Songtools' Playlister Club vs. Playlist Push vs. SubmitHub vs. Groover

Before Songtools was the burgeoning suite of music marketing automation for artists and labels, it was known for its first tool: Playlister Club, which was a pioneer in making playlist promotions easy and automated, and fairly-priced. 

We are always being asked how our playlisting tool is different from other popular playlist promotion services - Here is a quick visual summary of how we compare, followed by a more detailed rundown.

SongTools for Playlist Promotions versus Others

Size and Reach

SongTools has, by far, the largest network of playlists and playlist curators, with more than 20,000 hand-verified playlists. 

Why is this you may ask? The reason is that PlaylisterClub was originally created as a toolset FOR playlist curators to better manage and curate their playlists. We helped playlist curators save hundreds of hours with easier ways to add, move, and trade tracks with a delightful user interface. Therefore, we have the greatest breadth of playlist curators looking for better ways to curate. Other platforms are seen as simply a way for curators to monetize their playlists. 

Outcomes & Scalability

SongTools has facilitated more than 1.4 million track placements on playlists; it’s designed as a truly scalable platform, where tracks and curators are algorithmically matched. Curators select from a customized Netflix-style carousel and are able to listen to and interact with new music effortlessly, which results in many more interactions per track– and disproportionate outcomes for amazing tracks. 

Submissions, Transparency & Analytics

On other platforms, you get to search and submit to the exact curators you want, or you get sent to whichever curators your account executive thinks you match with the most. Manual selection can be very time consuming, and trusting a person to make the manual match can lack transparency or yield results that don't fit with an artist's expectation. In SongTools, tracks get algorithmic exposure not only to curators who have exact matches in terms of genres, but also curators of playlists that encompass various genres, ensuring that all potential interested curators get a chance to interact with the track.

Because it is an algorithmically-managed platform, SongTools also boasts the deepest analytics available when it comes to playlist promotions. KPIs like the Brand Engagement Index, Song Engagement Index, and GeoAttractiveness, provide artists and labels with actionable performance metrics that will not only make you understand how your track did and why, but will give you a roadmap for your future releases. 

Pricing / Cost

There are three different pricing frameworks among these four players: 

1. Per-Submission Cost: The Per-Submission pricing model makes getting started super cheap, but is very focused on the lowest interactions possible– i.e. reviews. Getting on playlists via these services is unpredictable and usually require 'premium' interactions, and the cost for submission credits can add up quickly. 

Additionally, the “Submission” model is broken, because it incentivizes curators to maximize for quantity of songs listened, rather than real interactions (quality). Your music has a much higher chance of getting lost in the submission inbox with thousands of other tracks – and if you do get some interaction, it’s usually not very well thought-out or genuine.

2. Agency: Certain companies make your song go through a selection process, where the company chooses if the artists can work with them. If accepted, the artists will get charged a minimum of $300 to send the music to up to 20 playlists that they deem a 'good fit' and with whom they have a good relationship with. If the artist is unhappy with the outcome, they will find more playlists to submit to. It can be a very manual, expensive, and inconsistent experience, but which can also comport large label budgets. 
3. Flat Promotion Fee: Artists pay a flat $48 per month for exposure on the Discovery Page for playlisters using PlaylisterClub. Curators select only the tracks they like, and interact with them as they see fit– typically by adding to their playlist or providing detailed technical reviews. In this system, there are no guaranteed outcomes, great tracks can get 100+ playlist placements, while other tracks get only a few interactions, but you don’t pay for performance. The flat-rate fee is the cost to use the system, no matter what  happens. We designed this system to ensure great music bubbles up to the top through a level playing field that’s impossible to “buy-out” – and that all music at least gets the chance to be heard. 

So which service is the best for you?

We recommend using SongTools for every one of your releases, alongside other tools (as needed). At $48 per month, there is immense potential upside for your track (if it's good), and immeasurable value in the analytics. The best approach is to experiment and find which configuration fits your needs and your budget.