Library and Playlist Management

Editor's note, another favorite article here...

In the age of streaming, anyone can listen to anything at any time. But the real magic? It’s not just in the music you play — it’s in how you organize it.

Your library and your playlists are your musical manuscript — a living, breathing record of who you are, where you’ve been, and what you felt along the way.

And yet, so many streaming platforms treat these sacred spaces like afterthoughts.

Let’s talk about what’s broken, what’s beautiful, and why playlist curation is a creative act.

A Personal Archive in Flux

Your music library used to live on shelves — rows of CDs, crates of vinyl, cases of mixtapes. You could scan it in seconds and know everything you owned.

Now? It’s invisible.

Spotify, Apple Music, and others offer "libraries" — but they’re often just lists of favorited tracks or "liked" albums, poorly structured and hard to browse. Sorting options are limited. Filters are missing. You can’t always group by mood, format, or date added. And unless you manually create folders or tags, you’re left scrolling endlessly.

In short: streaming libraries lack narrative.

Playlists Are the New Albums

If the library is your archive, then playlists are your stories. They’re how you arrange music for meaning. A mood. A memory. A moment.

A great playlist isn’t just a list — it has:

• A beginning and an end
• Emotional flow
• Variety and pacing
• Surprise and restraint

That’s not an algorithm — that’s editing.

Creating a good playlist is a deeply personal skill, and for many listeners, it's become a form of self-expression, just like mixtapes used to be.

The Lost Tools of Curation

Unfortunately, most platforms don’t support advanced playlist management. You can't:

• Tag songs with custom notes
• Automatically group tracks by audio features (e.g. BPM, key)
• Browse metadata easily (year, label, mood)
• Nest playlists or organize them like folders of themes

And sharing playlists? Often stripped of liner notes, context, or personal commentary.

Imagine a world where you could create an annotated playlist, like a digital zine — with thoughts, memories, and artwork tied to each track. That’s the level of richness curation deserves.

Why It Matters

Music isn’t just something you consume — it’s something you collect. And like all collections, it tells a story about your identity, your sensibilities, your voice.

When platforms reduce playlists to simple lists, they rob us of that authorship.

But when you’re allowed to shape, sculpt, and organize music on your terms — to craft your own “manuscript” — it becomes more than just sound. It becomes autobiography.

A Call for Better Tools

Streaming platforms should support:

• Rich tagging and filtering
• More nuanced playlist editing tools
• Mood-based navigation
• Smart folders and sub-library creation
• Optional liner notes and personal annotations

Until then, those who really care about musical storytelling will continue to build their own ecosystems — in spreadsheets, notebooks, or third-party tools.

Because curation is care. And your playlists deserve more than a heart icon.