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[Playlists] Smart Playlists (Nested)

A smart playlist consists of other playlists, as one big joined playlist - it can be played in sequence or shuffled.

 

I believe this could be a game changer for the Spotify (playlist) eco-system.

 

Implementation

  • In playlist creation, allow the user to add "sub" playlists
  • Also let them add other smart playlists
  • Playlists can be shared/reused in multiple smart playlists
  • Regular songs can still be added alongside playlists.

 

NOTE: This is not accomplished by playlist folders! See below.

 

Benefits over playlist folders

  1. Playlist Reuse: Any number of smart playlists can share a playlist! whereas only one folder can contain a the same playlist.
    This will allow having smaller, "atomic" playlists as building blocks of larger ones.

    Example: Below "Oldies"  is shared / reused by different smart playlists:
    Easy morning [smart] = (Oldies -> Chill
    Nostalgia [smart] = (Oldies -> 90's -> Specific songs)

  2. Sharing (A) - This could encourage playlist creators to make more nuanced playlists, as they will have a tool to compose more of them out of parts, instead of investing in a single large one, or copy-pasting like crazy.

  3. Sharing (B) - This could also open up an entire new content eco-system for compiling other creator's playlists, and re-sharing them as a new whole.

  4. Easy "temp" playlists - Currently, to combinine playlists for a party, drive, etc- you must break your organizational hierarchy to create a folder.
    This causes a mess to be cleaned later.
    Having a single "temp" smart playlist would allow you to change it's contents on the fly, without messing up your playlist organization.

I have more ideas, but I'll add them as a reply so this is more readable 🙂

 

I realize this is not a small feature - but for a few years I've felt It's absence, and I really believe this could be a game changer  -  if done properly.

 

Happy to hear any thoughts! 🙂

Updated on 2023-02-04

Hey! It looks like your suggestion is growing up fast and it's amazing! We are going to change its status to 'Good Suggestion' now and we hope it continues being supported by more and more users.
Thanks again for your suggestion. We really appreciate it 🙂

More information about how the Spotify Idea Exchange works can be found here.

Comments
AJs_Music

I would absolutely love to see this implemented 

mpsspot

This is a great idea!! If this gets case closed, which it likely will, I'd suggest reposting it; I think many people would agree with this and getting it on hot or trending ideas would likely boost it a ton, but getting it on there in the first place is generally luck of the draw. 

rikverstraete

Smart playlist is what most music libary users would want ! And together with this the ability to add tags of your own, so you can fully customize your library.  Come on, vote for this. But still affaid this idea dies with first :

 

Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes.

- once it gots enought votes : we have no plans to impliment this right now

 

 

Onewave

@SuperSpasm wrote:
Smart Filter playlists Workout = (songs in EDM if bpm > 120)

If I understand correctly some of the ideas already implemented in external services, like Smarter Playlists by Paul Lamere. There are also more sophisticated ones, but requires programming skills.

SuperSpasm

@Onewave
If I understand correctly some of the ideas already implemented in external services, like 
Smarter Playlists by Paul Lamere. There are also more sophisticated ones, but requires programming skills.


Both of the services you mentioned look promising, and check a few of the boxes I mentioned 🙂

 

However, using 3rd party tools rather than a core feature has a few major downsides:

  1. It's always more awkward to use 2 apps, requires more effort and time
  2. Security - giving permissions to a 3rd party
  3. Higher probability of bugs due to integration
  4. No promise of maintenance
  5. Lesser result - I haven't tested these, but assume the Spotify API is limited compared to internal Spotify capabilities. A core product can always provide a better result and experience.

 

BUT- I think the existence of tools like these is yet another sign that this is needed!

I hope Spotify will take note and make this a first class feature.

Onewave

@SuperSpasm wrote:

However, using 3rd party tools rather than a core feature has a few major downsides

As Spotify is a server based app, it's really not that much difference from which service you connect to it - internal or external. I agree that having integrated features would be a better user experience. But I prefer having 3rd party app, than not having any at all. I wouldn't worry that much about security, as both web apps connect to Spotify through OAuth 2.0 token and have same level of security as Google apps. You can read more about it here.

rikverstraete

Someone programmed a way to easily shuffle multiple playlist into one playlist with autosync . First time i tried it, sync did not completely work, but  i had contact with the creator ,and he is doing some adjustments. Now the sync is working perfectly and you can edit the playlists you create afterwards : So as long as Spotify is not listinging to the wishes of the customers/music library lovers, this is the best next thing of a third party programmer : https://playmixify.com/  

SuperSpasm

Glad to see this progressing 🙂

banankakan

Please add this. The Library system is not reliable or good enough for any user with more than id say 10k or so songs... I have retired the use of my liked list, and would love using it at least as a favorites folder, but it messes up My Artists etc. pages.... I only organize in playlists and some you need to open and dig several steps down.  

So I have folders with folders with other folders in them to be able to navigate all my accumulated music, around 50k+. If my library worked id know easier 😉 but anyways, give up on that and let us just organize our playslists in peace and if you are ambitious, mimic Smart Mailboxes from the Mail app on Mac. THAT would be a gamechanger and secure my commitment to this service which is making me want to transfer to another one every day now... OR maybe I'll just download uTorrent again 😞 

Carter5

Playlists in Playlists is honestly one of the best ideas for music.

for example, I could have a playlist for each movie soundtracks, and then use nested playlist to have an “All soundtracks” playlist. 
This also provides an easy way to remove and songs to playlists. The possibility of being able to add and remove a playlist from a Master playlist is an absolute need.