How Far in Advance to Pitch Spotify

What does the 7-day rule actually do?

Spotify gives one number for timing: pitch at least 7 days before release. Here’s what that actually does. Your release goes on your followers’ Release Radar either way. Pitching 7 or more days out is how you choose which song from the release gets that spot. Miss the 7 days and Spotify just picks a track for you. So the 7-day mark isn’t the moment pitching turns off. It’s the line where you stop getting to choose your own Release Radar song.

There’s a delivery side to it too. To make Release Radar’s first week, the music has to be delivered to Spotify at least 7 days before release, not just pitched. That’s why I tell people to get the release into Spotify for Artists with real margin. If your distributor delivers late, you can blow the window even when you meant to pitch on time.

Past the 7-day mark, earlier is better, and that part is just practice. Pitch as soon as the release is sitting in Spotify for Artists. In practice that’s often about 3 to 4 weeks before release, because more lead time gives editors more room with it. That 3-to-4-week figure is community and distributor guidance, not a number Spotify publishes. The only number Spotify gives for pitching is 7.

Why does everyone repeat “28 days”?

Because people read “28 days” somewhere, assume it’s a pitch deadline, and aim for the wrong target. It isn’t a deadline. The 28 days (four weeks) is a real post-release window, just not for pitching. Spotify keeps a song in a listener’s Release Radar for up to four weeks until they’ve heard it, and if you have a This Is playlist, your new song pins near the top of it for about that long. From what I’ve seen, most listeners actually get it in their Release Radar early in that window, not on day 28. Either way, none of it changes when you pitch. Here’s the breakdown.

Only the first two rows have anything to do with pitching, and only one of them is a Spotify number. The 28-day row happens after you release, on its own, and you don’t pitch for it. So if you’ve been treating 28 days as a deadline, drop it. Pitch at least 7 days out so you choose your Release Radar song, and pitch as early as the release appears in Spotify for Artists if you want editors to have real time with it.

Why give editors more time than 7 days?

Editorial playlists get built ahead of release day, not in real time. Spotify says its editors have time to listen and might pick your song. It doesn’t promise that a human reads every pitch, and with 100,000-plus tracks coming out a day, it can’t. So the more lead time you give them, the better the odds your pitch lands while there’s still room to plan around it.

That’s why I tell artists to pitch as early as the release shows up in Spotify for Artists, often about 3 to 4 weeks out, rather than waiting until the 7-day Release Radar cutoff. A pitch sitting in front of an editor for weeks has more chances to get noticed than one that lands at the last eligible moment. To be clear, that earlier timing is a practice, not a Spotify rule. The 7-day mark is the one Spotify gives, and that’s about choosing your Release Radar song and making its first week.

One timing note worth knowing. Release Radar refreshes every Friday, which is also when most music comes out by convention. You can release any day you want. Friday is just the norm. If you want to choose your own Release Radar song, the 7-day pitch is still what matters, whatever day you put the release out.

One operational note that catches people: the pitch lives in Spotify for Artists, but the song only appears there once your distributor has delivered it. The music also has to be delivered 7+ days out to make Release Radar’s first week. If you upload to your distributor the day before your 7-day mark, delivery lag can push the track past the window and cost you that first week. Deliver early enough that the song is visible in Spotify for Artists with comfortable margin, then pitch.

Once the song is live in Spotify for Artists, draft your pitch in about 30 seconds with the free Spotify pitch generator →

So what timeline should I actually run?

Work backward from your release date. Set the release a few weeks out, deliver to your distributor early enough that the track shows up in Spotify for Artists with margin to spare, then pitch the moment it appears. In practice that’s often about 3 to 4 weeks ahead. Whatever you do, stay on the right side of the 7-day mark. Cross it and you can still pitch, but Spotify picks your Release Radar song instead of you, you can miss its first week, and editors get less time.

For the related decisions, what to put in the pitch and the mistakes that get pitches passed over even when the timing is right, see what to write in your pitch description and why editorial pitches get rejected. For the full process end to end, start with the editorial pitching guide.