How To Share A Spotify Playlist

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Sharing music between friends or loved ones is a common way for people to share what they love or get to know someone.

In days gone by, people would have created a mixtape or burned a CD filled with tracks.

In the age of Spotify, though, it has never been easier to give someone a mixtape or introduce them to your favourite artists.

Spotify has many social features which allow friends to see what you are listening to, or to browse your recently listened to artists.

These days you can also give someone special a personalised playlist without the need to even leave your chair.

Once you have created a playlist, or have chosen one to share with your friends, it can seem tricky working out how to send these electronic mixtapes to people.

It is, in fact, an incredibly easy process and an incredibly rewarding experience.

Sharing or creating a playlist for the party this weekend or tomorrow’s Dungeons and Dragons evening can be done by following these steps.

First of all, simply open your chosen playlist on the web player or desktop application. Among the options next to the green play button will be three dots (“…”).

Click this button, and a dropdown menu will appear. You can make sure that this playlist is public by selecting “make public” as an option.

If “make private” is the option you are given, then this means your playlist is already viewable.

From here, there are two options. You can choose to “invite collaborators”, which means that you can invite friends to add or remove songs from the playlist – just beware people adding terrible songs without your permission!

Selecting this option will copy a link to your clipboard, and you can paste this to them on any social media platform or messaging service.

The second option is to simply “share” your playlist with others. Selecting this option will copy a different link which you can now send to them.

People who receive this link will be unable to edit the playlist, but will be able to browse and listen to the mix whenever they wish.

Sharing a Spotify Playlist on the mobile app is somewhat trickier, because there are many more options to choose from.

The overwhelming number of choices can be confusing, but they are all very simple with a little explanation.

One option is to create a unique, scannable code which will take people to your playlist. Tapping the three dots will bring up the playlist image, and underneath a unique Spotify code.

This can be saved to photos, and shared with anyone using your messaging platform or social media of choice. They will then be able to scan it using their own phone camera.

For some reason this only works for playlists you have uploaded an image to, instead of the automatic compilation of album covers.

This next option for sharing a playlist via the mobile Spotify app is very simple. From the three dots menu, the “copy link” option will appear just as it does on the desktop versions.

This will give you a pastable link which can be sent to a loved one or into the group chat.

There is also the option to share the playlist directly to another app, such as Whatsapp, Twitter, or Instagram.

This option also allows you to share playlists (as well as individual songs) to Facebook Stories and Instagram Stories.

Tap the “share” option from the dropdown, and you will be shown a list of available apps.

Select the app you want to share to, and Spotify may ask your permission to open this app and share information with it.

This chosen app will then open, and you will be able to search for a recipient – your friend, partner, or a family member. They will then immediately receive a link to this playlist.

If you and your friend are using Apple devices running iOS 15.1 or higher, you will be able to share music via SharePlay.

While on a FaceTime call, if you all have a Premium Spotify account, you can simply open the Spotify app and play a song.

You will be invited to a “remote group session”, which anyone in the call can join and add songs or playlists for everyone to listen to.

Frequently Asked Questions

It is currently not possible to share a private playlist with others. Playlists must be public in order to be shared.

However, the Spotify mobile app and the desktop versions do give the option to remove a playlist from your profile, while still keeping it public and shareable.

If your playlist is public, you will be given the option on the dropdown menu to “remove from profile”, which means this playlist cannot be seen by others on your Spotify account but you can still share it in the ways we described above.

If the option to “add to profile” is there, this means your playlist is already hidden.

Yes, it is possible to share a public playlist that is not your own creation. This can be done by following any of the ways above.

However, please remember that if you are unable to edit a playlist, anyone you share the playlist with will also not be able to make changes to it.

You do not need a subscription to Spotify Premium in order to share a playlist, and the tips you have already read will work regardless of whether you pay for Spotify or not.

However, SharePlay will only work if all users have a Premium account.