Filip Brož Lists of songs, so-called playlists, were already created by our ancestors. Almost every club had jukeboxes, people made their own mixtapes, and radio stations played songs on request. In short, music and creating playlists go hand in hand. Looking deeper into history, it is possible to see that the meaning of playlists has undergone a significant transformation over the years. Previously, playlists were created by people themselves. However, during the advent of the digital and technological era, computers took over, using complex algorithms to create random or genre- and theme-focused playlists. Today, everything is back in the hands of the people.
When Apple announced in 2014 that is buying Beats, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke primarily about the team of music experts. "These days it's very rare and hard to find people who understand music and can create amazing playlists," explained Cook. More than two years ago, the Californian company bought not only a functioning music and streaming service, but above all a hundred music experts, led by the rapper Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.
When we look at the current companies that offer music streaming, i.e. Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music and marginally Tidal or Rhapsody, it is evident that they all offer very similar services. Users can choose from millions of multi-genre songs, and each service offers its own playlists, radio stations or podcasts. However, two years after Apple's acquisition of Beats, the market has changed significantly, and Apple is trying to play a leading role in the creation of playlists.
One of the main priorities of all the mentioned services clearly belongs to their users being able to find their way in the flood of millions of different songs, so that the services can serve them only such creations that might be of interest to them based on their personal taste. Since Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music and others offer more or less the same content, with exceptions, this personal part is absolutely crucial.
Magazine BuzzFeed succeeded penetrate to the playlist factories, namely Spotify, Google and Apple, and editor Reggie Ugwu found that more than a hundred people across the companies, so-called curators, work full-time creating special playlists. However, creating a good playlist is much harder than it might seem at first glance. Someone has to prepare the algorithm and write everything.
People who are in charge of creating playlists often used to work as well-known bloggers or as DJs in various music clubs. Also, according to recent surveys, more than fifty percent of Spotify's hundred million users prefer curated playlists to randomly generated music. According to other estimates, one out of five songs played every day across all services is played within a playlist. However, this number continues to grow proportionally as more people are added who specialize in playlists.
“It's a lot about intuition and feeling. All indications are that human-made playlists will play a much bigger role in the future. People want to listen to authentic, familiar music,” says Jay Frank, senior vice president of global music streaming at Universal Music Group.
Redefine our relationship with music
We are all used to operating on the basis of codes and random searches. For example, the Internet can recommend the most suitable general practitioner, choose a movie or find a restaurant for us. It's the same with music, but experts say it's time to completely redefine our relationship with it. The choice of music should no longer be random, but tailored to our personal taste. The people behind the playlists didn't go to any business school. In the true sense of the word, they are trying to be our defenders, teaching us to live without robots and computer algorithms.
Inside Spotify
Oddly enough, playlists for Spotify are not created in Sweden, but in New York. Inside the office, you'll find a sea of white iMacs, iconic Beats headphones, and twenty-nine-year-old Spaniard Rocío Guerrero Colom, who talks as fast as she thinks. She came to Spotify more than two years ago and was thus among the first fifty people who took up the creation of playlists full-time. Colomová is specifically in charge of Latin American music.
"I have lived in many countries. I speak five languages and play the violin. Two years ago, Doug Forda, who is in charge of all the curators, came to me. He told me they were looking for someone to create playlists for users who like Latin American music. I immediately realized that it should be me, since I am one of those users. So he hired me," stated Colomová with a smile.
Rocío is also in charge of other workers and leads seven other genre playlists. She exclusively uses an iMac for work and has already managed to create more than two hundred playlists.
"I regularly visit various music clubs. I try to find out what people like, what they listen to. I'm looking for a targeted audience," explains Colomová. According to her, people don't come to Spotify to read, so the name of the playlist itself has to be completely descriptive and simple, after which the content comes.
Spotify employees then edit their playlists based on user interactions and clicks. They track individual songs as they perform in the popularity charts. "When a song doesn't do well or people repeatedly skip it, we try to move it to another playlist, where it gets another chance. A lot also depends on the album cover," continues Colomová.
Curators at Spotify work with different programs and tools. However, Keanu or Puma applications, which function as editors for managing and monitoring users, are crucial for them. In addition to statistical data on the number of clicks, plays or offline downloads, employees can also find clear graphs in the applications. These show, among other things, the age of the listeners, the geographical area, the time or the subscription method they use.
The most successful playlist that Colomová created is "Baila Reggaeton" or "Dance Reggaeton", which has more than two and a half million followers. This makes the list the third most popular playlist on Spotify, behind the "Today Top Hits" playlist, which has 8,6 million followers, and "Rap Caviar", which has 3,6 million followers.
Colomova created this playlist in 2014, exactly ten years after the successful Latin American hit "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee. "I didn't believe that the playlist would be such a success. I took it more like a starter list of songs that should get the listeners fired up and entice them to some kind of party," states Colomová, noting that hip hop genre elements are currently penetrating the Latin direction, to which she tries to respond and adjust the song lists. Her favorite hip hop song is "La Ocasion" by Puerta Lican.
According to Jay Frank, senior vice president of global music streaming at Universal Music Group, people use music streaming services because they want to listen to and own all the music in the world. "However, when they get there, they find that they don't really want everything, and the prospect of searching through forty million songs is rather intimidating to them," says Frank, adding that the most popular playlists have even more reach than established radio stations.
Of course, the staff maintains editorial independence, despite the fact that they receive various PR offers, invitations from producers and musicians every day. He tries to have his own unbiased opinion on everything. "We really build playlists based on what we think listeners will like, and that's reflected in the stats," says Spotify's Doug Ford. A possible loss of listeners' trust would have a big impact not only on the service as such, but also on the listeners themselves.
Inside Google Play Music
Google Play Music employees are also based in New York, on the eleventh floor of Google headquarters. Compared to Spotify, however, there are not fifty, but only twenty. They have a fully equipped floor like other Google offices and, like Spotify, they use various programs to help them manage playlists and statistics.
During an interview with a magazine editor BuzzFeed mainly solves the question of the names of individual lists of songs. "It's all about the people, their attitude and taste. Playlists according to mood and the type of activities we perform are becoming more and more widespread. But that's what every music company does," the curators agree. This is also proven by the fact that three of the ten most popular playlists on Spotify do not have an indication of what genre they are.
According to them, if people already know in advance what genre it is, for example rock, metal, hip hop, rap, pop and the like, then they already somehow internally adjust and form prejudices in the sense of what kind of music in the given list will appeal to them probably waiting. For this reason, they will skip all the songs and select only the ones they know by name. According to the workers, it is better to avoid this right from the start and prefer to name playlists according to emotions, for example.
"It's similar to road signs. Thanks to the correct labeling of playlists, people can better navigate in the flood of millions of songs. In short, listeners don't know what to look for until you show them," adds Jessica Suarez, a 35-year-old curator from Google.
Inside Apple Music
Apple Music's headquarters are located in Culver City, Los Angeles, where Beats Electronics' headquarters were previously located. With over a hundred people working inside the building to create playlists, it's one of the largest teams of music curators. Apple also pioneered the idea of creating playlists from real people thanks to Beats.
"We are not about projecting our opinions and personal musical taste onto other people. We consider ourselves more like catalog curators, sensitively selecting the right music," says Indie Editor-in-Chief Scott Plagenhoef. According to him, the point is to find such artists who will have an impact on the listeners and awaken in them, for example, some emotions. In the end, you will either love the songs or hate them.
Apple Music's greatest weapon is precisely the team of experts that other services lack. "Music is very personal. Everyone likes something different, and we don't want to operate in the style that if you like Fleet Foxes, you have to like Mumford & Sons," emphasizes Plagenhoef.
Apple, unlike other music companies, does not share its data, so it is impossible to find out how successful individual playlists are or any deeper data about users. Apple, on the other hand, is betting on Beats 1 live radio, hosted by well-known artists and DJs. Several musicians and bands take turns in the studio every week.
Apple has also completely reworked and redesigned its application in iOS 10. Users can now use a regularly updated playlist that is tailored to individual users, the so-called Discovery Mix, which is similar to what users already know from Spotify and what is extremely popular. In the new Apple Music, you can also find a new playlist every day, that is, a selection for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and so on. Playlists created by curators are also separately separated, so people have a clear overview of whether the list was created by a computer or a specific person.
However, Apple is certainly not the only one constantly moving forward in this field. This is, after all, clear from the aforementioned, when all streaming services work on tailor-made playlists for each listener, apart from Apple Music, especially in Spotify and Google Play Music. Only the following months and years will show who will manage to adapt the most to users and offer them the best possible musical experience. It is possible that they will play their part as well increasingly popular exclusive albums...
I'm very curious about the new Apple Music, but I have the misfortune of having an older iPhone and I can't get iOS 10 there. Does anyone happen to know if there will only be an update for the Music application for the older nine, where the new AM design would be? And the same on the Mac, because the Mac mini has already worked for me for a year :) Thanks.
It's true that Apple probably didn't talk about it anywhere, but I think that the new UI will be reflected in Apple Music (maybe a little later) on older systems as well. It makes no sense for it not to be.
How do I know in apple music which playlists are from people and which are not, thank you for the answer.