Make Your Spotify Playlist ‘in a Bottle’ While You Still Can
I’m a fan of Apple Music, but I have to admit, Spotify knows how to have fun. While Apple Music Replay has come a long way, it’s still not Spotify Wrapped. ( You all looked like you were having a lot of fun with this last month .) But it’s not just year-end roundups that make Spotify a little more ambitious than Apple. For example, the company’s Playlist in a Bottle feature is a great way to create a playlist for your future self for the new year, which is 2025.
What is a Spotify playlist in a bottle?
Spotify introduced this new feature last year . The idea is that you take a short questionnaire from Spotify, providing your answers in the form of songs. Once you’re done, these songs will form the basis of a playlist that Spotify will keep for the rest of the year. Once the next January hits arrive, you’ll be able to take another look at your playlist, see what you said the year before, and evaluate how much your music tastes have changed (or not).
It’s a fun idea, but I wish Spotify had stuck with it for longer than a year. Yearly reports work well because you probably listen to so much music that it’s fun to look back on stats and tunes you might not remember playing at the beginning of the year. But after a limited period of time, a short playlist of songs isn’t that new anymore. Maybe one day they will extend the term to two years, five or fifty . (At least if anyone is still working at Spotify by then .)
How to Open Your 2023 Playlist in a Bottle (If You Made One)
If you made a playlist last year, it’s time to open it up. On your smartphone, go to http://spotify.com/playlistinabottle , then click Claim Your Playlist . Here you can save and listen to your 2023 playlist whenever you want. However, if you don’t do this by January 31st, you’ll miss your chance.
How to make a 2024 playlist in a bottle
Regardless of whether you made a playlist last year, you can create a playlist for 2024, which will open in January 2025. To get started, visit Spotify.com/playlistinabottle on your smartphone. You’ll first start by choosing the type of container you’ll actually put your playlist in – a cute but ultimately pointless decision. There’s a “real bottle” but you can also choose a snow globe, trash can, rice cooker, flip phone or bird’s nest. Select one, click Next, and answer Spotify’s three questions. If you don’t like the question being asked, you can click New Question to remix it.
My questions were:
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the song you would play to aliens if they visited Earth
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a song you need to hear live in 2024
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the song you would bring to a desert island
Your questions may be completely different. You only need to answer three questions to create your playlist, but you can continue if you want. When you’re ready to block your playlist, click Done .
You can then draw yourself a note and put it in your “bottle.” Perhaps “Happy 2025” or “I hope democracy still exists!” (Just kidding! There’s not enough space for this.) When you’re done, click Next , then review your options. You can remove and add songs as you wish. When you’re ready, click Block .
You only get one playlist per account, so keep that in mind! Just be sure to make yours before the January 31st deadline.