A couple of years ago, the streaming up launched Spotify Blend and it went a little under the radar. After a couple of updates and some trial runs, it seems to be gaining traction. If you’re interested in learning more, we can tell you what Spotify Blend is and how it works. Oh, we can also give you some fixes if you’re finding you can’t blend on Spotify and answer if you can only use it with Spotify Premium.
Although we all have our individual tastes, music has brought us together over the years. Be it live music at concerts, arguing over CDS and playlists on car journeys, or songs being tied to certain memories. Music likes to be shared, and Spotify Blend is letting users do just that.
What Is Spotify Blend?
First released back in 2021, Spotify Blend allows users to create playlists to be shared with 10 friends or even popular artists on the streaming app.
The feature allows you to make combinations of you and your friends’ favourite songs into one playlist which you can all access. Whether you want a simple way of making a playlist for the road, a study playlist for university or songs to help your health kick — Spotify Blend is here to help you out.
How Does It Work?
You can either blend with your friends or your favourite artists.
To create a playlist with your friends, just search blend in the Spotify search bar. Select invite and then choose the people you want to blend with. This will then send an invitation to your friends, and, once they have accepted, Spotify will generate a playlist. The playlist will be a mix of some of all your songs, plus recommendations based on everyone’s listening style.
If you want to ridicule your friends, then each song will show which friend it came from. You can discover who is the secret Aqua mega fan or who has a hidden love of death metal.
Everyone who has then been added to the playlist will be sent a custom share card. You can then put that on social media and get others to join in on your Spotify Blend playlist too.
Spotify Blend Works With Artists Too
If your friends’ taste in music just isn’t cutting it for you, then you can blend with your favourite artists on too. It works slightly differently than with your friends, but we’ll explain.
Although the artists won’t have access to the blended playlist, you can see just how similar your music tastes are. Spotify lets you collaborate with artists such as BTS, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, Kacey Musgraves and more.
Head to the Spotify Blend page where they provide links to create a blend playlist with one of their featured artists. Once you get your playlist, you’ll get a share card and a score which will show just how similar your music tastes are. Plus, you can brag about it or by sharing it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Is It Only Available On Premium?
Users will be glad to know that you don’t need a premium account to use Spotify Blend. You will need a Spotify account, but the free version works just as well as creating those collaborative playlists.
If you don’t have a premium account, remember that you won’t be able to skip any songs in the playlist on shuffle it. So, you might be stuck with your friends’ dodgy favourite songs for a few tracks in a row. Plus, you will be interrupted by adverts every so often.
If you’re a student, you can get Spotify Premium for even cheaper, especially if you do it through a family account. It’s definitely worth considering if you need that study or motivational playlist to help you with your university work.
Why Can’t I Blend On Spotify?
The feature has been available for a little while now, so it’s unlikely that you haven’t updated the app since it launched. However, it is worth checking if you don’t have automatic updates.
The feature also requires you and your friends to listen to enough music and artists to create a playlist. If you hardly use Spotify, then Blend won’t work particularly well. Route Note also say that users need to be listening to new music so the streaming app can update your blended playlist regularly and give more accurate recommendations.
If it’s more a technical issue, then log out and in again, clear your Spotify cache or re-instal the app. Either one or all of these can get the whole app running properly again, including the Blend feature. You can always try deleting your first attempt at Spotify Blend and then creating a new playlist altogether.
Your friends also have to accept your blend invitation to create the playlist. If you’ve had a bit of a tiff or left the kitchen messy in your student accommodation, then they might be avoiding it and you for a reason. Make sure everyone is happy to create a Spotify Blend playlist, make sure they know they don’t need a premium account, and you should be all set.