While most music is now digital, mixtapes still exist in the form of playlists; none more recognizable than the Spotify playlist. It offers a substantial upgrade to the old-fashion mixtape—one that lets you create the lists with the help of your friends and family.
If you’ve never used the collaborative playlist feature on Spotify, here is your step-by-step guide for desktop and mobile.
What Is a Collaborative Playlist on Spotify?
Playlists on Spotify come in all shapes and forms. There are playlists that Spotify creates specifically for you, such as Discover Weekly, or those that feature all of your favorite artists. There are playlists that the artists you follow create, as well as Listen Alike, which curates lists from celebrity users.
You can add public playlists to your library, as well as private ones if someone shares them with you. But just because you can access a playlist, doesn’t mean you can make changes to it. The same goes for the playlists you create. Sharing them with friends or making them public doesn’t give access to your friends to add songs. That’s where the collaborative element comes in.
Only the owner of a playlist can make it collaborative on Spotify. By doing so, you allow anyone with a link to add or remove songs (as well as podcast episodes), and change the order. Any change that is done is visible to all, and people’s avatars or names appear next to the songs they added.
The best thing about this feature is that it’s also available in the free version of Spotify. However, ads still play during this list when you use the free version, and if you listen to it from the mobile app, your only option is Shuffle Play.
How to Make a Collaborative Playlist on Spotify Desktop
Open the Spotify desktop app and click New Playlist on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. Give your new playlist a name, a description, and a playlist cover image, if you like. Once created, click the … (three dots) next to Play and pick Collaborative Playlist. To share the list with your friends, so they can participate, click the … (three dots) again, and then Share. Anyone with a link will be able to edit the list.
You don’t have to make a new playlist for this option to work. You can also choose to turn a list you’ve already created into a collaborative one. To do that, right-click the list and pick Collaborative Playlist. Then right-click again to share.
You can see which playlists are collaborative easily on the desktop app, as they are marked with a circle next to them. This applies to your lists, as well as others'.
How to Make a Collaborative Playlist on the Spotify Mobile App
Open the app and navigate to Your Library. Tap Create Playlist at the top of the screen and name it. There are two ways to make the list collaborative. You can press the three vertical dots on the top right of the screen and pick Make Collaborative. Alternatively, you can tap the person icon, next to the three vertical dots, and then Make Collaborative. This way, you are instantly prompted to share the list, either by message or link.
Similar to the desktop app, you can also collaborate on an existing list. Go to Your Library, pick a list, and continue with the same steps. Unlike on desktop, the collaborative playlists are not instantly visible when you scroll Your Library.
However, when you go into a list, if it’s collaborative, it shows the icons of all people contributing at the top. And if it’s not yours, but it is still collaborative, you’ll also have the Edit Playlist button.
Back Up Your Collaborative Playlist on Spotify
As mentioned, anyone with a link can access your collaborative playlist and add, remove, or rearrange it, even if it’s not public. This means that if you choose to post it on your Facebook, for instance, anyone can decide to make changes. Someone nefarious may even decide to delete it all.
If you spend a lot of time on a playlist and want to ensure it doesn’t get sabotaged, you can back it up once in a while. Simply pick all the songs and add them to a new, private, non-collaborative playlist.
