Cold Pitch
Category: Music Marketing
What is Cold Pitch?
An unsolicited message sent to a curator or playlist owner asking them to consider a track, without any prior relationship or interaction.
Cold Pitch explained
A cold pitch is a message sent to a curator, blog or playlist owner who has had no previous contact with the artist, typically asking them to listen to and consider adding a track. Cold pitches are a normal part of music promotion and are not inherently a problem, but they are far more likely to be read and acted on when they are short, specific and clearly show that the sender has actually listened to the recipient's playlist or work before reaching out. A cold pitch that is generic, sent to dozens of curators at once with no personalisation, or that arrives with repeated follow-up messages, is usually treated as spam and ignored or blocked. Taking the time to reference something specific about the playlist and explain briefly why the track fits its theme tends to produce far better results than volume alone.
Why Cold Pitch matters for independent artists
Understanding Cold Pitch helps you make better promotion decisions on SoundCloud and other streaming platforms. On Reposter Network, artists apply concepts like this every day when they trade real plays, likes and reposts with other musicians instead of buying fake engagement.
Related terms
- Curator: A curator is someone who creates and maintains playlists, ranging from platform editorial teams to independent playlist owners.
- Playlist Pitching: Playlist pitching is submitting your music to playlist curators or editorial teams for potential inclusion in their playlists.
- SoundCloud Set: SoundCloud's term for a playlist, a collection of tracks grouped together under one shareable page on an artist or curator profile.
Read more
Browse the full music marketing glossary or read the guide on SoundCloud repost networks.