Creating a killer playlist is an art form. By carefully crafting the ups and downs of your song list, you place the mood of the class right in your control. Music can be used to motivate, energize, calm or bring levity to the atmosphere of a class. On the flip side, however, music that’s become monotonous can just as easily negatively impact your classes.
We’ve outlined below some of our favorite resources for keeping your playlists fresh and relevant. And remember, promoting playlists is another great marketing channel for your studio!
CURATE AND FIND PLAYLISTS
Popsugar Fitness publishes at least one mood-specific workout playlist each month. From “The 2000s Playlist You’ve Been Dreaming About” to “The Best Cardio Music for Summer 2015,” this site offers tons of suggestions and serves as a one-stop shop for keeping you current on the hot workout songs of the moment. Fitness has a similar collection of playlists suited for a variety of different activities and moods.
Take a listen to the FIT Radio Workout Music app while doing your own workouts to get ideas to take back to your studio. This app gives you access to playlists in a variety of music genres and, like Pandora, offers a randomization of 15 to 20 mixes in each genre at any given time. With FIT Radio, you can stream daily-updated playlists of top 40, rock, hip-hop, house, EDM, indie and more.
InstructorMusic.com is an online shop that offers dozens of complete playlist downloads for nearly any kind of vibe you are trying to create in your classes. You can choose from music genres such as bubblegum funk, hip hop or Latin; class activities, such as tabata, interval or cycling; or even by BPM. Playlists run about 50 minutes each and cost $17.
The numerous options for streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud and HypeMachine are also great resources for sourcing new music and building your own playlists. Star or make a note of songs you come across while listening to their curated playlists or radio features to build out totally unique song sets for your classes.
PROMOTE YOUR PLAYLISTS
Sharing your playlists online is an effective way to promote your classes and get clients energized. Fitness fanatics love to share unique and inspiring playlists on social media, which is great promotion for your studio.
There are several sites you can use to make your playlists accessible to clients.
Spotify is one of the most popular music services and the easiest apps to use for sharing playlists. For a monthly subscription rate of $9.99 per month, you can create and share playlists directly with others or on social media by passing around the Spotify link. Clients who subscribe to Spotify can follow your studio on the app and listen to your playlists while they work out on their own.
8tracks might not have all the bells and whistles of Spotify, but it accomplishes the same goals with a clean and easy-to-use interface. The site allows you to create searchable mixes, which your clients can access and listen to for free. You can also search for other user-generated workout-appropriate playlists to get ideas for your own.
Last.fm lets you build playlists and make those lists accessible to the public or just to your clients. Best of all, shared playlists come with the option to buy the tracks or just as stream them directly.
TIPS FOR SHARING YOUR PLAYLISTS
Playlists should be posted after class while students have the experience fresh in their minds. If you decide to use any of the playlist sharing platforms mentioned in this blog, make sure you check your settings before sharing so that they are publicly accessible but not publicly editable.