BUILDING the best spotify playlists
At the very beginning of lockdown here in the UK I put out my “Uplifting Sounds for Isolated Souls” playlist on Spotify and the reaction was so positive I somehow found myself putting out a whole playlist a day until we were finally let out again. They keep on coming, I don’t think I’ve released half of the ones I started yet and I’ve certainly learned a few things about making playlists along the way, so if you’re looking to put out your own, here’s some food for thought (or if you just want to listen to some ready made ones, head on over to my page).
Establish what it’s for?
Some of my playlists such as Tuesday Blues Day or Feel Good Friday, were made to embrace or boost specific moods and others celebrated new music or explored different regions from Haiti to East Africa to Iceland! Playlists such as Too Cool To Be Classic or Throwback Thursday shared the sense of nostalgia for some classic Hip-hop that I was feeling during lockdown, whilst the likes of The Jazz Age and Discos Before Disco went further into music history as I started to explore various genres and time periods from the 1900s onwards.
But yours might be to boost your artist profile, for exercising, or for studying. It’s good to give it a sense of identity and sense of purpose before you begin.
Who’s it for?
If the playlist is just for you, then so long as you’re happy listening to it that’s all that matters, you can be as self indulgent as you like but if you’re making a public playlist then it’s good to always have your audience in mind. For me it’s an extension of DJing or even before that, making mixtapes for people.
Research
This won’t be as important for everybody, but if it’s a public playlist you want it to be the best possible. As I was often making playlists that specifically covered the birth of established scenes such as House, Hip-hop, Techno and Jungle I had to make sure I went above and beyond to see that no important tunes had been left behind. When doing a daily playlist this was a lot of work, especially when it came to including every known song played by Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage!
Most playlists on Spotify, including the official ones, are often fairly loose with genres, years and pretty much any other details, which won’t bother most people but is super frustrating for some of us.
Think about the order
Okay so most people just play Spotify on shuffle and that can’t be helped (sometimes I’d even encourage it), but a lot of my playlists I approach like a DJ mix, taking into consideration the tempos, timbre, mood and also the sound quality of each track. If there were way too many tunes (sometimes I maybe got carried away) then I put them in alphabetical order, that way it’s easier to update it if you need to and it looks a lot tidier, which believe it or not can be a factor when choosing a Spotify playlist to listen to.
Be better than the music industry
Sadly the music industry has long been a stronghold for racism, sexism and many other types of discrimination, try and do better with your playlists. It’s not always easy but if history has left out otherwise important female artists, or POC then make sure you don’t make the same mistakes in your playlists. Thankfully there are many historians and taste makers out there restoring the balance so the information is much easier to find now if you look a little deeper than usual.
Make every song count
Unless you have a rolling playlist like the one I have for 2021 releases, editing is key! I’ll hold my hands up and say that the length of some of my Spotify playlists might be a little overwhelming where I’ve worried too much about leaving certain acts off them, but at the same time nearly all of them started out much longer. Make sure you’ve not included any fillers, anything you’re not sure about just take it out - you’re the only one who’s going to miss it. I usually listen to the playlist a few times to make sure I’m happy to co-sign every track on there.
I got so lost in making them that I haven’t really thought about pushing them, but as I made them all with other people and sharing music in mind, it’s rewarding when they become popular. So my next challenge is to work out how to give them a boost. In the meantime I’ve trimmed them down from over 150 to just 30! Any tips are welcome and I’ll of course feedback with everything I’ve learned in the future.
