How To Get Your Music On Pandora: Physical CD No Longer Required

Pandora has finally opened its doors to musicians (and comics) who aren't on a label and don't have a physical CD with UPC on Amazon. This is great news for both DIY and digital-only musicians whose presence in the industry has grown stronger with the rise of EDM. Once word spreads there's likely to be a glut of music submitted and extra delays in consideration by Pandora so do submit soon and avoid the rush.

If you're trying to be findable by fans and future fans, Pandora is one of the places you would typically want to have your music available. In the past they required a CD on Amazon with a UPC code which was a barrier to entry for many DIY artists. It may sound weird but it's similar to reviewers requiring CDs. It used to be a valid way of identifying who was getting serious and who wasn't.

But things are changing and Pandora now allows direct digital submission of music that is available via iTunes (US only), Amazon.com/MP3, CD Baby or Bandcamp.

Here are the steps you'll need to take based on Pandora's guidelines:

First you'll need a free Pandora account.

You'll also need:

Contact information

Artist/band name

Name and type of release

Valid link to at least 1 of your tracks on iTunes (US only), Amazon.com/MP3, CD Baby or Bandcamp

Sign-in at Submit to Pandora using your free account login.

Then follow these steps:

Provide us with your basic contact information

Give us details about your submission including your name, release information and links to your tracks

Ensure that you have legal rights to your work and it is available on iTunes (US only), Amazon.com/MP3, CD Baby or Bandcamp

Verify your account

Note that you can only have one submission in at a time. You are asked not to submit music until that first track goes live which might be a minute. If the track is not approved, you can start over and try again with a different track.

Also note:

"If you live outside of the US, Australia and New Zealand you can still submit your music or comedy to Pandora for consideration. Please contact us here and we will create an account on your behalf. With that log-in you will be able to access submit.pandora.com."

You can find the above steps and details here but keep in mind that the submission form will walk you through it.

Best of luck and see you on Pandora!

Hat tip to the sharp eyes of Ari Herstand.

More:

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is currently relaunching All World Dance. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Share on: