Spotify knows people are changing up their workout routines during the pandemic, so it’s making it easier for them to create playlists to soundtrack their regimens. The company is launching an interactive webpage called Soundtrack Your Workout that’ll let listeners define their workouts and preferences and then will design a playlist for them.
Playlists can be as long as two hours and be a mix of both podcasts and music, or people can keep it to just one or the other. Listeners can also choose to block explicit content. They have to select from eight different workouts (including yoga, lifting, cardio, and walking) and tell Spotify who they’re working out with (whether it’s just themselves or with a friend over a video call). They’ll then have to select the “vibe” of their workout, meaning whether they “need motivation,” feel like dancing, or are zen. Finally, they’ll select the music and podcast genres they want to hear.
My initial test seemed to work well enough, giving me hip-hop songs when requested and motivational podcasts, too. The podcasts mostly came from Spotify-owned networks, like Parcast and Gimlet, although it mixed some independent shows in as well.
Spotify already has predesigned workout playlists, but the bigger idea with this product seems to be that they incorporate podcasts and music and change based on your workout. Personalization is the key. This also isn’t the first time Spotify has attempted a personalized playlist specifically for workouts. In 2015, the company debuted a feature for runners that used their phone to determine their pace and build a playlist around it. It shut the feature down a few years later. Although this new playlist feature doesn’t take BPM into account, it at least factors in the preferences users have and what they’re doing to design a playlist specifically for them.
