What’s next for playlist innovation?

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by Keith Jopling

4 Mar 2019

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playlisting playlists product innovation Strategy streaming innovation streaming playlists

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In this era of access to all music and everything about it, I do enjoy reading artist interviews, and pay attention to artists’ views on the modern music industry.

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Andrew McCluskey
We're still working this out but - what if the evolution here is not so much technology driven but more human / community driven through the democratization of tastemaking. While in the past, label A&R and Radio programmers were the gatekeepers - and to some extent the curated playlists and algo derived weekly lists on the streaming platforms continue that role - but today - the rise of social media combined with tools like soundsgood - enable the music lover - outside of the music business - to compete for an audience. We've been developing this approach at musicto.com for a couple of years now and we've been learning a lot along the way - but it's remarkable that the lists that continue to grow are the ones that excel when it comes to adding context - that give the listener / follower a reason to come back and hear what track has been added that week and why . We've still got a long way to go but I'm super optimistic about the future.
Keith Jopling
Alex thanks for the comment nice to know you enjoyed the piece. It's interesting times indeed. If you look at BBC Sounds, you can see a radio brand trying to do something different there mixing up the new formats available. That's very much the plan for Song Sommelier too, so keep your eye on the project! I will check out Pollen though thanks. I saw a glimpse of something good from Spotify as well in a test, but it seems to have gone dark for now!
Jonathan Robinson/ ThinkMusic
Interesting piece, Keith. Spotify playlists have, in my experience, gotten lazy with tracks not changing for weeks on end... and I'm not talking Rap Caviar here, i.e. I don't think playlist payola is in play on some playlists that I listen to... so I'm now going off-piste. Utterly bored with what should be a great way to find great music.
Andrea Young
hi Keith, I've been a curator through my radio shows and now through Spot playlists -- and I run a marketing company focused on playlisting promotion, based on a vision of having thousands of artists getting more exposure for their music through independent playlisters on the streaming platforms. I couldn't agree more that we haven't yet found the key to unlocking the general listening public's passion for listening through playlists. I also agree that its just too difficult for all but the most educated of us to do -- wading through Spotify's playlists on my Spot user profile is a nightmare for starters, and its just not convenient enough to stop everything and keep asking Alexa or Siri to add tracks to my own playlists and then organize from there. This from someone (me) who has forever passionately created mixtapes and playlists! Thanks for your great insights in this article, will share with our team and on socials as food for further thought.
Alex Donelly
I'm with you Keith that one size doesn't fit all & context is all - that's why quality curated music radio is still strong in some areas. I definitely feel 2019 will see the growth of more curated head & mind space playlists that echo the comp tape swap world where musical genres rubbed together in the hands of the local pied piper curator.Let's hope DSP's see the value in a bit more artwork & text context. Meanwhile I'm enjoying the Spotify POLLEN playlist & look forward to digging into The Song Sommelier