How Good is DistroKid's Wheel of Playlist?

I spent 30 days playing what feels like the most productive game of roulette in my music career. Let me explain.

For those that don’t know, for the past ten years DistroKid has been a staple for bedroom producers and beat makers because they are the most affordable and easiest way to get your music onto Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. The hardest part about releasing your own music has always been the marketing and the promotion. When you self-release (uploading your own song through DistroKid), it’s on you to get ears to hear your songs. All promo and marketing is on you. You can send tracks to playlists, influencers, and curators to try and get it heard. It’s a lot easier if you get a song signed through a record label, but this is not the norm, and even then there is a level of promo that can fall on you depending on the label. This is about my 30 day experiment trying something new with a self-release.

So my brother and I released this record called Tyk Tyk (Knock Knock) - a Russian dance song about woodpeckers, because why not? Instead of falling into the usual trap of paying for playlist pitches or desperately DMing playlist curators, I decided to try something different with DistroKid's "Wheel of Playlist."

Think of it as a daily spin-the-wheel game where your song can land anywhere from position 1 to nearly 3000 on their playlists. The catch? If someone else spins your number, you get bumped. But here's where it gets interesting - you get to spin again. Over 30 days, I spun that wheel 117 times like it was my full-time job. My best placement? Number 16. My worst? A humble 2864. I managed to snag two top 100 spots and about 13 under 1000, with the rest scattered across the higher numbers like confetti.

The daily ritual became almost meditative. Wake up, coffee, spin the wheel. Get bumped off a playlist? Spin again. It's funny how quickly you develop a personal relationship with numbers. Anything under 100 feels like winning the lottery. Under 500? Still pretty good. Over 2000? Well, at least you're still in the game. There's something oddly compelling about this digital version of musical chairs.

What really grabbed my attention was watching the numbers climb. Each day brought new listeners, new engagement, new possibilities. It's like planting seeds and watching them grow, except these seeds are algorithmic and the garden is Spotify's vast ecosystem of playlists and recommendations.

Now, you might be thinking, "That sounds like a lot of work for potentially little reward." But here's where the modern music ecosystem gets fascinating. These playlists have over 100k saves, and Spotify's algorithm pays attention to that. It's like showing up to a party where everyone's already having a good time - the algorithm notices. In just 30 days, with zero promotional budget and armed only with my daily spins, the track pulled in over 5000 plays.

Let's put that in perspective. In the pre-streaming era, getting 5000 people to listen to your music meant pressing and selling actual physical copies, or somehow getting radio play. The barrier to entry was massive. Now? It's about understanding and working with these new systems. It's less about who you know and more about how well you can play the long game.

The thing about Spotify's algorithm that most people don't realize is that it's constantly learning and adapting. Every playlist placement, every play, every save - it all feeds into this complex web of data that determines whether your track gets recommended to new listeners. When you land on a playlist with 200k saves, you're not just getting exposure to those potential listeners - you're sending signals to the algorithm that your music is playlist-worthy.

I think there's something profound about how the digital age has transformed music promotion. Twenty years ago, getting 5000 people to hear your Russian dance track about woodpeckers would have required a miracle (or at least a very niche radio station). Today, it just takes persistence and understanding how these platforms work. It's not about gaming the system - it's about participating in it intelligently.

The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. No complicated marketing strategies, no paying for fake streams or questionable promotion services. Just you, a wheel, and the patience to keep showing up. It's almost like those old arcade games where you had to keep feeding quarters to stay in play, except the quarters are your time and attention.

What fascinates me most is how this kind of feature democratizes music promotion in its own weird way. Whether you're a bedroom producer or a seasoned artist, everyone gets the same spin of the wheel. The algorithm doesn't care about your follower count or your industry connections - it cares about engagement patterns and playlist presence.

And let's talk about that algorithm for a minute. It's like this invisible DJ that's constantly scanning the landscape, looking for signals about what songs people might like. When you consistently show up on playlists, even if you're at position 2864, you're giving that DJ more data to work with. Every play, every save, every playlist add is a small vote of confidence that could lead to bigger opportunities.

There's also something to be said about the psychological aspect of this approach. When you're not obsessing over immediate numbers or trying to force viral success, you can focus on the long game. It's liberating in a way. Instead of stressing about marketing budgets or promotional strategies, your main task is to remember to spin a wheel each day. It's probably the most zen approach to music promotion I've ever experienced.

For the first release under this artist name, I'd say this experiment worked out pretty well. Sure, 5000 plays might not sound like much in a world where viral hits rack up millions, but for a self-released track about woodpeckers in Russian? I'll take it. More importantly, it's organic growth - real people finding and playing the track through legitimate playlists.

I think we're just scratching the surface of how these algorithmic promotion tools will shape independent music distribution. The old gatekeepers are being replaced by new ones, but at least these new ones let you spin a wheel every day. It's democratizing music promotion in its own strange, digital way.

What's next? Well, I'll keep spinning that wheel, watching those numbers, and maybe write more songs about woodland creatures. Because in this new landscape of music distribution, sometimes the most effective strategy is also the simplest: show up consistently, play the long game, and trust in the process. After all, if a Russian dance track about woodpeckers can find its audience, anything is possible.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

EDIT: This whole post was about using the Distrokid Wheel Playlist, however, it has now been made apparent that this playlist is fodder for bot playlists to save. Meaning artificial streams are likely to plague your song if you use this service and your songs may be flagged. I am going to be digging into this, reaching out to both Distrokid and Spotify directly.