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Gear up for your summertime listening and learn how to utilize more Spotify features. Here are five things that you likely didn’t know you could do with Spotify playlists. I’ve been using Spotify for as long as I can remember, and these things took a while for me to discover. Some are features I stumbled upon randomly, and some were functions I desired and realized were possible after a bit of research.
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Items Mentioned and Other Related Content
See Amy’s public playlists on Spotify
Building a Lending Library of Piano-Themed Children’s Books
Listening Playlists to Accompany Music-Themed Children’s Books
Music-Themed Comic Books for Your Studio Lending Library
Transcript
Hey there, lovely teacher friends. Amy Chaplin here. It’s the first week of June, and today’s episode is one that I hope will help kick off your summer. There’s something about summertime and music playlists that just go together.
I can envision listening to tunes while spending time outside in the garden, mowing the yard, taking a walk, enjoying lazy days at the pool, or going for a slow Sunday afternoon drive with the windows down.
If you’re on my email list, last weekend, I shared my Spotify Memorial Day playlist. It contained a dozen pieces focused on honoring and mourning those lost while serving in the armed forces. Creating playlists is a little hobby of mine – something I would call a “little life joy”.
Today, I want to share five things that you likely didn’t know you could do with Spotify playlists. I’ve been using Spotify for as long as I can remember, and these things took a while for me to discover. Some are features I stumbled upon randomly, and some were functions I desired and realized were possible after a bit of research.
As an added bonus, I’ve included screenshot images of what I talk about in the episodes in the full show notes which will include everything I mention in today’s episode at PianoPantry.com/podcast/episode123
Before I drop the goods, I want to take a moment to thank those in my Patreon community for helping this podcast remain ad-free with their regular monthly support. A special shout-out to Marian P, one of my newest supporters. Visit PianoPantry.com/patreon to join today.
The first thing you likely didn’t know you could do with Spotify playlists is to customize the album artwork that is auto-generated when you add items to a playlist.
When you start creating a playlist and adding songs to it, Spotify will automatically add a thumbnail image comprised of pictures from four of the songs in the list.
As someone who shares a lot of public playlists, at one point it hit me that I didn’t like the vibe the thumbnail gave to the playlist when I went to share it. I then discovered you can actually force that auto-generated image to change by reordering the songs in the playlist.
It’s created by the first four items. The order of those 4 items determines which image is in the top right, top left, bottom right, and bottom left of that thumbnail. Changing it can really make a difference in making the playlist look more appealing.
You can also customize the album artwork by uploading your own image. You don’t have to let it stay on the default thumbnail generated by the first songs in the list.
Uploading a custom image was most useful to me when creating playlists for music-themed children’s books. On the Piano Pantry blog I did a series on building a library of music-themed children’s books and comic books in your studio. I also created listening playlists on Spotify to accompany some of the books. You can download a free printable bookmark with a QR code to stick inside the books so students and families can easily access the playlist.
The second thing you likely didn’t know you could do with Spotify playlists is create folders for playlists.
You would think this one would be intuitive but I think the reason it took me longer to discover is because a lot of times I will start a playlist from one song. When you select the three dots next to a song and select “add to playlist” you can either add that song to a current playlist or “create a new playlist.” There is no option to create playlist folders from there.
The other place to start a new playlist is on the left sidebar, just above where your playlists are listed. Click on the plus symbol, and from there, you can select “create a new playlist” OR “create a playlist folder.”
Since I rarely started from there, I never noticed the option to create folders. As your playlist collection grows, the folders can become handy for categories with a half-dozen or more playlists. Right now, I have folders for seasonal playlists, music-themed children’s books, educational and worship.
The third thing you may not have known you could do with Spotify playlists is sort the order in which you view them in the left sidebar.
You can sort them alphabetically by creator, by recently added, or by customizing the order yourself. I find this especially handy especially when listening to seasonal playlists I want to keep at the top for just a couple of weeks at a time.
The fourth item you may not have known you can do with Spotify playlists is that you can collaborate with friends to create playlists.
I’ve never used this feature myself but it’s certainly good to know that it’s available. Think about the way you might you Google Slides to collaborate on a presentation with someone else, you can set up playlists for others to be able to edit it.
The fifth and final item you can do with Spotify playlists is download them for offline listening.
I mostly use this feature when traveling so I can listen on airplanes or when we might not have good cell service. You do this from the same settings are where you have all the playlist controls. Click on the three dots for the playlist. From that area, you can do lots of things like edit the name of the playlist, download it for offline listening, make the playlist private or public, invite collaborators, move the playlist into a playlist folder, share, and more.
While this episode isn’t about the benefits of having Spotify Premium, you will need it in order to access many of these features, including downloading to listen offline and reordering songs. I also find it’s worth it to get it ad-free. My husband and I are on the Duo plan which is $15 a month and I believe it’s just a few dollars more to get a family plan.
Don’t forget, you can see screenshots of everything I talked about today in the full show notes. Click on the link inside your podcast provider’s show notes or visit directly at PianoPantry.com/podcast/episode123.
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Have a great start to your summer and I’ll see you next week!
