Streaming music services changed the way we listen to music whether on the go or at home. Spotify in particular can observe your listening habits and suggest new music for you to listen to based on your taste. But have you really delved deep into Spotify’s ocean of features?
ADVANCED SEARCH
Take a hold of Spotify’s very powerful search engine. Much like Google’s, it supports advanced search syntax. You can search for multiple artists with the OR, AND operators, and narrow your search of a band’s huge discography by using the NOT operator.
Example: Dream Theater OR Rush, Porcupine Tree NOT Sentimental
You can also substitute OR/NOT with +, – signs
Example: Yes + Pink Floyd, King Crimson – epitaph
You can also use specific parameters to narrow down your search. Use the artist: parameter to search for artists specifically; track: for specific tracks; album: for specific albums; year: for a specific year; genre: for a specific genre. You can combine the parameters with the operators
Example: year: 1999-2005 -2003; this will list tracks from 1999 to 2005 and exclude tracks from 2003.
DISCOVER WEEKLY
Spotify is a genius in that it will suggest music based on your listening habit. Discover Weekly is one of Spotify’s best features. Each Monday, you get 30 new songs that it thinks you might like. A very neat way to broaden your music knowledge.
SECRET CODES
Well, not really a secret. But you can share your music to your friends via Spotify Codes. This feature has a very neat implementation as you can scan a code and you’ll be able to download a tune whether it’s from a billboard, a poster, or even from a video. You can also share a Code-enhanced artwork and save it in your camera roll to share with your friends on social media.
INCOGNITO
Hide yo playlists, hide yo music tastes. You can listen privately to songs you don’t want anyone to know you’re listening to. Just tap Settings, then tap Private Session if you’re on Android and tap Settings then Social then Private Session if you’re on iOS. At least this way, no one will know that while you’re meditating, you’re listening to Pantera, and it actually calms you down.
SYNC YOUR WORKOUT
Spotify can pick up your running speed and play songs that are close to the tempo of your stride. Just start running, pick a running playlist from the Browse screen, and Spotify will use your phone’s sensors to select which song suits your workout best. You can rest Eye of the Tiger for the meantime.
BE A WIZARD, HARRY!
Shazam works seamlessly with Spotify. Shazam is an app that recognizes any music you let it listen to. No more wondering what that song you heard on your way home yesterday. You can fire up Shazam and once it recognizes the song, you can play it in Spotify by tapping Play in Spotify.
BONUS TIP
Too bad we don’t have Uber anymore, but just in case you’re in a country where Uber is still operating, and you have no idea what song is playing on the radio, you can link up your Spotify account to your Uber app and you can play your music whenever you book a driver with connected music. One way to identify this is you’ll see a Music bar at the bottom of the app. Tap it, log-in, connect to the car’s speakers and play.
Any current TNVS out there, please make this possible for our Filipino brethren.
