A vital aspect of any music streaming app is the extent of collaboration that you can participate in. Making music a shared experience is always fun, and Spotify has many features that help you do this.
1 Stay Social
Spotify is beyond just music streaming. With features like Spotify Wrapped that are easy to share on social media platforms, you can get in touch with the exciting social aspect of music.
An underrated feature that allows you to keep yourself updated with your close ones’ music tastes and habits is the ability to follow other people on Spotify. To do this, simply go to their profile (which can be shared as a link), where you can hit the follow button, see their public playlists, and go through their following list. I use this social feature to discover new artists from my friends list.
Spotify Codes is another feature you can take advantage of when it comes to sharing your music tastes with friends. These are custom codes for every song, album, or playlist in your Spotify library that can be scanned like QR codes by others.
These codes can be downloaded, so they are not just temporary ones. If you are not a big fan of shareable links, Spotify Codes are an easy way to check out songs that your friends are listening to. You can also generate a Spotify Code for profiles, which makes it easy to follow other profiles.
To generate a Spotify Code, tap the three dots next to a song, playlist, or profile, and click “Show Spotify Code.” The generated code can be shared, downloaded as an image to your gallery, or scanned.
2 Don’t Miss Out on Spotify Connect
Arguably one of the best features that Spotify offers, Spotify Connect provides easy connectivity across compatible devices. You can use one device as a “remote” to play music on another (for instance, control playback from your phone to play on your laptop’s speakers). This makes Spotify Connect great on another front: collaboration. You can play and control songs from your device, listen on your friends’ devices, and even start a private session if you want to pause your listening activity.
Make sure that Spotify Connect is turned on by going to your profile in the home tab > Settings and Privacy > Apps and Devices > Other Devices > Spotify Connect Control. Turn this on to allow your device to work as a remote for Spotify Connect.
To start using Connect, play a song on Spotify and then tap the speaker icon at the bottom of your screen. Now, select the device you want to stream on. You can pause, skip, and queue songs after connecting.
If you pause Spotify Connect for more than 10 minutes, you will need to reconnect it to your preferred device.
3 Make Collaborative Playlists
An easy way to tune into music with friends on Spotify is to create collaborative playlists. You can use these playlists to listen to new songs or podcasts with a group, and all collaborators can add or delete what’s in them.
In your Spotify app, go to your music library and click on the “+” (plus) Create button in the upper right corner (you can find the same Create button as a new tab in the Spotify mobile app). Create a new playlist and name it.
Once your blank playlist is ready, click the invite icon (also called the “Add User” button) under the playlist name, and you can send out collaboration links to your friends through social media platforms. Invites expire in 7 days.
4 Jam With Spotify
Two collaborative Spotify features that take the cake when it comes to creating a shared listening experience are Jam and Blend.
Spotify Jam is a personalized way to have a listening session in real-time with others, allowing multiple users to control the queue. Any user, regardless if they have the free or Premium version of Spotify, can join a Jam to listen, although only Premium users can join a remote Jam session.
On the Spotify app, go to a song or playlist you want to use Jam for and tap the three dots near them. Alternatively, click the speaker icon on the song that’s playing. Click “Start a Jam” and scan the generated QR code, or copy the link to share and invite people.
From here, you can also change the device where your music is playing. If a Spotify user is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as you, they will get a prompt to join the Jam, making it a feature you can use during parties.
5 Blend Your Tastes
Like collaborative playlists, Spotify Blend is a way to invite friends to a shared playlist. The difference is that with Blend, a shared playlist is generated for you automatically based on your and your collaborators’ music tastes. You can invite up to 10 people and jam to songs you enjoy, with songs being updated and added every day.
To start a Blend, click the “+” (plus) Create button in your music library or the “Create” tab, and select “Blend.” Then, tap “Invite” to send a link to your friends.
Once your invite is accepted, a Blend playlist (which also displays your music compatibility with the collaborator) is created, which can be saved in your library and edited by you and others.
6 For Apple, Use SharePlay and CarPlay
Using the Spotify app on your Apple device comes with its perks. For collaboration, this means that you can use SharePlay and CarPlay with Spotify for a group listening experience.
For SharePlay, you can easily start a session by hopping on a FaceTime call and then opening the Spotify app to play music. This will trigger an invitation to a Spotify remote group session so the person you are calling can join using SharePlay. Anyone joining needs to have the Spotify app installed on their device.
You can use SharePlay on iPhones running iOS 15.1 or higher and iPads running on iPadOS 15.1 and higher.
For cars with compatible infotainment systems, you can also directly connect your iPhone and start listening to Spotify. You can connect wirelessly using CarPlay by making sure that your car can be discovered on your iPhone’s CarPlay network.
7 Listen to Spotify on Every Road Trip
If you are not an Apple user or simply want more choice to listen to Spotify more collaboratively, you can take advantage of a feature that makes road trips more fun. You can connect your Spotify app to navigation apps like Google Maps to get the best out of your listening while navigating your drive.
To connect your Spotify account to Google Maps, open your Spotify app and go to the home tab. Click on your profile > Settings and Privacy > Apps and Devices. Here, check for Google Maps and click “Connect.”
Another way to allow Google Maps to connect with Spotify is through the Google Maps app. Open your Google Maps app > click on your profile > Settings > Navigation. For Apple, click on “Music playback controls,” and for Android, click “Show Media Playback Controls.” Now, tap “Spotify” to finish setting up the connection.
You can now easily play Spotify music while navigating your road trip with friends.
Spotify’s collaborative features make it a very appealing app for in-person or remote group listening. I find that the shared community aspect of my Spotify playlists and music keeps me coming back to the app.
