My Spotify playlist system
Posted on January 28, 2024
Just thought Iād mention this music discovery trick that Iām really enjoying.
Instead of keeping many open browser tabs, or writing things down, or emailing myself (all things I never catch up on) I add tracks I come across to a playlist called Inbox.
So songs I come across here, in the background when I go get a coffee, that friends recommend, on the radio, whatever. I may not even think Iāll like it, but if thereās a chance I will I throw it into Inbox.
I also grab stuff from Liked Songs that I already know I like but I havenāt fully metabolized. E.g. I know I like this band Wild Nothings whenever it comes on shuffle, but I havenāt taken the time to listen to their whole discog or a whole album, so I throw it into Inbox.
Then I shuffle it when I am in the mood for something new. If a song is good I add it to Liked song and remove it from Inbox. If it really stands out to me I throw it into my Stuff {year} playlist so that at the end of the year I have a snapshot of what I thought was really great music at that time.
Itās fun to go through Liked Songs and find individual songs that you liked in the past > View Album > Add to playlist > Inbox. I would never find the time to go back and listen to albums of bands anymore without this system. I think listening to entire albums is an important way to escape algorithm āengagementā burnout. You really connect with an artist, a time and a place. Spotify doesnāt do a great job of encouraging you to go down these avenues normally, its very track oriented, its inevitably going to only show you music it thinks you will like, so it becomes very samey: āyou bought a rake so would you like another rakeā kind of thing.
I like the intentionality of this system, you hear a song, you donāt really pay attention, and before you know it the next song is playing. But you need to decide does it stay in the Inbox for another listen in the future? Does it make it into Liked Songs? Or does it get removed from Inbox and fade into obscurity. I often have to go back to the previous song because I wasnāt really listening sufficiently to make this decision - and anything that makes me really listen is a plus for me.
Thank you for reading. If youād like to reach out you can get in touch on Mastodon, BlueSky.
This post originally appeared on Cohost which has now shutdown. You can read about why Cohost was good here.