Did you know you can connect ChatGPT to your Apple Music account and have it build you a playlist? I found out a few weeks ago, and I have not stopped using it since.
Here’s how it works. You connect your Apple account to ChatGPT once (look under Apps), then describe what you want. Artists the person likes, mood, occasion, what they’d be doing while listening, anything specific to them. ChatGPT builds the playlist and pushes it straight to your Apple Music library. No copying titles. No manual searching. It appears.
One thing worth knowing: ChatGPT can’t read your listening history. Apple keeps that private. So your prompts have to carry the weight. That turns out to be the point. You’re thinking about the person again.
I’ve made several now. For my teenager, I fed ChatGPT a few artists he actually listens to and asked for similar ones he probably didn’t know yet. I also included a bunch of things that would describe his tastes, personality, and a few other items that make the list all about him (Loves the Bills). I wanted to get it right. After cleaning up the list of a few duplicates, I played it during dinner without warning. His ears kept perking up, and I had to let him in on the secret. He liked the playlist quite a bit. If you have a teenager, you know that outcome is not guaranteed.
For my wife, I built something for her commute. Relaxing, good for the streetcar, nothing demanding. I followed the same process. Some artists she likes and a stream of bullets to help describe tastes, moods, and a few humorous suggestions (an inside joke to Dave Matthews Band, for example. She’s asked for more playlists since. So has my son. I’m basically running a small playlist operation out of my house now, and I genuinely don’t mind.
Next, I need to crack my youngest teen, who doesn’t like to share what he listens to, even though he has headphones on almost all day long, it seems.
The whole thing takes maybe five minutes once you know what you’re doing. The results are legitimately good. Not perfect every time, but above average consistently, which is more than I can say for anything an algorithm has handed me unsolicited. It’s available for Spotify too, if that’s your thing. Spotify users tend to skew younger. Make of that what you will.
Creating playlists for my family took me straight back to being a teen, sitting in my room making mix tapes on my double-deck stereo. The age of ripping CDs. Downloading songs for five hours from Napster. Our kids have no idea how hard it was. Now you can do it all on your phone and the output might actually be better.
But the difference that still stands for me? Those CDs still exist. I still have one in my drawer called “BBQ for the Ears” with memories attached to it. These AI playlists are great. They will never do that.
Are you ready to try it? For me, it is one of the best functions of ChatGPT I have come across so far.
Want help on how? Shoot me a message.
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