Creating Office Playlists for Every Occasion

By
Managed by Q
·
January 24, 2020

Setting the perfect tone at the office depends on so many different elements—lighting, furniture and design, cleanliness, organization, and sometimes music.

Music of any kind is a powerful tool that can set a mood and bring people together. Some suggest that adding the right music to their daily routine empowers them to get their work done. Even if your workspace tends toward the quieter side, we bet more than a few of your coworkers have headphones in while at their desks. So give them something great to listen to, and curate your very own office playlist. Below are some helpful tips to make sure it’s a hit.

Stay in tune

The first and most important part of curating a playlist for your workplace is settling on a purpose. Will your playlist be used to boost focus and productivity, or encourage networking at a company event? The right songs can help your employees tune out, or tune in, depending on what the situation calls for. Once you’ve decided on what this overall theme should be, you can come up with a creative title that represents it. Then comes the fun, albeit challenging, part—picking the best songs!

Know your audience

When it comes to song selection, each piece of music should accurately represent the playlist to which it is being added. If you were building a playlist to write to, for example, you might opt for classical or instrumental tracks over heavy metal. But—since you’re curating the playlist for the entire office, not just yourself—it’s also important to ensure your choices are diverse enough to appeal to everyone’s music tastes.

Try using a combination of newer artists with more established favorites, and play with genre so long as the music and lyrics still complement one another. If you want to get a better idea of your coworkers’ music tastes, ask them for recommendations! Create an office poll in Slack with Polly, or collect team favorites through email or messaging.

Strike a balance

Avoid repeating tracks from the same artist. If you can’t resist, position their songs away from each other in the track list to allow for some variation. You can also maintain the balance of your office playlist by alternating between popular hits and lesser-known tracks. This might be the one case where you wouldn’t want to play Beyoncé’s top ten hits all in a row. That’s not a playlist, that’s a tribute!

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Keep them listening

You never know how much time that project is going to take, or how long that event is going to last. It’s always safer to aim for more songs, that way your playlist doesn’t become repetitive and boring to the listener(s). Aim to add between 20 and 60 songs to keep Jane in accounting from becoming her own DJ. If you have less than 15, Spotify might make some suggestions of their own.

Shamelessly self-promote

Once your playlist is complete, share it with your colleagues to enjoy. Send a message to your team and link directly to the playlist so they can start listening. Maybe you even have a Slack channel devoted to discovering new music, where your office playlist will fit right in with the team’s updates about artists they love.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to create an office playlist. But if you’re still struggling, Managed by Q has you covered. Check out our current collection below, and follow us on Spotify as we’ll be adding more playlists for any and every office occasion.

  • Network and Chill: Turn on Network and Chill for some crowd-friendly tunes that will inspire conversation.
  • Halloween Party Music: Hosting an office party for Halloween? Turn on this festive playlist and have fun!
  • Squeaky Clean Office: Funky tunes for tidying up or deep cleaning your office.
  • Office Ambient Music: Relax and sink into your work with this ambient music playlist.
  • Friday at the Office: A collection of songs that will get you through a Friday at the office. Sourced from the employees of Managed by Q.

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