THE OFA ANATOMY

PLAYLISTP E R F E C T

BY DANNY GARCIA

Though this practice is common and effective, it only scratches the surface. Very few independent curators can take their lists from amateur to professional, and create scalable lists that survive the test of time.

Here are some tipsfor optimizing your playlist to create a lasting and scalable product!

There’s so many songs out there to choose from, and when New Music Friday comes around it’s super tempting to add your new favorite song to your playlist, but always make sure to keep your playlists at a manageable size.

On average, 50 Songs in total at a given time is the magic number. This not only allows your listeners to get through every song, but also gives every artist on our playlist a chance to be listened to. A playlist with 300 songs can seem awesome at first, but no one has 19 hours of spare listening time to get through the huge song library you’ve compiled.

Keeping your playlist at a good number of songs will also allow you to better curate the list - letting you put meaning behind each song add to create an awesome journey for your listeners!

Spotify Playlists have always been a bit of a mystery to listeners,

curators, and artists alike. More often than not, Playlist Curators

find themselves copying the “Golden Standard” of Playlists:

Spotify’s own Official lists.

the Fluff

LOSE Playlists Aren’t Your Library

1

Keep It

FRESHThe beauty of Spotify Playlists is that with the plethora of new releases on a weekly basis, you have a new opportunity to engage your listeners further and show off your amazing curatorial skills. Especially if your list is in a genre that has new current releases. Updating at least 50% of your list on a weekly basis is a must, and can be easily done through one of our many Auto Curation features on Playlister Club.

This rule applies to most genres, unless you’re doing Movies, TV soundtracks, or old music that is no longer being released. Treat your playlist like a living ecosystem - those who don’t maintain their lists are bound to fail.

2

Even though your favorite artist might have just released a full length album, never add more than 5 songs by the same artist on your playlist (unless you’re creating an artist-specific playlist, of course).

Repeat adds like this can become tedious to listen to, and even cause skip rates on your playlist to increase: A playlister’s worst nightmare! Make sure to sprinkle in intriguing tracks that your listeners may have never heard - which is why your listeners follow you: for you to do the discovery work for them.

3is EverythingDIVERSITY

4

Unless you’re recreating the Billboard Top 40 Chart in a playlist, always be sure to sprinkle in some undiscovered, or less popular tracks you think will fit into your list. Not only will it help these artists gain new listeners, it also helps your credibility as a curator: you could have a role in breaking the stars of the future!

All AboutIT’S NOTPOPULARITY

5

Make It

FLOWThis could be considered the #1 rule of curating a killer list: listen through to the flow of the list and make sure the list has no abrupt cuts or stops. Creating an overall flow from each song to the next is imperative. The first 5 tracks on your playlist are an opportunity for you to capture your listener, making them the most essential tracks to carefully select. These first 5 tracks are also the songs that will get the highest amount of plays on your playlist! An estimated 80% of listeners decide whether to follow playlist or not within the first 5 tracks.

One of the best practices to achieve an awesome flow is through genre consistency. If you choose to mix genres make sure to do it in an elongated format and not abruptly, this will let your listeners spend more time listening to your list and lower your song skip rate.

All in all, curating a great playlist may seem like a big challenge, but with practice over time, following certain guidelines, and using tools like Playlister Club to make your curation job easier, your playlist is sure to be the next big channel on Spotify!

About Playlister Club

Playlister is the first online feature set & lively social community built by playlisters, for playlisters.

Where playlisters play!

www.playlister.club info@playlister.club