Who doesn’t love free marketing?
Pandora AMP gives artists several free tools for promoting music, and Featured Tracks is one of the easiest to use.
Featured Tracks is a tool that gives an eligible song increased exposure on Pandora Radio stations for up to eight weeks. During that period, Pandora introduces the track to more listeners, collects feedback and learns where the song fits best.
Basically, you pick the song and Pandora gives it a little extra gas.
What is Pandora AMP?
Pandora AMP, short for Artist Marketing Platform, is Pandora’s free set of promotional and audience tools for artists and their teams.
If you have music on Pandora but have not claimed your AMP profile yet, start with our guide to claiming your Pandora AMP account.
Featured Tracks now lives within AMP’s Fan Campaigns, which also includes Artist Audio Messages, Promote Single and Promote Show.
How Featured Tracks works
When you feature a song, Pandora gives it more spins across radio stations where its system believes the track is a good musical fit.
Pandora Radio spins are plays that happen within Pandora’s station-based listening experience. They are different from on-demand plays where somebody directly chooses a particular song.
As the Featured Track reaches more station listeners, those listeners can give Pandora feedback by using Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down.
That feedback helps Pandora continue learning which listeners respond to the song.
The promotion can run for up to eight weeks.
Which songs are eligible?
Pandora changed one of the biggest Featured Tracks rules in 2026.
There is no longer a 365-day age limit.
As a result, older catalog can now qualify for Featured Tracks instead of limiting the tool to relatively new releases.
Currently, an eligible track generally needs to:
- have no previous Featured Track campaign
- receive at least 10 Pandora Radio spins per week
- have listener feedback, such as Thumbs
Pandora also looks at engagement and other campaign-performance signals when determining eligibility.
So if a track appears unavailable even though it has enough radio spins, give it some time to collect more listener feedback.
You can feature up to six songs per year
Each artist profile can currently use Featured Tracks on up to six songs per calendar year.
That makes choosing the right songs important.
You do not have to use all six immediately. Instead, save them for moments when the extra exposure supports something else happening around the artist.
When should you feature a track?
A brand-new single might seem like the obvious answer, but you do not necessarily need to hit the Featured button the day it comes out.
Pandora recommends allowing a new track to spin organically for a few weeks first. That gives the song time to establish some radio activity and collect listener feedback before the Featured campaign begins.
Good opportunities to use a Featured Track can include:
- a new single gaining traction
- the release of a music video
- radio activity around the song
- a notable film, television or commercial placement
- the beginning of a tour
- renewed interest in an older catalog track
That last one is particularly interesting now that Pandora removed the age restriction.
An older song can have a new moment.
Pay attention to Pandora’s recommendations
Pandora added a Recommended category to Featured Tracks in 2026.
Using information from previous campaigns, Pandora can point you toward songs it predicts may be good Featured Track candidates.
However, you are not limited to those songs.
Another track can still qualify even if Pandora did not put it in the Recommended category.
Think of the recommendation as another piece of information, not an order.
How to create a Featured Track campaign
Inside Pandora AMP:
- Open the artist profile.
- Click the blue plus button.
- Choose Fan Campaign.
- Select Create Featured Track.
- Choose an eligible song.
- Select the campaign dates.
- Review the campaign and submit it.
If you cannot select a song, it does not currently meet Pandora’s eligibility requirements.
Combine it with an Artist Audio Message
If you want to add the artist’s own voice to the campaign, Pandora also offers Promote Single.
Promote Single combines a Featured Track with an Artist Audio Message, a short spoken message from the artist that plays around the music.
That lets the artist introduce the song, explain why it matters or simply ask listeners to give it a Thumb if they like it.
Our guide to Pandora Artist Audio Messages goes deeper into that tool.
Watch what happens
Featured Tracks is not just about getting extra spins.
Pandora refreshed its campaign reporting in 2026, giving artists more detailed performance information, better sorting tools and downloadable data.
A CSV is a simple spreadsheet-style file that you can download and use to analyze campaign data elsewhere.
Look at how the song performs during the campaign. Then compare that with what happened before and after the Featured period.
Did listeners give it positive feedback? Did its station activity grow? Did the song continue performing after the campaign ended?
Those answers can help you decide which songs deserve more attention in the future.
Do not save Featured Tracks only for new music
This is the biggest opportunity in the current version of the tool.
Featured Tracks used to focus largely on new releases because Pandora required songs to be relatively new.
That restriction is gone.
If an older song starts moving again because of a tour, sync placement, social moment, anniversary or something else happening around the artist, check AMP.
The track may qualify for another push even though the release itself is years old.
Featured Tracks can also help when an editorial playlist does not happen. Our guide to what to do when you don’t get playlisted covers several other ways to keep working a release.
It is free. Use it.
Featured Tracks does not guarantee that a song will become a hit.
However, Pandora gives eligible artists increased exposure inside its own radio system without charging for the campaign.
That is a pretty good deal.
Check your eligible tracks. Pick the moments that make sense. Watch the results. Then use what you learn the next time around.
Free money might have been overselling it.
Free marketing is still pretty hard to argue with.
