11 Must-Know Spotify Tips for Music Teachers

11 Must-Know Spotify Tips for Music Teachers

11 Must-Know Spotify Tips for Music Teachers

Get started with Spotify

Spotify is one tech tool that I use everyday without fail. If you don’t currently use a streaming music service, I can highly recommend Spotify. It’s permanently changed the way I access music.

 

To get started:

  • Go to the Spotify website (or app) and set up a Spotify account
  • Download the Spotify desktop app for your laptop and log into your account
  • Download the Spotify mobile app for your phone if you’d like to listen while you’re on-the-go
  • Plug your laptop (or phone or iPad) into speakers in your classroom so that the music can be heard clearly by students. You might like to use a bluetooth speaker for this purpose

 

Tips for using Spotify in your music lessons

Tip 1: Go Premium

You can use Spotify for free, but if your budget allows it’s absolutely worth upgrading to their premium service.

The main benefits of upgrading to Premium are:

  • No adverts
  • You can listen to any song, anytime and you can skip songs (the free version has limited access to songs and only allows shuffle play)
  • You can listen to music offline, for those times you may not have an internet connection

 

Tip 2: View song lyrics and annotations

There are a couple of ways you can view lyrics and information about the song as you listen on Spotify on your mobile device. Genius Lyrics provides a built in Behind The Lyrics feature for many songs on Spotify. While you’re listening you can tap the cover art to view lyrics and also read interesting facts about the artist and the song.

If you’d prefer to see ONLY lyrics and view them karaoke-style (one line at a time) while the song is playing, you can download the Musixmatch app (iOS and Android) and connect your Spotify account. When you want to view song lyrics, open the Musixmatch app and play the song. The lyrics will scroll through in time to the song that’s playing.

Tip 3: Connect Shazam and Spotify on your Smartphone

Connect your Spotify account to Shazam so when you hear a new song you like you can identify it with Shazam and then play it in Spotify or add it to one of your playlists.

To connect the two apps:

  • Open Shazam on your mobile device and go to My Shazam
  • Tap on the gear icon to go to Settings
  • Tap the option to connect to Spotify (you need to have a Spotify Premium account) and follow the steps to allow access to your Spotify account
  • Now when you Shazam a song you will have the option to open it in Spotify or add it to a playlist. Shazam also automatically adds all your Shazam songs into a Spotify playlist called My Shazam Tracks

Tip 4: It’s all about Playlists, Playlists, Playlists!

Playlists are really the key to using Spotify productively. Set up playlists so you can find the music you need quickly and easily.

Here are just some of the Playlists you could create:

  • Pop music that is G-rated and school-appropriate
  • Peaceful background music for quiet work times in class
  • Motivational songs
  • Graduation songs
  • Dance music for movement activities
  • Music for a specific unit of work that you’ll be covering in class – blues, jazz, hip hop, film music, video game themes, classical music, songs that use samples
  • Cover versions of songs, plus the original version so students can compare them
  • Songs with a specific function or purpose – 3-chord songs, pentatonic melody songs, repeating (cyclical) chord progressions and so on
  • Performances of set pieces for exams
Playlists are really the key to using Spotify productively. Set up playlists so you can find the music you need quickly and easily.Click To Tweet

Tip: 5: Look for existing playlists

If you want to take a little shortcut, you might like to search for Playlists that have been created by other teachers. I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to search on Google.

Try searching for terms like these:

  • School appropriate Spotify playlists
  • Playlists for the classroom
  • School playlists Spotify
  • Spotify playlist kids

Here are some useful teacher blog posts that share Spotify playlists and tips:

 

Tip 6: Can’t find a song on Spotify? Import your own music

Can’t find a song in Spotify but you have it on your laptop? You can access it through Spotify, provided it’s from a legal source. This feature is also useful if you’d like to play audio files you’ve made yourself (recordings of students, rehearsal tracks, ear-training examples and so on).

To play an audio file that’s on your computer in Spotify (Spotify refers to these files as “local” files), you first need to give Spotify permission to access files stored on your computer:

  • In Spotify on your desktop, click the downward arrow in the top right corner of the app (next to your profile picture) and choose Settings
  • Scroll down to Local Files
  • My Music or Downloads (locations on your computer) are automatically selected. This means that Spotify can access any audio files that live in those locations. You can turn off access if you prefer
  • You can also click Add A Source and choose another folder on your computer to add it to Spotify

To play one of your Local Files:

  • On desktop – click on Local Files in the menu on the left and the list of your local files will appear
  • On mobile or tablet – the Local Files menu item is not available on mobile or tablet. You will need to go to the desktop Spotify app and add the track/s to a Playlist in order to play it from your phone or tablet device

Tip 7: Customize or reorder songs order in a playlist

By default, when you add a new song to a playlist it will go to the end of the list. However, you can choose to view the list by Title, by Artist, by Album, by Recently Added or your own Custom order (only available for a playlist you have created yourself). The good thing is that you can switch between each of these views whenever you like.

To Customise the order of songs, simply drag a song up or down in the list. If the playlist is long and you want to move lots of songs around it’s much easier to do it on the desktop Spotify app. If you make changes on the desktop app, your mobile app will update instantly (and vice versa).

To view the playlist by Recently Added, Title, Artist, or Album on desktop you can simply click on the headers at the top of the list:

 

On the Spotify mobile app, there’s a secret trick that one of my kids showed me (!). First open your playlist in your Spotify app, then swipe downwards until you can see the Filter search box and tap on the little “hamburger” menu on the right.

 

Then, choose Recently Added under the Sort By options:

Tip 8: Organise Playlists into folders

Once you discover how useful Playlists are, you might find that you end up with LOTS of them and it can get difficult to find the one you need. An excellent solution is to create Playlist folders to group similar playlists together.

You can only create a new folder and add Playlists to that folder while using the desktop app at this stage.

To create a new folder:

  • Go to File > New Playlist Folder (or right-click in the Playlist menu area and choose Create Folder)
  • Name the Playlist folder (bonus tip! I like to add a number to the beginning of the folder name to push it to the top of my playlist menu)
  • Click on the Playlist/s you want to add and drag them into the folder

Tip 9: Pay it forward and share your Playlists with others

You can choose to make your Playlists public so that they can be shared with others. This can be useful if you’d like to share a playlist with students, with parents or with your colleagues. You can even make a Playlist collaborative if you’d like other Spotify users to contribute songs to the list.

There are a few ways you can share a Playlist:

  • Send someone the Playlist link (it will open in their web browser)
  • Send someone the Spotify URI (a special Spotify link that a user can paste into their Spotify search bar to locate a Playlist within the Spotify app)
  • Embed the Playlist on a website so that visitors can interact with the Playlist right there on the webpage
  • Send the Playlist via a social media app (Messenger, Twitter, Skype, Facebook etc)

To share your Playlists:

  1. Make sure playlist is set to public (once it is public, that text in the menu will change to “Make Secret”)

  1. Click/tap on the menu button with 3 dots (see 1 below), go to the Share menu and select your sharing method

 

Tip 10: Personalise your Playlist cover artwork

Spotify automatically generates a collage of album covers for your Playlist artwork. However, you can add a custom image if you prefer. The image can be a simple photo, or you can get creative and create an image like the example below by Spotify user missbensko (the author of the Maniacs In The Middle blog) .

To add your own Spotify cover art:

  • On desktop, open your Playlist
  • Hover your mouse over the current cover artwork
  • Click on the Pencil icon
  • In the window that opens, click on the Choose Image button, locate your new image. It needs to be a JPEG image and less than 4MB in size (you can also edit the Playlist title and add a description while you’re there!)
  • Click Save

Tip 11: Listen to your music offline

One of the main reasons I upgraded to the Premium service was so that I could listen to my music without an internet connection (ideal for when I’m running in slightly remote areas, or on a plane flight!).

To download songs to your device

  • First, add the songs to a Playlist
  • While you’re still on WIFI, open the Playlist and turn on the Download button
  • Spotify will download the songs to your device and you can then play them when offline
  • You know that they are available offline because there will be a small green downward arrow next to the Playlist and also next to each song in the Playlist

Download a copy of this guide

Would you like to take a copy of this with you? Click on the download button below and we’ll send a copy straight to your email inbox. You’ll also receive weekly music tech tips and news (if you don’t already). You can unsubscribe at any time.

Want More?

Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.

I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community – where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.

I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology into what you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.

If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community. Learn more and take a sneak peek inside

2 Comments

  1. Elias Noreland November 16, 2018 at 7:01 pm - Reply

    Just one thing to keep in mind for all you music teachers out there: if you want to use Spotify in your classroom, you have to sign up for the special Spotify Enterprise (or something similar, can’t remember the exact name) service. Spotify Premium is strictly for personal use only, as lined out in the Spotify Premium license agreement. Also worth keeping in mind is that with this service, you pay a fixed rate per user, so if you have many students, it will become quite expensive. You might be better off purchasing a music license through the music proprietary rights management organization in your country. That license will grant you permission to use whatever music streaming service you like, be it Spotify, Deezer, Naxos Music Library or whatever.

  2. Nottelmann Music Company December 9, 2019 at 7:17 am - Reply

    […] 11 Must-Know Spotify Tips For Music Teachers […]

Leave A Comment

You might also like...

Introducing

The Midnight Music Community

An online community where music tech professional development, lesson ideas, and accountability come together.
Ultimate Free Music Tech Resource Guide Guide 2023/24

Download Now for FREE...

The Ultimate Music Tech Resources Guide for 2023-2024

Claim your copy of our annual guide to free music technology resources, designed especially for music teachers. Discover interactive music websites, software, productivity tools, and assessment resources you can use in your music classroom for free.

Follow Me on Social Media

PRIVACY POLICY

This is the Privacy Policy for the Midnight Music website located at www.midnightmusic.com (“Site”).

The Site is operated by Midnight Music Pty Ltd ABN 87 619 652 603 (“Midnight Music” or “Company” or “we” or “us”).

Midnight Music understands the importance of protecting your personal information and undertakes to adhere to this privacy policy at all times to ensure your personal information is effectively safeguarded.

Information you provide to us

The Site provides various places for users to provide information. We collect information that users provide by filling out forms on the Site, communicating with us via contact forms, responding to surveys, search queries on our search feature, providing comments or other feedback, providing information when ordering a product or service via the Site, and other circumstances where collecting personal information is reasonable and permitted by the Laws of the State of Victoria, Australia.

We use information you provide to us to deliver the requested product and/or service, to improve our overall performance, and to provide you with offers, promotions, and information.

Information we collect through automatic data collection technology

As you navigate through the Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies including Google Analytics to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This will generally include information about your location, your traffic pattern through our Site, and any communications between your computer and our Site. Among other things, we will collect data about the type of computer you use, your Internet connection, your IP address, your operating system, and your browser type.

The information we collect automatically is used for statistical data and will not include personal information. We use this data to improve our Site and our service offerings. To the extent that you voluntarily provide personal information to us, our systems will associate the automatically collected information with your personal information.

Use of cookies and pixels

Similar to other commercial websites, our Site utilises a standard technology called “cookies” and server logs to collect information about how our site is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address.

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

The Company reserves the right to use technological equivalents of cookies, including social media pixels. These pixels allow social media sites to track visitors to outside websites so as to tailor advertising messages users see while visiting that social media website. The Company reserves the right to use these pixels in compliance with the policies of the various social media sites.​

How we manage personal information

Midnight Music undertakes to take all commercially reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information collected by us is accurate, up-to-date, complete and stored securely. When your personal information is no longer required for the purposes which Midnight Music uses personal information, all commercially reasonable steps will be undertaken to securely destroy that information.

How your personal information will be used

We use personal information for purposes of presenting our Site and its contents to you, providing you with information, providing you with offers for products and services, providing you with information about your subscriptions and products, carrying out any contract between you and the Company, administering our business activities, providing customer service, and making available other items and services to our customers and prospective customers.
From time-to-time, we may use the information you provide to us to make you offers to purchase products and services provided by third parties in exchange for a commission to be paid to us by such third parties. Should you opt to take part in such promotions, the third parties will receive your information.

Disclosure of your information

Midnight Music considers personal information we collect about you to be confidential and will not disclose such information to third parties except in the following circumstances:

  • Where you have consented to your personal information being provided to a third party;
  • Where Midnight Music is required by law to disclose your information; and
  • Gaining access to your personal information held by Midnight Music

Except in circumstances where access to your personal information may be denied by the Privacy Act or other Law of the State of Victoria, Australia, your personal information will be provided to you upon request.

Visitors’ General Data Protection Regulation rights

If you are within the European Union, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These include the following:

  • We will retain the any information you choose to provide to us until: (a) you ask us to delete the information; (b) we decide to cease using our existing data providers; or (c) the Company decides that the value in retaining the data is outweighed by the costs of retaining it.
  • You have the right to request access to your data that the Company stores and the rights to either rectify or erase your personal data.
  • You have the right to seek restrictions on the processing of your data.
  • You have the right to object to the processing of your data and the right to the portability of your data.
  • To the extent that you provided consent to the Company’s processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based upon consent that occurred prior to your withdrawal of consent.
  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority that has jurisdiction over issues related to the General Data Protection Regulation.
  • We require only the information that is reasonably required to enter into a contract with you. We will not require you to provide consent for any unnecessary processing as a condition of entering into a contract with us.

Contact us

Should you have any queries in relation to the above or require further information regarding the Privacy Policy please contact us:

Midnight Music Pty Ltd
PO Box 219
Glen Waverley
Victoria 3150
AUSTRALIA

Email address: support@midnightmusic.com