Category: Spotify Playlist
I do playlists on Spotify. These are posts about them. Deal with it.
In search of Tampa Bay music for a Spotify playlist
The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay is a Spotify playlist I put together that is supposed to be the Adult Contemporrary version of chill; “relaxing, easy favorites.”
It originally was saturated by too many songs by artists, but I scaled that back to single-songs by artists I found and…and… It’s gone nowhere.
I know there are and were many recording artists in the Tampa Bay area, with some actively promoting themselves. I’ve never had one approach me to have one of their songs added. I haven’t gone on a search for content either as I’m busy enough and don’t listen to local shows that would highlight songs that fit the list.
I’m looking for tunes. I’m looking to highlight artists, and, most importantly for all, I am looking for listeners.
Ig you are an artist from West Central Florida with a song or music you think fits the bill, drop me a line on the Contact form. Tell me where you are from, if you’trr part of a group or a solo act. Point me to the song on Spotify. Do not submit explicit songs. Ig you happen to be one of the few artists on the playlist as-is and would like another song featured, let me know either in the comments on this post, through email contact, or on Twitter..
In both cases, it doesn’t have to be new music, but please submit songs from the past decade (210 at the latest).
If you are included on the list, I’d appreciate it if you let your fans know about the playlist. Listeners and followers is the key to gaining exposure – and royalties – for all acts involved.
Contemplating curating a weekly Spotify Playlist
Spotify playlists are a hobby or something for big-name/big-reputation people to do, no? I can tell you the few I have done are a hobby. I have no reputation, nor do the playlists stand out and draw attention. Especially the underground Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist. That one is huge.
Yet I sit here and I’m thinking of trying a weekly playlist. Maybe.
I listen to Lonely Oak Radio and seldom cross songs that fall into a big queue of tunes that could make the Underexposed playlist and/or the Adult Contemporary Reddit community where I post most of the content. It ultimately amounts to me promoting indie musicians in my own way. If I have fans, I don’t know about it. I do know I have some appreciative musicians who I interact with on Twitter.
My weekly-playlist thought is a 10-song list of “relaxing and easy” tunes – stuff I try for in Underexposed – and perhaps highlight certain acts who I cross and enjoy (AirCrash Detectives, Cahela and Schmitt, and Icicle among others) as well as acts I know and have tried to highlight lik3 Gypsy Star.
The thing stopping me is the fact I don’t expect to draw listeners, let alone status-symbol followers. Why do a weekly playlist if you don’t have anyone who listens? Hell, it makes me feel like people don’t enjoy the tunes I pick out as-is (though the artists appreciate it).
It’s a matter of confidence. It would also help if it were an accomplishment that paid me back fairly which my endeavors in life never seem to do.
“Relaxing. Easy. Indie.” It’s a thought. I just don’t know if it will happen.
Johnny Fonts on Spotify; follow me, won’t you?
Here you go, John Fontana on Spotify… That’s right, Johnny Fonts on Spotigy be here.
Looking for potential artists for “Johnny Fonts Indie A.c.”
Playlist curation does not take up much typing…
I’m talking big-time go-it-alone indie and unexposed artists. It may all be futile in the end as this playlist may never draw followers. Let alone listeners
If you’re on Twitter, submit songs in a reply to the above tweet. Only one song will b4 listed for any performer. Also, the songs must be of recent age (2 or 3 years). More rules may come up ir necessary, but that’s a nice starter set…
Spotify Playlists
Please note: Thiss page is not finalized, I also do take submissions, but a how-to process is not set.
Underexposed Sift Rock and Easy Listening
Think of this as an Adult Contenoirary/Chill of indie or small label variety. It iis also expensive at 150songs.
It is not updated with regularity. I had been addung so gs found when listenung to online radio.
I will accept submissions — but no EDK or hip-hop. Contact me and tll me you are makung an “Ybderexposed” submission..
Employing rock, folk, pop, coujntry, and instranentals.
Updated: The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay playlist on Spotify
Early this year, I unveiled a playlist orf Tampa Bay artists that could be classified as a chill playlist, adult contemporary, relaxing, whatever… It mostly featured artists that I’d crossed on Music Tampa Bay Top 100 lists from years-gone-by..
The nominee list for Creative Loafing’s 2019 Best of the Bay awards changed that.
I’ve been going through that list and adding songs that fit from acts I hadn’t heard o or been tipped off to. There are more acts I need to review from the list but here you go:
If you are a musician in the Tampa Bay area and think you have a song that fits the bill, you can submit it in the comments section o this post or through the site contact form. Playlist feedback from listeners is also appreciated (trolling is not).
Background music to chill to can be round on this playlist
Do you want an extensive playlist of liter tunes to listen to while you’re at work or perhaps while you are studying? Want a playlist of music that you can pipe in as background music during a social engagement (that doesn’t DISTRACT)?
I’ve been putting together an extensive stream of music on Spotiy for the last yea-and-a-half or so. It’s almost entirely indie artists covering the genres of rock, pop, country, blues and folk among others. There is no explicit content either.
It’s chill music, plain and simple.
Read MoreA touch of rock history as an indie music radio “Experience”
I hear a lot of small-time, unknown artists on Lonely Oak Radio. I’ve been listening to that Internet streaming radio station for two and a half years now and while I’ve taken to some of the tunes and the performers that I’ve crossed on the station, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to someone of even moderate fame.
That changed today when I heard a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member early this afternoon.
Read MorePoll: Does listening to Spotify Playlists lead you to buy music?
I posted a poll on Twitter on my Music Twitter account, it’ll be running until the evening of May 9th. It’s aimed at Spotify users, asking a bit about habit:
Updated status of The Softer Side of Indie 2019 Playlist on Spotify
Back in December, I announced intentions to launch a playlist specifically of 2019 music of a chill variety — soft rock, adult contemporary,m ballads, blues, folk, alternative, pop. Songs released after December 15, 2018, are eligible for placement on the playlist.
At this time there are 36 songs on the list with most discovered on Reddit.com’s indie music subreddit. Others were found while I was checking on other songs by artists who were queued for the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist. And in one lone instance, I had a PR firm reach out to me so that a major act found it’s way onto the list. Yeah, unlike “Underexposed”, I’m not limiting this to underground acts… While most of the songs are by the Do It Yourself indie variety, there’s at least two by acts who have some hold on the mainstream in their alt/indie variety. Some of the DIY indie acts have more exposure and success online than acts I tend to highlight on the other playlist.
Read MoreIt certainly feels like networking – indie music promotion on Twitter
I love how networking can go and what it can show you – about yourself and your colleagues.
Read MoreSongs in the queue for Spotify Playlist review
I’m approaching a year as a Spotify playlist curator, having started the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist in May of 2018. While the playlist has amassed 107 followers in the time it’s been active, I don’t know how many of those “followers” actually listen. I’ve already talked about that downside of Spotify though, so I’ll move on.
The Underexposed playlist is at 137 songs, it’ll keep growing as time goes by, as will the Softer Side of Indie 2019 playlist as I cross songs that fit the angle I’m going for with that list.
How do I find the songs, though? While I’ve crossed some posted on Reddit’s Indie music community (which have tended to fit the Softer Side 2019 playlist most often), the majority of the songs I’ve posted on the Underexposed playlist have come from my listening to Lonely Oak Radio and other indie stations (Only Rock Radio, Catorweb, and Indie Star Radio primarily). When I cross a song that might fit the bill of the playlist, I put the name of the song and the artist into a txt file queue of songs to potentially add after review.
Read MoreSpotify playlists and the follower flaw
There’s a downside to me trying to push indie music on Spotify. It’s not the fact I spend time trying to find tunes through radio streams and online sites curate the playlists accordingly, it’s not when people approach me with music – sometimes fitting, sometimes not – to consider for the lists. It’s the common habit with Spotify that people might follow a playlist, it doesn’t mean the people actually listen.
Read MoreSoft rock, easy listening, adult contemporary and the Tampa Bay music scene
With the growing and growing and growing and growing nature of the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist on Spotify and me crossing work on the Music Tampa Bay playlists that embody the underexposed moniker and yet are also aging with some artists missing in general from social media, I’ve been compelled to start a new soft rock/adult contemporary playlist.
This isn’t open to all and any musicians; this is open to artists in the Tampa Bay metropolitan region. The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay currently has only nine musicians on it, but a number of songs from each:
- Ed Woltil
- Four Star Riot
- Fowler’s Bluff
- Gypsy Star
- Rebecca Zapen
- Robert Andrew
- RosewoodCreek
- Steve Dockendorf
- Swearingen & Kelli
There are more groups and artists in the region with worthy content than this. This is, in part, why I’m posting on my blog: Hey! Tampa Bay musicians with calmer tunes! Share’em with me and potential listeners online please!
You might want to listen to the list as-is to get an idea of the sound I’m going for. I don’t know if hip-hop would mix in, or a bass/beat heavy dance/pop number with wailing vocals. Explicit content is also frowned upon. Seriously, I’m not calling it “The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay” because of the sun.
Feel free to suggest artists or songs to me through comments or directly to me through the site contact form. I’ve also got a music-specific Twitter account or my Facebook page where I can be reached at.
Music Tampa Bay’s 2015 Top 100 list is now a Spotify playlist
Music Tampa Bay, the St. Pete-based radio station and online streaming station that highlights music from Tampa Bay and West Central Florida musicians, is known for having an annual Top 100 list. The list is a compilation of 100 songs from the previous year that had received the highest vote tallies on weekly Top 40 lists/polls featured on the station’s web site. The Top 100 ran from 2008 up until this year.
I’ve done a service for featured artists on that list of putting together a link-to-the-works listing three times – 2008, 2016, and 2017. The whole rationale is because graphic lists of songs don’t give people (not just station listeners) the chance to actually hear the songs, or find out about the artists. Not all of the songs are available online as the artists didn’t necessarily use distribution companies that went that route.
In more recent months, I’ve put the 2008, ’16 and ’17 lists – what songs I could find – into Spotify playlists. The listings all have just over half the 100 listed songs.
That said, I’d like to announce the addition of the 2015 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 list (well, 53 of the Top 100) as available on Spotify.
Read MoreIntroducing The Softer Side of Indie 2019 Spotify playlist
I’m running a playlist on Spotify trying to highlight soft rock and easy listening by indie artists that aren’t well known. The UnderexposedSoft Rock and Easy Listening playlist is just shy of 6 hours in length as of this writing and the sound holds consistent with some songs going a little stronger than others. That’s been soft rock radio for decades though, hasn’t it?
That playlist compiles songs from over recent years of the indie and small label variety. I’m announcing a new playlist that will focus squarely on 2019.
While the intent is to take a variety of songs and offer them to the public for listening – and that’s a catch: actually having people listening to the playlist — one thing I’m not looking for is the “chill beats” sound with drumming/rhythm-section driven. I’m looking for the more traditional sound of music. I’m also not looking to add a multitude of foreign languages; if what you have isn’t in English, it’s not appropriate to submit it as a song.
I’m also not looking for songs with explicit lyrics. Think of it as a general-audience appeal I’m going for here, not the 18+ year old adult segments who accept that stuff.
I’m posting the playlist itself below. It’ll remain barren or mostly empty for I-don’t-know.
If you want to submit a track for consideration, please use the contact form. Make sure the subject reads “Softer Side 2019 Submission”. If you’re on Facebook, you may also try contacting me through the Johnny Fonts Facebook page.
“The Playlist Exchange” is a promotional avenue for content on Spotify
Just a heads up for musical artists who are looking to promote their tunes on Spotify as well as for people running niche playlists who want to promote that list, there’s a place for that.
The Spotify Community is a message forum area devoted to the Spotify platform, covering a lot of areas of the field including playlists. The Playlist Exchange is the specific forum in the community where playlists are promoted and curators look for new songs to add to their lists. Many music genres get covered, but so do many niche areas such as topics, moods, musical arrangements and what have you.
Mind you, the Exchange may be an avenue for promotion but it doesn’t guarantee songs getting added to playlists or people actually following a playlist you post. I’ve submitted music by little known groups to playlists (songs by artists I am not associated with, I’m just a fan of) and got passed over while I’ve also posted my Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening list with little gain.
Marketing is a chore. The Playlist Exchange is simply a potential contributor to goal achievement.
2017 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 — now a Spotify playlist
Music Tampa Bay‘s annual Top 100 lists (which ran from 2008 through 2017) featured a wide swath of music — we’re talking genres and time-of-publication. Some of the songs were relatively new releases, some were much older. All of them were from artists derived from the Tampa Bay and west central Florida area. I use that as a lead-in to the 2017 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 playlist on Spotify because only 54 of the 100 songs were on Spotify (or at least that’s the amount I found).
While some of the songs are very much available online, others aren’t and some are on select sales and streaming avenues and not on Spotify. Another issue I’ll cite here is that the Top 100 list for 2017 was hindered with thanks to Hurricane Irma’s effects on the Tampa Bay area. While that has nothing to do with only 54 songs on this list, it does explain why some of the songs on this list were also part of the 2016 Top 100 list (…a playlist with only 57 of 100 songs).
I very much intend to add the 2008 Top 100 listing to the Spotify playlists, but if these more recent lists are getting just over half the list songs, I don’t expect 2008 to do better. We’ll see about that.
One other thing — if you’re a Music Tampa Bay listener or a musician featured on Music Tampa Bay, I encourage you to donate to the station. They are a non-profit station trying to promote music created by local musicians. It costs to broadcast and stream online, though. Every bit of supportive income helps.
A new Spotify playlist of Tampa Bay musicians and music
In spring of 2017, I took to the task of taking aMusic Tampa Bay Top 100 list of 2016 post was an attempt at exposure for the artists and their work that went further than the hyper-local radio broadcasts and its online music stream.
I’m taking things a step further though I don’t know if this will lead more people to check out this music or what. I’ve created a Spotify playlist of the 2016 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 list.
In trying to aid the exposure of the artists and their music, I don’t know if it did the job so much. Let’s see if a Spotify playlist can help things along.
From my experience researching three different Top 100 lists, I’ve learned it’s a tradition for not all the songs to be available through online streaming. In this case, only 57 of the Top 100 songs from the listing were available… They represent a mix of music genres: Rock, Reggae, R&B, Folk, Pop and Country. The performers herald from the Tampa Bay and west central Florida area and while their sound may be taken as unique, they are all very much of the genres they are derived from in music.
I have intentions of also posting the 2017 Top 100 list and perhaps ones that came before it too. That’ll come in time. Right now, first things first and the 2016 list is here.
Underexposed indie soft rock and easy listening playlist on Spotify
This is an ongoing playlist build of songs by indie musicians that are unknown or not widely known of in pop culture. It’s also a variety of music – pop and rock of a more casual variety – that doesn’t get the kind of exposure it once did in music.
Click above to go to the playlist. If you are an indie musician who would like one of your own tunes considered for the list — either leave a comment or contact me and send a link to your work. You have to be listed on Spotify to get included on this list (though another version of the playlist is on YouTube).
How should "Underexposed"songs be seen on Spotify?
Underexposed, softer sounds from rock and pop artists
I’ve assembled a playlist on YouTubbe (and I may try to copy it at Spotify but no guarantees on that) of songs that I’ve heard from various artists through various sources that I consider “soft rock”. They’re not all rock songs, they’re not all adult contemporary, and they’re from a mix of years within the 21st century (not all recent releases but mot are from the past decade).
One thing is for sure though: They’re underexposed numbers that will likely never explode in popularity. Independent artists don’t get that kind of exposure from the mainstream media or at least it rarely happens. Yet, that’s a truth for all music out there — even if people catch your tunes on the radio or at a live show, there’s only a chance that it’ll click with them and gain an ounce of popularity.
The underexposed soft rock playlist has only 29 songs at the moment but my intention is to keep growing the list as time goes by. It just depends on when and where I cross the music and if I feel it fits or not. Mind you, it’s the arrangements that make me add the songs to the list. The lyrics may or may not fit.
If you’re a performing artist and have a song that you think might fit in, or if you’re a listener who knows of a song by a small-time act that doesn’t exactly have a huge audience checking out one of these lighter songs, you’re welcome to contact me through the site form with a link to the song’s YouTube page. I can’t guarantee submissions will get added, but it’s worth a shot.
I also suggest to artists to consider submitting their music to Lonely Oak Radio, it’s the most straight-forward indie music submission site. It’s not Pandora or Spotify in open-listener popularity but it is a unique mix of songs from various artists out there.
Update May 11, 2018:
I’ve been made aware by Europeans that not all tracks on this playlist are accessible.. While this playlist is crafted by an American with access to everything, I have no control over what is not accessible for those overseas. It may put more weight on me trying to re-create this playlist on another platform (Spotify).
update May 13th 2018:
The Spotify Version of the playlist is now up. Not all of the songs are on the list and not all of the songs are able to be added (such as Grease Fire by the Pretty Voices or Arms Around It by Ricky Wilcox) because those tracks aren’t on Spotify. Others aren’t included because I haven’t gotten to them yet, but they will be added and likely others.
How should "Underexposed"songs be seen on Spotify?
