How to track DJ support for unreleased promos

An unreleased promo is the hardest kind of track to follow. It has no catalogue entry, recognition apps don’t know it, and in tracklists it shows up as “ID”. Yet this is the stage when DJ support matters most: it is what makes a label sign the track, a bigger DJ ask for it, and a release land with momentum.

This guide is a routine you can run for every promo, from the day you send it to the weeks after release.

Step 1: Prepare the promo so a play can be traced

Small choices before you send make plays much easier to recognise later.

• One clear name. “Artist – Title (Extended Mix)” everywhere: the file name, the private link, your message. If you rename the track later, keep a note of the old name.
• Know your track’s fingerprint by ear. Pick the two or three moments nobody else has: the vocal hook, the lead, the break. Those are what you’ll listen for in a noisy phone clip.
• A private link per campaign. Many promo platforms and private streaming links tell you who opened and downloaded. That is not a play, but it tells you who to watch first.

Step 2: Keep the send list

Write down who you sent the track to, the date, and the version. This list is the base of everything else: it tells you whose posts to check, and later it tells you your play rate (how many of the DJs you sent it to actually played it).

Add each DJ’s Instagram handle and, if you can find it, their next few gig dates. Event listings and booking agency pages usually show them.

Step 3: Watch the right days

DJs test new music in the first weeks after they receive it, mostly at weekend gigs. You don’t need to check every account every day; you need to check the right accounts on the right days.

1. The day after each gig by a DJ on your list: their posts and reels, the posts that tag them, and the venue’s and promoter’s accounts. Our guide to finding Instagram clips has the full search order.
2. A few days later, once more. Fans and venues post later than you’d expect, and DJs often post weekly recaps.
3. Radio shows and recorded sets as they come out. A full recording with a timestamp is the strongest evidence you can get.

Step 4: Listen, then confirm

Club clips are short, loud and recorded on phones. Listen with headphones, at the moment you think you hear your track, and compare with your own file at the same point. The parts only your track has should line up for more than a few seconds. If you made an edit or remix, listen for what your version adds, not for the parts it shares with the original.

Only log a play when you are sure. A “maybe” in your records will come back to bite you when you show them to a label.

Step 5: Save the evidence the same day

For each play, save:

• The link to the post or recording, and the second where your track starts
• The DJ, the venue or event, the city and the date
• Who posted it, and the view count if it is shown

Keep the link rather than a copy of the video. The clip belongs to whoever filmed it; if you want to repost it, ask them first and credit them. Instagram’s own share button is the easiest fair way to pass it on.

Step 6: Follow up with what you found

When a DJ plays your promo, say thank you, briefly. It is good manners, it reminds them of the track, and it makes them more likely to open your next one. If they played it more than once, they are a core supporter: send them your next promo first.

For the message itself and the right timing, see what to send DJs with your promo, and how to follow up.

Common mistakes

• Counting “will support” as support. Feedback is an intention. A play is something you can link to.
• Counting downloads as plays. Many DJs download every promo they receive.
• Checking only the DJ’s own posts. A lot of footage comes from the crowd and the venue, tagged to the DJ.
• Stopping after a week. Some of the best plays come weeks later, at bigger gigs, once the DJ knows the track.
• Not writing it down. Posts get archived. A link saved on the day is worth more than a memory a month later.

Putting the numbers together

After four weeks your send list and your play log answer the questions that matter: how many DJs played it, who played it first, who played it more than once. Our guide to measuring a promo campaign shows how to turn that into a short report, and how to use it to pick the DJs for your next send.