Are you struggling to discover new music to enjoy? Even in the age of music streaming, where we have millions of songs just a few clicks away, it's easy to fall into a rut of listening to the same old music all the time.
Contents1. Create a Spotify playlist with similar songs2. Add recommended tracks to playlists3. Let autoplay keep the music moving4. See what your friends are playing5. Consult the Discover6 tab. Use Spotify Radio7. Get help from third-party tools Spotify has more music you'll loveIf you're a Spotify user, you'll be happy to know that the streaming service has plenty of features to help you find new music. And in most cases, these features allow you to find songs similar to what you're already listening to.
So here's how to find more music you'll love on Spotify…
A little easy-to-miss Spotify tip is hiding right in the sidebar of your playlists:the ability to create a playlist similar to anything you already have.
Right-click on any playlist and you'll see several options you're probably familiar with. These include making a playlist public so others can enjoy it, downloading it for offline listening, and sharing it. There is also a Create similar playlist optional.
It is a handy tool that instantly generates a playlist of similar but different tracks for you. Try creating a playlist full of new genres you want to explore, then use this option to find more artists who perform that type of music. If your favorite playlist is getting a bit outdated, try creating a new one.
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This feature is great because it uses the playlists you've already created as the basis for recommending new music. It doesn't affect your existing playlist and you can even create a similar playlist from a similar playlist to dive even deeper. A kind of playlist creation.
Have a cool playlist idea, but don't have enough tracks to fill it? Spotify can help.
Create a new playlist by clicking New playlist on the left side of the screen, which appears above the Now Playing album cover section. Give it a name, add a description, and add custom covers if you like. Then, start adding tracks to it by dragging and dropping or right-clicking and choosing Add to Playlist .
AdvertisementOnce you have a few tracks in a playlist, click on them in the left sidebar. Scroll down and you will see Recommended Songs :Click the drop-down arrow next to this if you don't see any new tracks below.
You can play them to preview them, then press Add to send the ones you like to your playlist. Hit the Refresh to get a different selection.
This feature helps you grow a playlist, even if you can't think of the right music to complement it. Not only does this let you find similar songs that might become new favorites, but it also makes it easier to build better playlists.
AdvertisementAnother Spotify feature that's easy to overlook is Autoplay. This allows you to continue listening to music after your current song, album, or playlist ends. With autoplay, Spotify will continue to play music similar to what you just listened to.
Essentially, it automatically starts a radio station based on your previous listening session. It doesn't stop until you tell Spotify to play something else.
To make sure this feature is enabled, go to Edit>Preferences on the desktop version of Spotify. Scroll down to AutoPlay and make sure you Autoplay similar songs at the end of your music is on.
On mobile, tap Home tab, followed by the gear in the upper right corner. Open the Replay section, then enable AutoPlay zipper.
For autoplay to work, make sure you don't have Repeat enabled, then let an album or playlist run to completion. Spotify will stream more music similar to the songs you just heard.
Although you can easily disable sharing features, Spotify is still a social music service. It lets you share playlists with the world and embed music just about anywhere. But don't forget the Friends activity hidden panel on the right side of the Spotify window.
You may have hidden it a long time ago, so go to View>Friends Activity to show it again. Note that the panel will not appear if your Spotify window is not wide enough.
This shows what your friends (if you've logged into Spotify with Facebook) or followed users (even without Facebook) are listening to. Click on Find Friends at the bottom of this window to follow more people.
While you probably don't have the same musical tastes as your friends, just seeing what they like can lead to new discoveries. Pay special attention to the bottom field of each friend's entry; it shows which album or playlist their current track is from. You can jump on it to listen for yourself.
Remember that Spotify has an entire tab called Discover which is dedicated to helping you find new music. To access it, click on Browse entry in the left sidebar, then search for Discover along the top row.
in the Discover section you will find the excellent Discover every week and Release Radar reading lists. Automatically updated weekly (Mondays and Fridays, respectively), they bring you fresh music and new releases that Spotify thinks you'll enjoy. Save the ones you like, as they will disappear when next week's update arrives.
Below, you'll see all sorts of recommendations for music you'll love. These include new releases from bands you've shown interest in, albums you'll like based on artists you listen to often, and more. Spotify is great for learning what you like, so if you've been using it for a while these recommendations should be eerily accurate.
Although Spotify focuses on on-demand music that you can listen to anywhere, it also has a Radio feature. We talked about this earlier in the AutoPlay , but you don't have to wait for your current music to finish to try Radio.
To start an artist-based radio station, click on the three dots menu button on an artist or album page and choose Go to Artist Radio . You can launch a song-based radio station instead by right-clicking it and choosing Go to Song Radio . Both methods also work to start the radio based on a playlist.
This will create an endless stream of music (in a new playlist) linked to your original selection. If you can't find anything to start the radio, use the Radio tab on the left sidebar to see recommended stations.
If Spotify's comprehensive music discovery tools aren't enough for you, there are some external services that can help.
MagicPlaylist is a simple web application that generates a playlist full of related songs after you give it a song title. You can choose if you want the playlist to last one, two or three hours. Give it a title and choose whether you want it public or private, then click Save on Spotify to connect your Spotify account and copy the playlist to it.
If you don't care about playlist music, give Spotalike a try. It is a similar service, as it generates a new playlist based on a track. However, since it's powered by Last.fm, you may find its recommendations more relevant.
If you like this idea, check out our list of Spotify sites to discover new music and playlists.
By now, you should have plenty of reliable ways to discover new music on Spotify, most of which don't even require leaving the app.
Whether you're adding fresh music to your playlists, discovering a new favorite by accident, or drawing inspiration from your friends, you won't have to look far for new music you'll love.
And if you decide the streaming service isn't for you, find out how Spotify compares to YouTube Music.
