Written By Petra Hule
Music platforms are becoming ever more popular with features that allow their users not only to listen to the music they love, but create their own world of music. Spotify is one of the most popular music platforms and is a great place for any musician or music lover.
How Does Spotify Work?
Using advanced algorithms Spotify gets to know each individual user and their music likes and dislikes, creating playlists for your every mood, vibe, or musical preferences. The easy access app is a one stop music shop. Forget the days when the only way to take music with us on the go was to download it onto our laptop or computer to then connect our phones and download them on our phone or iPod to then finally be gifted with music in our ears wherever we were. Spotify is accessible on any device, such as your laptop, tablet, smartphone, even your watch, in a world where everything syncs together.
Spotify Features
Now, not everyone is accustomed to the many features Spotify comes with, that’s why we are here to make sure you exploit every great component that is right at your fingertips to ensure you get the best experiences.
Weekly Playlist Curation
Spotify creates weekly playlists based on artists you’ve listened to, artists alike and of similar genre, allowing you to enjoy the music you already know and love, but also expand your horizons by branching out and finding more great music.
Customized Radio Stations
Another feature that connects Spotify to its users is the radio feature which gives you access to a playlist or “station” full of songs that align with a particular song you seem to enjoy. The Spotify homepage is the product of all the music and playlists your music taste has created whilst using the app with playlists from certain decades, artists, geographical location, genre, or vibe.
Not only does Spotify itself create these playlists to suit your likings, but it allows its users to create their own and share it with the world or share it with only certain people if they want it to be private. Users can interact with one another and enjoy each other’s playlists.
The best part? There must be someone out there who understands exactly how you feel to provide a playlist for the vibe you’re feeling.
How To Find Spotify Playlists
When looking for a specific mood or playlist, the first place to start is the “Made for you” section on the home page. Depending on your activity on the app, the number of playlists ranges from 3-5, with an additional playlist called “Discover Weekly” which hosts a range of new music each week and updates automatically every Monday, so you’ll always have something new to discover.
The “Daily Mix” playlists are mixtapes of songs you have played combined with new music that fit the same category. As you move through the number of mixtapes the more new music you will find.
Looking for something completely different? Let’s say you’re taking a road trip with some friends or heading to the beach, Spotify, and its users combined, are able to assist by simply searching for “beach vibes” or “road trip jams.”
Spotify appears differently depending on what device you’re using, however, opening it up on your laptop broadens the depth of playlists with “Your Time Capsule” playlist. Want to step back in time and listen to the song that reminds you of your last summer before high school or your first disco?
“Your Time Capsule” playlist combines all the oldies, but goodies which will always provide the hits, even if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. When trying to find playlists created by other users that are not automatically generated by Spotify, a couple tips and tricks to dig out the diamond in the rough are to use keywords in the search bar.
How To Create Your Own Spotify Playlists
Spotify comes with many great features and hosts thousands, if not millions of songs, playlists, and artists, however, along with being a user of their services you too can create your own playlist with the help of their song recommendations.
Say you like a song and want more songs like it, by pressing the three dots next to the song and selecting to create a new playlist, Spotify automatically recommends similar songs and artists at the bottom of the page. The rest is up to you to add songs to your liking and refresh the recommendations until you find the hidden gems.
Let’s go back to what device you might be using Spotify on as the interface changes the look of things. Of course, opening Spotify up on your laptop expands what can be done, however, it’s not detrimental to only create and discover on your laptop.
Some key tips when on any device is to look for the three dots beside a song or playlist; these three dots hold access to many functions about the individual song or playlist respectively. Within these three dots, you will be able to:
- Add what you’re listening to, to any playlist
- Add to queue, which is where you can dictate what songs play next despite what you’re listening to
- Save the song to your liked songs, share it, go to song radio, view the album or artist, or see who created it and when.
Spotify also allows you to set a sleep timer for their users who like to fall asleep to the sound of music or other sounds. Along with music, Spotify also hosts a range of podcasts and talk shows which is open to any of its users.
These premium features are accessible with Spotify Premium, however, that’s not to say the free version of Spotify is not sufficient, depending on how you’re using it. If you’re okay with not having control over what song is played in a specific album or taking a little break from music with a couple ads, then Spotify Free might just be for you. Free also gives you access to create and listen to playlists, however, it doesn’t come with the recommendations features or the ability to listen offline which can limit when and where you listen.
It’s Time To Make Your Spotify Playlist
Spotify is a great place to combine all your music interests into one, discover new music, create vibes, or just simply listen to endless amounts of music. With the help of Premium, your music experience is never-ending and it’s a guaranteed music fix, even if you don’t know what to listen to. Next time you’re looking for a playlist or wanting to create one yourself, try these tips and put them to the test, you never know what you might come across.