlist on Spotify and can churn out millions of streams per week. Once ran by Tuma Basa as head curator Rap Caviar has gone through some major changes. First of all you can stop searching for Tuma Basa’s contact info. He no longer runs Rap Caviar, but his dead email is tuma@spotify.com if you were curious. Rap Caviar is now ran by the Spotify editorial team and the barrier for entry has been lowered. If you have a Hip Hop track that bangs follow these steps to give yourself a shot at landing on this massive playlist. Tuma was the only Rap Caviar curator on Spotify staff for 4 years.
Hundreds of artists ask me “Can you get me one Rap Caviar”? When I check the artist out for my own entertainment I’m usually unimpressed at what I see: weak cover art on Spotify, profile not setup (no background photo), weak Instagram with less than 300 followers and no online presence. If you are not all in on your career and have no hustle to finance your dreams I will politely navigate you back to your SoundCloud account. If you want to know how to get on Rap Caviar follow these steps closely.
1. Have An Aggressive Release Schedule
In order to get noticed and get on Spotify playlists most artists think they need a hit or just one banger to put them on. You need to be aggressive with releases remember this is the most popular Spotify hiphop playlist. In reality you don’t need a hit, you need to release more records to drastically increase your chances of creating a banger. There are multiple artists we work with that have releases for the next 16 months lined up. The more releases, the more chances you have to trigger the algorithms when a new release hits Spotify. Just make sure you don’t sacrifice quality, move as fast as you can work harder and longer and put out high quality records.
2. Contact a Rap Caviar artist for a feature
Features are an easy way to slingshot your career as a rapper, it definitely is not cheap but if you have a talented producer it can put your career on the map. Here is a list of past Rap Caviar artists to contact for a feature:
Get in contact to pay for a feature and if it’s out of your budget gain as much information as you can; who they use for distribution, which label they are with and if they use any marketing companies they might recommend. You don’t ask you don’t get!
3. Be on Team Spotify
Shoutouts to Spotify on the regular. Social shoutouts can catch the attention of Spotify’s marketing team. I have seen multiple artists shout out Spotify on twitter and get invited to visit their main office in NYC. Get to tweeting and make it interesting. Its also a good look to share a playlist with your followers when you get added regardless of the playlist size.
4. Crush it in your “Rap Niche”
Before asking how to get on rap caviar you need to dial in your niche sound to stand out. Spotify has over 100 different genres just for Hip Hop. You need to find what lane you fit in on Spotify and stick with it. I see rappers create a Drake sounding song then their next single sounds like Tekashi 6ix 9ine. This will make it harder for Spotify to segment you to a specific genres which will help to get you into micro-genre lists on Spotify. These include:
Most Necessary New Artists (your best chance)
Get Turnt High Energy Hip Hop
SignedXOXO Pop Rap/Crossover
Once you start landing on those smaller official lists your chances are 10x better to get placed on Rap Caviar. See the hip hop genres below to find what lane you fit in and stick with it!
Conscious Hip-Hop (Mos Def, Immortal Technique)
UK Hip Hop (Ambush Buzzworl, T MULLA)
Trap Rap (Future, Kodak Black)
Pop Rap (Drake, 6LACK)
Browse for your genre at everynoise.com.
5. Work Your Distribution Connects
A good distribution company is key when trying to get on playlists, after all they should have a tight relationship with Spotify. Therefore if you are working with a distributor that takes a percentage you should really press them to help you market the song on digital services like Spotify. Above all build up some momentum and keep a close relationship with your distributor. When I worked for a distributor multiple brand deals would come our way for the artists who worked with us. Obviously the cool artists we had a relationship were always top of mind. Get in touch and find the key players at your distributor.
List of distributor in good standing with Spotify:
The Orchard (Owned by Sony Music)
6. Approach Spotify Directly
Spamming or annoying the hardworking staff and employees at Spotify will get you nowhere. Here are a few tips to help you get in touch with Spotify. Build some awareness about your music through your dedication to Spotify. Multiple artists have had multiple blog features around them and making $$ from their streams via Spotify playlists. This eventually gained them a meeting with Spotify where they were able to build that relationship. Find key players are Spotify by browsing LinkedIn. Record label executives ignore linked in but almost every Spotify employee is active on linked in. Go here to view them: linkedin.com/company/spotify/people. If you do choose to go this route be polite in your messaging and don’t expect them to respond instantly.
7. Trigger Spotify’s Algorithms
Getting on smaller hip-hop curator playlists is huge when trying to land on Rap Caviar. You need to start small and build up some momentum. Getting on user created playlists is the secret weapon for new artists. Playlist Push has a network of over 600 quality Hip Hop playlists, getting on these lists and building up your monthly listeners is the biggest key to success on the platform. We help you build listener data which is crucial when trying to get on Spotifys radar. We work with artists that are just starting out on the platform and help bigger major label artists get their music into the ears of hip-hop heads on Spotify. Start building your presence on Spotify today and apply for a campaign with Playlist Push: https://playlistpush.com/spotify-playlists-promotion. To submit a RapCaviar submission pitch the to Spotify editorial team two weeks prior to your release in the Spotify for Artists app.
8. Learn From Playlist Push Artists
Myles Lloyd a hip-hop artist from Toronto is currently on multiple official lists. Myles continues to build up his momentum on Spotify and has ran several Playlist Push campaigns. He is on notable playlists like Hip Hop Central, Northern Bars and R&B Right Now. Use these steps to get on RapCaviar or rapidly increase your presence on Spotify. Release quality music and build your monthly listeners up and it's only a matter of time before Spotify takes notice.
How to find Rap Caviar playlist curator?
Rap Caviar was previously ran by Tuma Basa and is not under control of the Spotify editorial team. Rap Caviar no longer controlled by one individual person but a team that Spotify keeps private.
Rap Playlist on Spotify submission process
If you want to find the rap caviar playlist submission you can submit via the Spotify for Artists playlist pitching tool. You can also setup a campaign on Playlist Push to rap Spotify playlists to help trigger the algorithm. If you are looking for a hiphop Spotify playlist submission you can head to Playlist Push to send your music to thousands of Spotify curators.
Looking to Promote your Music?
Use our TikTok Promotion and Spotify Playlists Pitching service.
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