How to track record label releases automatically

A lot of music discovery advice starts with artists.

Follow the artist. Wait for the next single. Let the apps surface the rest.

That works if you listen artist-first.

But plenty of people do not. Sometimes the real signal is the label. You notice the same imprint on records you keep saving. You trust a label's taste more than the average recommendation feed. You know that if a certain label puts something out, it is at least worth a listen.

That is especially true in electronic music, underground rap, indie niches, ambient, jazz, and any scene where labels act more like curators than faceless distributors.

Once you start listening that way, the usual workflow gets awkward fast.

You can follow artists. You can save playlists. You can check release pages manually. You can piece together alerts from a few different places.

But none of that feels automatic.

If you want a reliable system, the goal is simple: pick the labels you care about once, then stop doing repeated manual checks.

Why label tracking matters

A good label can do more for discovery than a long list of artist follows.

An artist might release once or twice a year. A strong label can surface a steady stream of related music and introduce you to people you would never have found by searching names one by one.

That makes label tracking useful for:

listeners who follow scenes more than star artists
DJs and selectors who need a steady flow of new music
people who discover music through credits, collaborators, and label ecosystems
anyone who is tired of checking the same pages every Friday

The awkward part is that the biggest listening apps are still centered on artists.

Spotify's own help pages describe its follow flow in terms of artists, podcasts, and shows. Spotify also says artist followers get new music through tools like Release Radar and the What's New feed. Release Radar updates every Friday and pulls in new music from artists a listener follows, artists they listen to, and other artists Spotify thinks they will like.

That is useful, but it tells you what the system is built around.

It is built around artist follows and Spotify's own recommendations, not around maintaining a clean watchlist of labels.

So if labels are the real unit of discovery for you, you usually end up building a workaround.

What "automatic" should mean

When people say they want to track label releases automatically, they usually mean three things:

they want to know as soon as a label has a new release
they want the music to land in one place they already use
they do not want to keep checking label pages by hand

That last part is the important one.

A setup is not really automatic if it still depends on you remembering to open five tabs and compare what changed since last week.

For most listeners, a practical setup should do two things well:

collect new releases from the labels you care about
notify you or update a playlist without extra manual work

If it does not do both, it is probably just a slightly nicer version of checking things yourself.

The manual options that can work

Before getting into dedicated tools, it is worth looking at the options people already use.

Some of them are genuinely useful. They just tend to break once you try to scale them.

1. Follow the label on Bandcamp when you can

If the labels you care about are active on Bandcamp, Bandcamp is one of the cleanest built-in options available.

Bandcamp's own help docs are unusually direct here. It says a label site has a Follow button, and that following the label adds you to the label mailing list. Bandcamp also says followers can be notified of all of that label's releases by email and through the fan music feed.

That is a real label-first workflow, not a workaround.

Bandcamp also documents that fans can manage who they are following under a list that includes artists, labels, and fans. And if you unfollow an artist or label, Bandcamp says you stop receiving notifications and stop seeing them in your feed.

So if a label uses Bandcamp properly, this is one of the easiest ways to keep up.

The catch is obvious: it only helps when the label actually uses Bandcamp as an active release channel.

2. Use Spotify, but accept that it is mostly a workaround

Spotify can still be part of a label-tracking setup. It just is not a complete label-tracking system on its own.

For listeners, Spotify's documented release notification flow is centered around following artists. Release Radar updates every Friday, and Spotify says it draws from artists you follow, artists you listen to, and other artists it thinks you will like. Spotify also says followers get new music through Release Radar and the What's New feed.

That is good if your favorite labels release music by artists you already follow.

It is less reliable when your goal is: show me every new release from this label, even if I do not already follow the artist.

The manual Spotify workaround usually looks like this:

find the label's own profile, if it has one
save any official label playlists
keep an eye on those playlists for changes
combine that with your normal artist follows

This can work for a small number of labels.

But even Tracknack's own Release Radar comparison page points out the core problem: some labels have playlists of their full discography on Spotify, but they can be hard to find and harder to keep track of because you are not automatically notified when they change.

That is the limit.

Spotify is a strong place to listen. It is not a strong place to maintain a listener-facing label watchlist without extra help.

3. Use Discogs for context, not weekly checking

Discogs is extremely useful if you care about labels in a deeper way.

Its own glossary says label pages contain the label's discography along with additional information like biography and images. Discogs also documents that release pages can be filtered by label and companies.

That makes Discogs good for:

confirming whether a release belongs to the label you think it does
browsing a label's broader catalog
tracing side imprints and related releases
checking credits and metadata when Spotify is thin on detail

What Discogs is not, for most people, is a frictionless listening workflow.

It is better as the place you use to understand a label's catalog, not the place you want to refresh every week.

Where manual tracking starts to break

The first few labels are easy.

You follow one on Bandcamp, save a couple of Spotify playlists, maybe keep a shortlist of Discogs pages, and it feels manageable.

Then you add a few more.

That is usually when the whole setup starts turning into admin.

A manual system tends to break in the same ways every time:

you spend more time checking than listening
different labels live in different places, so nothing stays organized
you lose the context behind why a track showed up
the setup does not scale past a small list

A workaround can be fine for three labels. It gets old fast at ten.

At that point, the problem is not discipline. The problem is that the workflow is doing too much repeated low-value work.

The practical way to automate label tracking

If label-first discovery matters to you, the cleanest long-term solution is simple:

keep using the platforms where the music already lives
use databases like Discogs for context and structure
let one tool handle the repeated checking and collection

That is the gap Tracknack is built for.

Tracknack's product pages are very direct about this. It lets you follow record labels and get their latest releases automatically. It creates a Spotify playlist, keeps it up to date, and can send email notifications when new tracks are added. Tracknack also uses data from Discogs and Spotify to work out what was released, who worked on it, and which label it came out on.

That changes the workflow in an important way.

Instead of checking a label page, checking a playlist, and repeating the same process next week, you can follow the labels you care about once and let the system keep watch.

That is much closer to what people usually mean when they say they want automation.

Tracknack's own comparison page also notes that playlist updates can be set to happen on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on what you want.

That matters because not everyone listens the same way. Some people want a weekly digest. Some want things as soon as they land. Some want a slower queue they can work through without the playlist turning into noise.

A simple setup that works in real life

If you want something practical instead of overbuilt, this is a solid label-tracking setup.

Step 1: Start with a short label list

Do not begin with every label you vaguely recognize.

Start with five to ten labels that already produce a meaningful share of the music you actually save.

If you cannot explain why a label belongs on the list, it probably does not belong there yet.

Step 2: Keep Bandcamp in the mix where it is strong

If a label is active on Bandcamp, follow it there too.

Bandcamp is still excellent for direct label communication, especially in scenes where labels treat Bandcamp like a primary home rather than an afterthought.

You do not need to choose one source only. Use the strengths of each one.

Step 3: Use one listening destination

This is where people often make the setup harder than it needs to be.

You do not need three different inboxes for new music.

The easiest workflow is to have one place where new label releases collect, then use other sources only for context.

For Spotify users, that usually means one playlist you trust.

Step 4: Set a notification pace you will actually keep up with

Too many alerts make people ignore all of them.

If your listening habits are casual, a weekly update is usually enough. If you DJ, curate, or simply hate missing release day, daily updates can make more sense.

The right frequency is the one you will keep paying attention to.

Step 5: Review the list and cut hard

The goal is not to follow the maximum number of labels.

The goal is to follow the right labels.

Every so often, ask the obvious question: did this label keep delivering music I cared about?

If not, remove it.

A smaller, sharper label list is almost always better than a bloated one.

If you run a label, the problem is slightly different

There is a listener side to this, and there is a label-operator side.

If you run a label, your problem is not only how to keep up with releases you like. It is also how to present your catalog cleanly and keep playlists current without manual upkeep.

Spotify does have tools for label teams inside Spotify for Artists. Spotify says joining a label team lets you view your label's entire catalog in one place, and releases can be filtered across that catalog. That is useful for the business side.

But that is not the same as building a listener-friendly release stream.

That is why Tracknack has a separate label-focused setup as well. On the Tracknack for Labels page, the feature is framed around keeping the newest releases on top and notifying you when playlists update, so you do not have to keep checking and rearranging things manually.

What not to do

A few habits make label tracking harder than it needs to be.

Do not treat every label the same

Some labels are true discovery engines for your taste. Some are occasional hits. Some are too broad to be useful.

If you follow all of them the same way, your release flow gets noisy fast.

Do not rely on memory

If your system depends on remembering to check a playlist later, it is not a system.

It is a loose intention.

Do not force one platform to do everything

Bandcamp, Spotify, and Discogs are all useful, but they are not doing the same job.

Use each one for what it is good at. Trying to make one platform handle everything usually creates more friction, not less.

The short version

If you want to track record label releases automatically, the most reliable approach is not to hunt for one magical platform that does everything natively.

It is to build a lean workflow around how labels actually publish music.

Use Bandcamp when a label is active there. Use Discogs when you need catalog context. Keep listening in the platform you already use. Then let automation handle the repeated checking.

If you are on Spotify and you want a clean listener workflow, that usually means using a tool built for label-first tracking rather than recreating the process manually with saved pages and playlist checks.

That is the difference between "I should remember to check this label" and "new music is already waiting for me when I open Spotify."