Viral Uber DJ’s Guide to Making Great Playlists
Every time I have a party, I spend an hour creating a playlist, imagining my guests gasping, dancing and reaching for Shazam. Instead, they ignore the music until someone takes over the bluetooth speaker. So I asked for help from college student TJ Jones , who had a viral tweet in February when they shared 11 playlists they used to categorize all of their Uber and Lyft passengers, such as ” quiet people “, ” fucking hipsters ” and ” white guys. ” who look like they like rap “:
Jones had over 45,000 Spotify subscribers based on their public playlists that gently play with stereotypes without offending or even condoning. The success of their position brought so many opportunities that they quit driving and went into music marketing and promotion. Here are their tips for making a popular playlist for your party, car ride, or your friends on Spotify.
Don’t play music you don’t like
Unless you are a professional DJ, there is no point in playing music that you hate, no matter how much your audience likes it. The fun part is to share your pleasure.
All of Jones’s playlists are made up of songs he already likes. “I wanted the job to be more enjoyable for me,” says Jones. “Compliments to music are pleasant, they generate interest in the conversation, reduce the likelihood of an awkward quiet ride.” So if you like one of Jones’ playlists, chances are you will like the others, regardless of whether or not you live up to the title stereotype.
Find songs with endurance
If you’re going to use your playlist over and over again, focus on longtime favorites, not songs that you get bored after three plays. “Some songs are fun to listen to for a while, but listening to them over and over again can start to lose their spark,” says Jones. “I tried to find a middle ground between songs that are attractive in the short term, and a few long-term, timeless ones. That’s why Fleetwood Mac made about three playlists. “
Recognizable songs are cool, but even great songs are excruciating if overplayed. (I worked in a 50s style diner with limited rotation Muzak and it took me years to appreciate the crystals again.) No one hears “Uptown Funk” or “Don’t Stop Believe” and say, “Wow, that was too long!”
Try new genres
“Music repeats itself,” says Jones. “Right now, radio music follows the same chord progression as the hits of the 50s, which evolved from iconic structures in classical music. Thus, observing the roots of a song can give you an idea of music that covertly follows a similar structure and may be attractive to the same audience, even if they appear to be different at first glance. “
Mood is more important than traditional genre boundaries. In early June, when “quiet people” had 10,000 followers, Jones tweeted : “Thanks everyone, 4 assured me that quiet is a genre.” I asked Jones how to know when quiet passengers like music. “It’s hard to say,” they said, “although shaking your head quietly is usually a good sign.”
Don’t worry about it
“All of these playlists were created in about an hour while I was sitting in the car in the parking lot and waiting for the next call for someone to stop by,” says Jones. And the older the target audience, the more Jones is leaning towards hits. You don’t have to deliver their next fireworks to everyone. You can always tweak something for next time.
As a driver, Jones remembered that riders had a low bar – riders were used to putting up with bad music in a taxi or carriage. So a little effort was enough to get someone’s night off, even if Jones didn’t nail it every time. “When it comes to choosing, I will have exactly as much time as it takes to get from my house or bar to my car. Sometimes, if they spoke, I would have a better understanding of what they would be doing, but even then there is a lot of room for error. “
Change it
If people don’t feel it, do 180. One day while they were driving, Jones says, “I’m putting on a heady homie playlist for two 20-something dudes that I’m almost 100 percent sure were on Molly. I think Nirvana started playing, and it was killing their mood after the bar at 1 am, and they specifically asked for something incendiary. I of course chose Future and they loved it. They were drunk and a little disgusting, but at the same time I was having fun. ” Better than sitting in silence, Jones says, wondering if anyone in your Prius will vomit. In the end, the guys poured Jones a drink and cigarettes to thank Jones for the music.
Find new music
The best place to find music that is pleasing to the audience is in a real crowd. “Every event I’ve been to in the last three years, mostly house parties and shows, you can see the strong emotional response that people get when a certain song is played. The parties have actually become a huge source of new musical discovery (thanks to Shazam). “
Of course, most of us find our new music on the Internet. As a child, Jones found music on MySpace and Pandora. Now that they’re Spotify celebrities, artists send them a couple hundred songs every week, which takes Jones most of his opening time. Jones follows several other Spotify curators like Ebtheceleb and playlists like Tuck’s Chicken Selects – part of Spotify, where the emphasis is often on promoting new artists (and where playlist curators tend to have donation links in their biographies ). But mostly, Jones says, I just follow the playlists my friends make.
Correction: Saturday, Jun 23, 2018 12:15 PM ET: Updated to reflect Jones’ preferred pronouns.