How to create a Spotify pre save link

The basics of a Spotify pre-save link

What is a pre-save link?

Pre-saves let you add music to your Spotify library before its release date. The link allows you to share it with your audience. 

Why is it important?

A pre-save link helps you generate buzz around your release. It will allow users to add your upcoming track to their Spotify library or playlists before it drops. 

This action can give Spotify a good idea of how relevant your song will be to a select group of users. And so, will increase the chances of your music being recommended to other listeners. 

Three benefits of a pre-save campaign

⁠1) Create a buzz around your release. 

Promoting your track before it’s out generates awareness of you and your music. It’ll motivate curious listeners to take action and once they do, it’ll turn that curiosity into streams. 

2) Encourage the Spotify algorithm

A strong initial stream count on the day of your release tells Spotify you’ve got something to offer here. It’ll get the platform excited about you. 

Playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar put a lot of emphasis on how well your song does on day one. A strong pre-save campaign makes for a strong release day. 

3) Collect data and insights from your audience

During your pre-save campaign, you’ll find you collect data on your listeners such as email addresses. You’ll also start to monitor their listening habits which can then help you with your next release. 

Despite the chances that you’re a creative type, understanding your data and how to apply it in the future is going to help you more than you realise to create future effective promotions. 

How to create a Spotify pre-save link

Distribute your music

Before you do anything else, you’ve got to make sure Spotify is ready to receive your release. 

If you’re an independent artist who doesn’t belong to a label, you’ll have to use a digital distributor or aggregator. You can use platforms such as: 

• Ditto Music which you can activate for as little as $19 a year.

• Distrokid has a bunch of free tools as well as paid ones to up your game. 

• CD Baby costs about $10 per release for worldwide distribution. 
  

But there are many more options you can utilise if they’re a better fit. 

Claim your Spotify for Artists access

This is a necessary step to create your pre-save campaign and collect early engagement data. You can claim your profile here. 

Get the URI for your track

URI stands for Uniform Resource Indicator and works as an identifier for an element of a website or platform. On Spotify, URIs are used to indicate Artists, Tracks, Albums, and more. 

This is a fundamental part of your campaign as it will drive people to the right place. Always make sure you double check you’ve got the tracks URI rather than something else, like your Spotify profile. 

Create your pre-save link

Many distributors offer this as part of their service and can help you create a pre-save landing page. 

If you don’t have access to that particular service, you can look into:

• Linktree which has a free or paid version.

• Amplify which is similar to Linktree but is more music-focused. 

• Feature FM has a similar structure to Amplify. 
  

Much like distributors, these are just a few options but there are many more you can explore. 

Some services let you personalise your landing page and dive into analytics from your pre-save link.  

Promote your pre-save link

Once you have your link and landing page ready to go, it’s time to promote it. 

But before you do anything, make sure you have tested it–and got someone else to test it–before you start letting people know. 

Utilise platforms like social media, your website, and newsletters to get the most reach possible. 

How to maximise your pre-save campaign with DailyPlaylists

If you’re an Artist Pro subscriber, you have some options.

You can take advantage of our pre-save gate. 

To remind you, a “gate” is a barrier you can put up between you and people interested in your playlist. If they want to submit their track to your playlist, there are some options for you to choose from on which requirement you want them to activate. This feature is available for playlists on our standard free tier only.

Out of these options, pre-saving your track is one of them. 

To boil it down, you can require a listener to pre-save your music in exchange for submitting their song to your playlist. 

The best part is, we handle it for you. There’s no need to leave the website or log into Spotify. As long as you’re logged into your DailyPlaylists account, we’ll deal with the backend stuff. 

Not an Artist Pro subscriber? You can learn more about our fates and all the other benefits here.  

What now?

Now you know what a pre-save link is, why it’s important, and how to set it up. 

So now the question is: which song are you preparing to release?

If you haven’t loaded it up to Spotify yet, perhaps consider what your pre-save strategy might look like–i.e. preparing some social media posts, creating a newsletter etc–before hitting go. 

Once you have a good idea about what your next steps will look like, bombs away.