What is a playlist curator, and how are businesses using them?
Starbucks, Barilla, and Nike all have Spotify playlists
A few months ago, I discovered TikTok creator Sam Weisband, who built a full-time career making playlists.
As a professional playlist curator, Weisband draws on her knowledge of music to curate niche playlists based on moods, emotions, and even colors. She earns her living through brand deals and reviewing songs indie artists submit to her.
Weisband isn’t the only one who turned playlist making into a full-time gig. There are tons of playlist curators out there who turned their unique hobby into a career—and demand for their service is higher than one might expect.
This profession is nothing new. A Forbes article discussed how brands were working with professional playlist curators in 2017. That same year, The Verge followed Spotify editors around the New York City music scene.
In recent years, using playlists as a branding tool has become popular practice among large companies, including Starbucks, Barilla, Nike, and KFC, who all have their own Spotify profiles and playlists.
Independent curators who don’t work for large streaming services, like Spotify or Apple Music, mostly earn a living reviewing music that artists submit at a cost for feedback or in hopes of being featured on a playlist to grow their listener base.
On Fiverr, an online platform where freelance workers post various services, playlist curators offer to make playlists for as low as $5. One curator offers to make a playlist for a wedding or cocktail hour for $25.
Believe it or not, the playlist making scene can get ugly. A 2021 Tech Crunch article detailed curators reporting each other’s playlists for hateful content in attempt to have their metadata stripped. Removing a playlist’s metadata, like cover photo and description, makes it appear lower on searches.
Bottom line: If you enjoy making playlists, want to work in music, and maybe be your own boss, playlist curation might be the gig for you. There are also networks of playlist curators like Music Gateway or Playlist Push helping creators get started.