Nobody enjoys an awkwardly quiet event. The right playlist can turn any event from a total snoozefest into a memorable experience for your guests. While it may seem like a small detail, it’s absolutely vital for your event. Not only does it set the mood, but it is the soundtrack (literally) to give your guests a great experience. To ensure your next event doesn’t fall flat, here are some tips for how to create the right playlist to keep guests feeling energized and happy.
Best Platforms to Make a Playlist
First of all, in order to make a playlist, you’ll need to pick the right platform to create it on. Here are just a few of the most popular music streaming platforms:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Soundcloud
- Amazon Music Unlimited (free to Prime members)
- YouTube Music (free to premium subscribers)
- Qobuz
- Tidal
- Pandora
Each of these hosts millions of songs, and allows you to easily organize them into your own playlist, or find playlists created by other people that you can use. The standard YouTube app may seem convenient in the moment, but unless you’re able to remove all advertisements, you’ll most likely have to hear an ad play before each song. Not only is this very bothersome to have to stay by your phone or computer to be able to skip ads when they come up, but will also interrupt the flow of your playlist.
Don’t Overlook Your Audience
Have you ever been to an event and felt the choice of music just threw off the entire vibe? It’s probably because the host didn’t consider the audience of their event before putting on the playlist. In order to eliminate this, choose songs that represent the vibe of your event. Whether you're hosting a conference, food festival, charity event, or virtual event, the songs you choose must seamlessly blend with the occasion. An event that has a crowd of young children and their parents will likely have different tastes than a group of seasoned corporate professionals. If you don’t know your audience’s tastes, stick to music that is appropriate for the event you’re hosting. For example, fast-paced, bass-boosted rap music probably isn’t the ideal choice for a formal gala.
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Keep It Fresh
While you can base your playlist around one theme, include some variety so that it doesn’t feel like everything is hitting one note. You’ll probably want to include some chart-topping hits that everyone is familiar with, but don’t be scared to throw in some deeper cuts, as well, for more variety. Depending on the duration of your event, your playlist should generally have 100+ songs on it. That way, you won’t run the risk of event attendees hearing the same songs on repeat.
Get the Timing Right
Your playlist can also be a useful tool to help your event transition between different moods throughout its duration. Do you want your guests to feel motivated when your key speaker is making their way onto the stage? Or have everyone settle down as you’re about to enter a break period? All of these can be helped, or hindered, by your choice of music. It’s important to carefully time these shifts to align with the mood you’re trying to create. To make it a bit easier, you may want to consider splitting your playlist up into three sections: warm up, pump up, and cool down.
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Wrapping Up
Great events engage all our senses. You’ve nailed your decor, you’ve got the catering all in place, now don’t let sound be the one detail that slips through the cracks. Take control over your event’s ticketing by using Passage’s fast and easy set up. Interested in learning more? Set up a demo with one of our team members to see how simple it is.
