Playlists are the thing.
Playlists are the most important tool of the recorded music business today. That is undeniable. No amount of web advertising, email blasts, radio ads, or even social campaigns, can come close to the network effect that comes from getting on the right playlist. If you suddenly get traction as an unknown artist, it’s probably because of a playlist. There are agents and label reps whose only job is to attain placements on that coveted music supe’s “Songs of Summer” playlist, or get the influencer of the day to agree to an inclusion, or (the Holy Grail of them all!) getting on the actual platform editor’s playlist! Pure gold.
Playlists are also important to listeners (which is why you need to be on many). Think about it, in a world where every service basically has the same songs for basically the same price, how can they keep you from trying other ones, taking a break, or quitting altogether? Playlists. Personalized, genre tuned, and stuffed with data. I know many of you have created playlists that include your music alongside artists like you, bands that have regional pull, even bands and artists you want to help cross-promote. That’s the way to do it. Help others help you.
But it also is true that regular ol’ curation is still a magnet. Just think about how you meticulously created that playlist for those summer patio jam parties, and it always works. Think about those various inspirational playlists you have spent hours fine-tuning for the gym. How about that cool retro one, or the perfect Christmas one you have that doesn’t include those tired songs you hate!
So, let’s say you’ve heard a lot about Deezer and their hi-res catalog and simple UI, how can you possibly leave Apple Music after all the time you put in on your playlists? Or let’s say you are songwriter (like me) who has used Spotify for a decade and have put in hundreds of hours on playlists only to find out that the company is actively suing to stop you (and other songwriters at the heart of what Spotify is selling) to be paid less — how can you jump to Apple Music? Maybe you’re sick of the horror stories with Amazon warehouse workers and in good conscious want to leave Amazon Music for Tidal? Perhaps you are YouTube creator who is sick of takedown notices and wants to shut down their channel, but have hundreds of playlists? Plus, wouldn’t it be cool if you could move those playlists from YouTube to listen to on Spotify?
Maybe you’re just sick of all these subscriptions and want to go with a free account, or perhaps you got a new phone plan that includes 6 months free of (insert streamer here). But you feel locked in, because of the playlists. If there was just a way to keep all of that work, all that awesome music you’ve found, those killer playlists of perfect tunes. Hell, what would be really cool is to take any playlist and be able to enjoy it on any service!
Well, I’ve found it. It’s called TuneMyMusic (tunemymusic.com). It’s a straightforward and simple way to transfer all of your playlists between services. You can download your playlists as .csv or text, or can sign into both services, say Spotify and Apple Music, and convert them from one to the other.
And…it’s free!
First, don’t quit your current service yet, because you’ll want to login to that one and the new one before you try this. Let’s go!
Go to Tunemymusic.com — no login necessary.
Click “Let’s Get Started.”
Then “Select The Source” music platform where your current playlists are stored.
Select the Playlists you want to move.
Convert and start moving.
Currently, TuneMyMusic supports many music services including: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Deezer, Tidal, Apple Music, Napster, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, and more.
Now, it’s not perfect, there are some limitations on how many playlists some services will allow (YouTube only allows 10 per day). Also, because it’s a library match system, sometimes tracks with “Various Artists” don’t really port over, duplicate song titles happen, and some albums might be missing. DAMN YOU, NON-CENTRALIZED METADATA! For the most part though, it works like a charm.
Pro Tip: make sure to download your playlists to .csv or plain text anyway. This way you can upload them without logins. If you’re really hustling, you can also send them to fans to build on your playlist on whatever platform they are on. Boom!
Now, you have no reason to stay with a music service you aren’t happy with.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
–Michael St. James is the founder and creative director of St. James Media, specializing in music licensing, publishing, production and artist development.
MAIN IMAGE INFO:
“DYNAUDIO MUSIC 1 & MUSIC 5”by TheBetterDay is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
