One thing to know about me is that I’m obsessed with my Spotify. I would say I have too many playlists, but we all know there’s no such thing as too many playlists. The routine usually goes something like this: I carefully curate a new playlist based on the vibe I’m going for, listen to that playlist and nothing else 24/7, get sick of it, and then scramble to find new music for a new one, thus completing the cycle. Having gone through this cycle many times, I’ve gotten pretty good at discovering new music whenever that step of the cycle comes, and I’m here to share some of my Spotify tricks with you just in time for your new summer playlist.
- Daily Mixes
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Many people are fans of Discover Weekly, and if you want to discover new music totally blind, then Discover Weekly is for you. Personally, I often have a certain mood or vibe in mind and need to know my new music fits along those lines. Spotify creates about six Daily Mixes, each fitting a genre you listen to often. For example, I’ve been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and The Velvet Underground recently, so one of my Daily Mixes is usually made of a 60s/70s rock mix of songs that I listen to frequently and ones I have yet to listen to. Daily Mixes are my favorite way to still listen to songs I know while discovering similar new ones.
- The “Recommended” List
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The option I probably use most often is the “recommended” list under each of my playlists. Under each one of your playlists there is a list titled “recommended” where Spotify recommends songs that they think will fit well in that playlist. This is a quick and easy way to find new songs! Just put songs that you don’t recognize in your queue and see if they fit your vibe.
Bonus tip: Like what you heard? Click on that artist and queue up their top three songs. Maybe you just found a new favorite artist!
- Creating a Similar Playlist
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This one only works on a computer, but it’s pretty simple. Find a playlist that you like, click the three dots under the playlist title, and click “Create Similar Playlist.” What this does is it creates a second entirely new playlist with songs that it thinks you’d like based on your original playlist. I don’t use this often, but when I’m feeling fancy I try this out.
- Bonus: TikTok
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Technically, this isn’t a Spotify trick, I know. However, I’ve found a lot of new music through a whole range of small creators with music recommendations based off of artists I already like. Once I saved a few that came up on my For You Page, the rest came flooding, so I recommend seeing if anything pops up and going from there!
There are a whole lot of other ways to discover new music, but these are are my go-to tricks whenever I feel like discovering new songs. And if all else fails, check out my summer playlist on the UMass Amherst Her Campus Spotify here for some inspiration!
