Playlist Search

Playlist Search is your command center for discovering Spotify playlists that match your music. Whether you're an artist looking to pitch your tracks, a label researching trends, or a curator analyzing the competitive landscape, this tool helps you find the right playlists, verify their quality, and take action—all from one interface.

Use Cases

Playlist Search helps you:

• Find placement opportunities: Discover playlists by keywords, genres, similar artists, or mood that match your music

• Research competitors: Analyze which playlists feature artists similar to you and identify gaps in your strategy

• Spot trending playlists: Sort by "Fastest Growing" to discover hot playlists gaining momentum in your genre

• Verify playlist quality: Filter by bot-free, actively maintained playlists with engaged audiences

• Access curator contacts: Get email addresses, Instagram handles, and submission platform links for direct outreach

• Manage campaigns: Export search results to CSV, save playlists to folders, and track your pitching progress

Prerequisites

• A logged-in account on artist.tools

• For advanced filters and unlimited exports: Artist Access (paid plan)

Plan-Based Access

Playlist Search features vary by plan:

Free Plan

• Search & Filters: Full access to keyword search, metric filters, contact filters, genre filtering, and folder management

• Results Display: Can see which playlists exist and basic metrics, but restricted fields appear blurred or locked:

  • Estimated Listeners: Blurred to "XXXX-XXXX /month" (tooltip explains it's an internal estimate)

  • Popularity Score: Blurred to "XX/100" (Spotify's average popularity score for playlist tracks)

  • Contact Details: Shown as locked badges (e.g., "Email 🔒", "IG 🔒") with no access to actual email addresses, Instagram handles, or submission links

  • Mini-Charts: Replaced with "Upgrade to view Mini Chart" badge

  • SEO Metrics: Search volume blurred to "XX,XXX/mo" with details hidden

• Pagination: Limited to 100 playlists per page

• Advanced Filters: Disabled (owner/artist/track IDs, exclude keywords, exact phrases)

Artist Access (Paid Plans)

• Full Data Visibility: All fields unblurred—exact listener estimates, popularity scores, and complete contact details

• Interactive Contacts: Clickable email badges (opens Gmail with pre-filled template), direct Instagram links, and submission platform access

• Advanced Features: ID-based targeting, unlimited pagination (up to 250/page), interactive sparklines, detailed SEO breakdowns

• Full Exports: CSV downloads include all fields without restrictions

Accessing Playlist Search

1. Click Search in the sidebar navigation under Tools

2. Or visit directly: app.artist.tools/search

The default view loads with sensible filters already applied: botted playlists hidden, user playlists only, and contact info required.

How to Search for Playlists

Keyword Search

Use the search bar at the top of the page to enter:

• Genres: "indie rock", "lo-fi hip hop", "country pop"

• Similar Artists: "FKJ", "Tame Impala", "Billie Eilish"

• Moods or Vibes: "chill", "upbeat", "emotional acoustic"

• Playlist Titles: "morning coffee", "workout motivation"

• Curator Names: Search by specific playlist owners

Press Enter to execute the search. Results display all playlists matching your keywords in their title, description, included genres, or featured artists.

URL Search (Direct Navigation)

Paste any Spotify URL into the search bar to jump directly to that entity's detail page:

• Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M

• Artist: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5

• Track: https://open.spotify.com/track/3n3Ppam7vgaVa1iaRUc9Lp

• User: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify

You can also paste artist.tools URLs:

• https://app.artist.tools/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M

• https://app.artist.tools/artist/0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5

This bypasses search results and takes you straight to the entity's detail page (Overview, Tracks, Contacts, Charts, and SEO tabs).

Filtering Results

Filters appear below the search bar as category buttons. Click any category to open its options in a popover. On mobile, tap the filter icon (sliders) to access all filters in a slide-out drawer.

Metrics Filters

Refine playlists by size and growth:

• Follower Range: Drag the double slider to set minimum and maximum followers (0 to 50M)

• Listener Range: Filter by estimated unique listeners (0 to 1M)

• Average Daily Growth: Set minimum followers gained per day (0+)

Contact Filters

Filter by available contact methods:

• Has Any Contact Info: Enabled by default; shows only playlists with at least one contact method

• Specific Platforms: Email, Instagram, SubmitLink, SubmitHub, Groover, DailyPlaylists

• Contacted Status: Hide playlists you've already marked as contacted, or show only those

Free users can see which playlists have contact info. Paid users unlock the full contact details (email addresses, Instagram handles, etc.) in the Contacts tab.

Quality Filters

Ensure playlist integrity:

• Hide Botted Playlists: Enabled by default; removes playlists flagged for bot activity

• Show Only Botted: Research bot patterns (not recommended for pitching)

• Tracks Added Within: Filter by recent activity (1 day, 7 days, 1 month, etc.) to find actively curated playlists

Type Filters

• User Playlists Only: Shows playlists created by individual curators (default)

• Editorial Playlists Only: Displays Spotify-owned editorial playlists

Folder Filters

Organize your workflow:

• Filter by Folder: Show only playlists saved in a specific folder

• Hide Playlists in My Folders: Exclude playlists you've already saved to focus on new discoveries

Manage folders in Dashboard.

Advanced Filters (Paid Plans Only)

For precise targeting, click Advanced to access:

• Owner IDs: Spotify user IDs (comma or newline-separated, up to 50)

• Artist IDs: Show only playlists containing tracks by specific artists (up to 50 IDs)

• Track IDs: Find playlists featuring specific tracks (up to 50 IDs)

• Playlist IDs: Include or exclude specific playlists by their Spotify IDs (up to 50)

• Genres: Filter by official Spotify genres (comma-separated, up to 50; see valid genres)

• Exclude Keywords: Hide playlists containing certain terms in titles or descriptions

• Includes Exactly: Case-sensitive exact phrase matching

Free users see advanced filters grayed out with a lock icon and the message: "Upgrade your account to use advanced filters." Click to view pricing options.

Applying and Clearing Filters

• Changes apply automatically with a short debounce (slight delay) for performance

• Click the X icon next to active filters to clear all at once

• Filters persist in the URL, so you can bookmark searches or share them with your team

Sorting and Viewing Results

Card View (Default)

Visual grid layout ideal for browsing:

• Use the Sort dropdown to order by:

  • Most Followers

  • Fastest Growing (followers per day)

  • Most Listeners

  • Highest Quality (bot-free score)

  • Lowest Quality (for research)

  • Most Popular

  • Oldest Updated

  • Newest Updated

• Each card shows playlist cover art, name, follower/listener counts, quality status, and contact availability

• Hover over cards to see sparkline trends for follower growth

Table View

Spreadsheet-style layout for power users:

• Click column headers to sort by any available metric

• Customize visible columns: show/hide fields based on your workflow

• Common columns include: playlist name, owner, follower count, estimated listeners, popularity score, quality rating, contact availability, track count, genres, and last updated date

• Ideal for comparing playlists side-by-side or exporting detailed datasets

Toggle between views using the buttons in the top-right corner.

Pagination

• Default: 24 playlists per page

• Use pagination controls (arrows, page numbers) or the dropdown to change page size (8–250 results per page)

• Free users: Limited to 100 results per page

• Paid users: Up to 250 results per page

Viewing Playlist Details

Click any playlist card or row to open the full detail view, which includes:

• Overview: Historical follower growth charts, quality score, bot detection status, and key metrics

• Tracks: Complete tracklist with stream counts, artist names, and add dates

• Contacts: Curator email addresses, Instagram handles, and submission platform links (paid plans only for full details)

• Charts: Visualizations of growth trends, listener estimates, and engagement patterns

• SEO: Where the playlist ranks in Spotify search for specific keywords and markets

Exporting Search Results

Users on Industry Access or Developer Access plans can export search results to CSV for bulk outreach, campaign tracking, and team collaboration.

CSV Export via UI

Export up to 250 playlists per page from any of these pages:

• Playlist Search (/search)

• Artist Pages (/artist/:id)

• Dashboard (/)

• Curator Pages (/curator/:id)

• SEO Dashboard (/seo)

• Keyword Pages (/keyword/:keyword/:market)

Steps:

1. Apply filters to narrow results to your target playlists

2. Click the Download button at the top of the results

3. The CSV downloads with all visible playlists and columns (followers, listeners, quality score, growth metrics, and any available contact information)

Programmatic Export via API (Developer Access)

Developer Access users can use the Search Endpoint to export up to 500 playlists at once, enabling more efficient and programmatic bulk data retrieval.

Key Benefits:

• Larger batch sizes (500 vs 250 per request)

• Automate exports for recurring campaigns

• Integrate playlist data into your own tools or workflows

For API documentation and authentication details, see the Developer Portal.

Taking Action on Playlists

Contacting Curators

1. Open a playlist detail page

2. Navigate to the Contacts tab

3. View available contact methods (email, Instagram, submission platforms)

4. For email: Use the pre-filled email template with curator name, playlist name, and top artists auto-populated

5. Click Send in Gmail to open the template in Gmail and customize your pitch

For detailed guidance on crafting effective pitches, see Contact Playlists with Playlist Search.

Saving to Folders

1. Select playlists using checkboxes (Card or Table view)

2. Click Add to Folder in the Actions menu

3. Choose an existing folder or create a new one

4. Track your outreach progress and mark playlists as contacted

Marking as Contacted

After reaching out to a curator:

1. Open the playlist detail page

2. Click the Mark as Contacted button

3. Use the "Hide playlists you've marked as Contacted" filter in future searches to focus on new opportunities

Limitations and Known Behaviors

• Keyword Logic: Searches require ALL query terms to appear in the playlist (title, description, genres, or artist names), but not in any particular order. There's no OR logic—typing "rock OR pop" searches for the exact phrase "rock OR pop," not playlists matching either genre. You can also search for contact information like email addresses or Instagram handles.

• Genres: Only official Spotify genres are supported. Custom or misspelled genres return zero results. Verify valid genres at everynoise.com.

• Advanced Filter Complexity: ID-based searches via Advanced filters (owner, artist, track IDs) are very quick. ID exclusions (via "Hide my contacted playlists" or "Hide playlists in my folders") are generally fast unless you have tens of thousands of saved playlists, which can impact performance. However, "Exclude Keywords" and "Includes Exactly" filters can be slow because they use regex and consume more resources, especially in broad searches where you haven't entered a keyword or applied other refining filters.

• Pagination Limits: The system uses cursor-based pagination with session limits (45 minutes) and computational budgets. Large page jumps or attempting to access very high page numbers may trigger pagination errors. Always paginate sequentially when working with large result sets, especially via the API.

• Bot Detection: Bot flagging is probabilistic based on growth patterns, engagement ratios, and demographic anomalies. No system is 100% accurate; occasional false positives or negatives may occur. Learn more in How Does artist.tools Detect Botted Playlists?

• Data Freshness: Results cache for 60 minutes and refresh every 5 minutes. A snackbar may appear: "Data may be up to 5 minutes old."

• Mobile Drawer Behavior: On mobile, the filter drawer closes when tapping outside. Unsaved changes are lost. Apply filters before closing the drawer.

• Editorial Playlist Contacts: Spotify editorial playlists don't have public contact info. Attempting to filter for both "Editorial Playlists" and "Has Any Contact Info" will gray out one option with a tooltip explaining the conflict.

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Symptom: Empty state message: "No playlists found. Try broadening your search or adjusting filters."

Common Causes:

• Overly specific or misspelled keywords

• Invalid genre names (check everynoise.com)

• Too many active filters narrowing results to zero

• Conflicting filter combinations (e.g., mutually exclusive criteria)

Fix: Remove some filters, simplify your search query, or verify genre spelling. If you're using Advanced filters, try removing them to see if they're causing the issue.

Filter Conflicts

Symptom: Certain filter toggles are grayed out with a tooltip.

Cause: Incompatible filter combinations (e.g., "Editorial Playlists Only" + "Has Any Contact Info").

Fix: Unselect one of the conflicting filters. The tooltip explains which filters are incompatible.

Slow Searches and Timeouts

Symptom: After 5 seconds, a toast appears with the title "Still loading your data..." or you see an error: "Something went wrong - The search timed out, which can occur with abnormal filter combinations."

Cause: Advanced filters with large ID lists or complex keyword exclusions can slow down searches. Searches may time out when the backend cannot complete the query efficiently.

Fix:

• Reduce the number of IDs (keep under 20 for best performance)

• Simplify keyword logic and remove complex "Exclude Keywords" filters

• Try a few more times, as transient issues can sometimes resolve

• If the problem persists, try a different search query or fewer filters

Pagination Errors

Deep pagination (navigating to high page numbers) can trigger several errors due to backend performance limits. These errors are more common when using the API directly, as the UI typically prevents these conditions.

Requested Page Jump is Too Large

Symptom: Error message "Requested page jump is too large" with details about which page you requested and the nearest available page.

Cause: You attempted to jump to a page number that's too far from your current position (e.g., jumping from page 1 to page 1000). The system limits how far you can skip ahead in a single request.

Fix: Start at the suggested nearest available page and navigate sequentially through pages instead of making large jumps.

Deep Pagination Exceeded Budget

Symptom: Error message "Deep pagination exceeded budget" with details about the requested page and nearest available page.

Cause: Building the pagination cursor chain to reach your requested page is too computationally expensive. The system has tiered limits (reasonable, degraded, hard-stop) based on the number of backend calls and time required.

Fix: Start at the suggested nearest available page and page through results sequentially. For bulk data retrieval, use the API with smaller page sizes and sequential pagination.

Pagination Cursor Missing

Symptom: Error indicating the system walked to the requested page but found no cursor there, with details about the nearest available page.

Cause: You requested a page beyond what has been pre-built by the pagination system, or the cursor expired (45-minute session limit).

Fix: Start at the suggested nearest available page and navigate sequentially. If working with large result sets over extended periods, restart your search from page 1 to refresh the session.

Requested Page Exceeds Available Pages

Symptom: Error indicating you requested a page number higher than the total number of pages available (e.g., "You requested page 100 but there are only 25 pages available").

Cause: The page number in your request is beyond the actual number of results matching your search criteria.

Fix: Start at page 1 and navigate sequentially. The error details will show the total number of pages available. Double-check your page parameter if using the API.

Export Errors

Symptom: "Export too large; reduce page size."

Cause: Exports are limited to 250 playlists per page. Attempting to export more playlists than this limit will fail.

Fix: Apply additional filters to narrow your results or change the page size to 100 or less, then export in batches. API users with Developer Access can use the Search Endpoint to retrieve up to 500 playlists per request programmatically.

No Results from URL Paste

Symptom: You paste a URL, but the search returns no playlists.

Cause: The URL format isn't recognized as a valid Spotify or artist.tools link, so it's treated as a keyword search instead.

Fix: Ensure you're pasting a complete URL with https:// prefix. Valid formats:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/<entity>/<id>

• artist.tools: https://app.artist.tools/<entity>/<id>

If the URL is missing https:// or uses a different domain, it will be interpreted as text and likely find nothing.

What's Next

Now that you know how to search for playlists, explore these related guides:

• Contact Playlists with Playlist Search – Learn how to craft effective pitches and reach curators

• How Does artist.tools Detect Botted Playlists? – Understand the bot detection algorithm

• Spot Playlist Trends with Keyword Explorer – Use search data to identify trending genres and keywords

• Dashboard – Manage your saved playlists and track outreach progress

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered in this guide:

• Check your filters: Clear all filters and try a simple keyword search first

• Test with a Spotify URL: Paste a known playlist URL to verify the feature is working

• Review your plan: Confirm you have the necessary access for advanced features at Pricing

• Contact support: If problems persist, include your search query, active filters, and any error messages in your support request