When to pitch Spotify: how far in advance to send your pitch

Timing is the one part of a Spotify pitch you fully control. The song, the artwork and the campaign can all be argued about; the date the pitch lands in the editors' queue cannot be moved after the fact. Spotify states the floor plainly: deliver your music and send the pitch at least 7 days before release so the editors have time to listen (Spotify for Artists).

That same 7-day window does a second job. A pitch sent at least 7 days before release puts the song you chose into your followers' Release Radar. Miss it and Spotify picks a song from your release for you, or nobody gets one in the first week (Spotify: Release Radar).

Spotify's 7-day rule

Two things must happen at least 7 days before release: the music has to be delivered, and the pitch has to be sent. They are not the same clock. A song delivered 10 days early but pitched 3 days before release is late for the Release Radar guarantee, and the editors get almost no working time.

Spotify also caps the pitch itself. You can pitch one song per release, the song must be unreleased, and compilations or songs where you are only a featured artist are not eligible. You can edit a pitch up to release day, but Spotify does not promise the editors will see the change. Once the song is live, the form is closed for good.

The 7 days are not a review window you can negotiate. Spotify's editors manage thousands of playlists and work in weekly planning cycles, so a pitch that arrives on Tuesday for a Friday release joins a queue that was already being shaped.

What 14, 21 and 28 days buy you

Seven days is the minimum, not the target. Two independent guides that track artist pitches land on a wider window:

• 14 days is the workable floor for a planned release. Artist Advisory's calendar has the release delivered 21 to 28 days out, confirmed in Spotify for Artists around 14 days out, and the pitch completed 10 to 14 days out (Artist Advisory, 15 April 2026).
• 21 to 28 days is the window that shows the strongest editorial results, because genre editors plan playlists weeks in advance and a longer lead time puts the pitch in front of them during planning rather than during the final crunch (MusicPulse, 21 August 2026).
• Beyond about 8 weeks the pitch can feel stale. There is no official upper limit, but a pitch sent six or eight weeks before release arrives before the artwork, the video or any campaign context exists. Editors read momentum, and there is none yet.

So the useful band runs from about 10 to 28 days, with 14 to 21 days as the practical default for most independent releases.

The pitch calendar, day by day

Work backwards from release day. This calendar combines Spotify's rule with the wider prep windows that distributors, Apple and Deezer expect.

If you are already inside 7 days

Do not scrap the pitch. While the song is still unreleased, the form is open, and a pitch sent 3 days out can still reach an editor who is finalising a playlist. What you have lost is the guaranteed Release Radar pick and most of the review time.

1. Send the pitch today, with every field filled in. A rushed pitch that is complete beats a perfect pitch that never gets sent.
2. Ask your distributor what else is open. Apple late adds run to 7 days, Deezer takes pitches to 7 days, and some distributors can flag a release to several editorial teams at once.
3. Move the weight to independent curators. They can add a released song, so outreach does not expire on release day. A well-matched curator list often brings more saves than an editorial long shot.
4. Log the timing failure. If you release monthly or quarterly, put the -21 day pitch step into your calendar now, before the next master is finished.

Our release timeline checklist turns this into a one-page plan you can reuse.

Apple, Deezer and YouTube: one calendar

Every platform has its own gate and its own deadline. Line them up once and the release runs itself.

Apple and Deezer both publish their deadlines in their creator documentation (Apple Music Pitch; Deezer for Creators). YouTube Music is covered in our YouTube Music pitching guide, and the service directory lists the distributors that pitch on your behalf.

A useful habit: write one pitch paragraph for the release, then reuse it across every platform at the same time you send the Spotify form. The genre, the mood, the story and the plan do not change. Only the gate does.

Five timing mistakes

1. Delivering late and pitching the day after. Distributors take days to process a release, and a song that is not visible in Upcoming cannot be pitched.
2. Treating 7 days as the target. Seven days is the emergency floor. Fourteen to twenty-one days is how a planned release should run.
3. Pitching before the release fits any playlist. A pitch sent eight weeks out arrives before the campaign, the video and the artwork, and reads as a placeholder.
4. Moving the release date after pitching. You can edit the pitch, but Spotify says editors may not see the change, and a moved date can break the Release Radar window.
5. Waiting for the perfect copy. A complete pitch sent on day -14 beats a polished one sent on day -2. Write four sentences, fill every tag, and send it.

If the song is already out, the Spotify window is closed, but the release is not over. Pitch independent curators, keep the saves coming, and read our guide to what to check after a playlist adds you.