Release Radar: how the 7-day pitch puts you in front of followers

Release Radar is the most reliable algorithmic placement in music streaming, and the only one you can switch on yourself. Every Friday, Spotify builds each listener a personal playlist of new music from the artists they follow. Pitch a song through Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release, and the song you chose is added to that playlist for your followers, whether or not an editor ever hears it (Spotify: Release Radar).

It is easy to dismiss because it does not feel like a playlist win. There is no editor's approval, no cover quote, no surprise. But it puts your new song in front of every follower you have earned, on release day, for free. That is the audience most artists spend the first week of a release trying to rebuild.

What Release Radar is, in one paragraph

Release Radar is a personalized playlist Spotify refreshes weekly. It draws from artists the listener follows plus artists the system thinks they will like. It is not editorial, so no human approves each song, and it is not a pitch queue: there is no editor to persuade. It is closer to a delivery mechanism for your own fanbase, with a recommendation layer on top.

Because it is tied to follows, the size of your Release Radar audience is the size of your engaged following. A listener who has followed you will see the song; a listener who only streamed once likely will not. That makes follows, not just streams, the metric worth building between releases.

The 7-day rule, and why it is unforgiving

Spotify's rule is simple: the pitch must go out at least 7 days before release. That is the same deadline as the editorial window, which means one action protects two benefits (Spotify for Artists: pitching).

The trap is that the two clocks are not the same as the delivery clock. A song delivered to the distributor 10 days out but pitched 3 days out is still late for Release Radar. Check the Upcoming tab in Spotify for Artists and send the pitch on the day it appears, not the day you remember.

What your followers actually see

On release Friday, the pitched song lands in the follower's Release Radar alongside the new music they follow. The listener can skip it, save it, add it to a playlist or ignore the whole playlist. What they do next is the part you can influence:

1. Tell your fans what is coming on the days before release, so the playlist is not the first they hear of it.
2. Ask for a save, not a stream. A save survives the week; a stream does not. Saves are countable taps of the plus button and one of the strongest signals a listener can send (Spotify for Artists).
3. Follow up the same day. A message that says "it is in your Release Radar now" converts far better than a generic release post.

This is why the pitch decision in our which-song guide matters so much. Whatever you pitch is what every follower hears first.

The other benefit: This Is playlists

Artist playlists such as This Is exist for many artists with a large enough catalogue. They are curated by Spotify but usually include the artist's biggest and newest songs, and a release can be pinned to the top of the artist's own playlist for a period. Artist Advisory's guide reports that a pin usually appears within about 3 days of release and holds for around 28 days (15 April 2026).

You cannot apply for a pin; it follows from a release that performs. The practical takeaway is to check your own profile after release: if a new song appears at the top of your artist playlist, point your audience there and use it as a landing page for the campaign.

Release Radar vs an editorial placement

Neither replaces the other. Release Radar serves the audience you already earned; editorial placements extend your reach. Run both, and treat the editorial outcome as upside rather than the plan.

How to confirm the pitch did its job

1. Check Spotify for Artists on release day. Open Music > Playlists to see where the track landed. Release Radar belongs to followers, so it may appear as a source rather than a named playlist entry.
2. Open Source of Streams. "Personalized playlists, autoplay and mixes" covers Release Radar and adjacent surfaces (Spotify for Artists).
3. Compare with your baseline. A release with no prior following will show a small radar burst; the point is that it shows up at all.
4. Watch the saves. If followers heard the song and saved it, the pitch worked. If they heard it and skipped, the problem is the song choice or the audience fit, not the rule.

Five mistakes

1. Pitching after delivery but inside 7 days. Delivery and pitching are separate clocks.
2. Pitching one song and campaigning another. Followers hear the pitched song first; make the focus track consistent everywhere.
3. Treating Release Radar as reach. It serves your followers. Grow follows between releases to grow the radar.
4. Ignoring the result. Track follows, saves and skip rate after the release so the next pitch is better informed.
5. Confusing the radar with editorial. One is guaranteed plumbing; the other is a decision. Plan for both, promise neither.