Focus on Pre-save: Everything you need to know

A pre-save allows your fans to save a song or album on their streaming platform before its official release. It’s an essential step to build excitement and generate plays within the first hours of release.

On CtrlReach, pre-saves are currently available only on Spotify and Apple Music.

How to set up a Spotify Presave link

The pre-save link is slightly more specific to configure, as it depends on your track ID (ISRC) or album ID (UPC).

There are three ways to set it up on CtrlReach:

• Find and enter your ISRC
• Find and enter your UPC
• Or retrieve your Spotify URI, which looks like this: spotify:album:3hk6KO4d1iKlh8YQ8nPcgk

To configure it using the third method on CtrlReach, follow these steps:

• For an album, the URL should start with:

👉 https://open.spotify.com/album/

• For a track, the URL should start with:

👉 https://open.spotify.com/track/

Then, add the unique Spotify ID of the song or album (the one you can find directly in your Spotify link).

Example

If your Spotify link is:

spotify:album:6n0krSCXoyPZPnsb5IvtFE

Then your correct presave link will be:

👉 https://open.spotify.com/album/6n0krSCXoyPZPnsb5IvtFE

Set up your Smartlink

• Go to the Smartlink tab and click “New Smartlink.”

• Select the artist you want to create the Smartlink for, then choose the objective “Pre-save.”
• Once you’ve added your link (as explained above), you can start configuring your Smartlink.

• Add the release date and time, and make sure to select the correct time zone.
• Double-check that the date and time you enter match exactly the official release on DSPs.

• Then, create your link by adding a domain name — for example, the artist’s name — followed by the project name at the end of the link.
• Then add the artist name and the project title.

Finally, configure your landing page:

• You can add other links if you want (like a merch store or ticket website),
• Add the artwork of the project or a video,
• And, if you wish, a tracking pixel.

• Once everything is configured, click on “Save.”

After the release, the link will automatically update to the public version of the project, as long as the date and time entered in your Smartlink are correct.

Updated on: 10/10/2025