I have always struggled with organizing my music. I would create playlists, of course, but it felt like I would never use them after I made them. My music library became so cluttered, but it stressed me out too much to go back and clear everything out. I was worried that there would be a time where I would actually need one of those playlists. It’s no surprise that there was never a time I needed one of them, and I could’ve very well deleted them much sooner than I ever did.
I tried my best to come up with a method of organizing my music that suited me and my listening habits best. For several months, I tried creating playlists that contained music that had a tie to a particular emotion. For example, sad songs would go into a playlist with other sad songs. This worked moderately well for a while, but it wouldn’t stop me from skipping song after song in a playlist. All of these playlists contained too many songs that I didn’t want to listen to, so I never really felt inclined to listen to the playlists I had made.
While I was isolating during the lockdown, I spent an incredible amount of time listening to music. I desperately needed to figure out a new way of making playlists. I took a closer look at my listening habits, and it was then that I realized how I fall in love with 15-30 songs at a time. I would still listen to other music, but it was that handful of songs that I would become obsessed with after listening.
After acknowledging this tendency, I was able to come up with the most efficient playlist-making method for me. I started to create playlists for a given month. In other words, I would have a playlist of all of the songs I wanted to listen to in May and another playlist for the songs I wanted to listen to in June. At the year’s end, I make a playlist that culminates all of my favorite songs from the past year.
Not only is this convenient for me each month, but I enjoy being able to look back at what my favorite songs were at different points in my life. Although this habit is recent, I plan on continuing to organize my music in such a manner for many years to come. I believe this is something I will thank myself for later, and I encourage you to try it out for yourself.