The playlist is the ultimate platform
Why that stupid-simple list of songs is so damn great
It all began with a bunch of magnetic tape, some plastic, a cliche name and that girl. You remember her because you thought she was everything. She was it. So perfect that you spent the last week pulling your hair out as you decided which songs would make the cut. And what order should they be in. Is this cheesy? Nah this is cool as fuck, she’s (or he’s) gunna love this.
To most people reading this, myself included, this wasn’t really the case. More likely than not, you were dragging those songs from one pixel to another across your computer screen. But the story was the same. Someone mattered so much that you needed to craft the perfect list of songs in the perfect order for that perfect person and your homework, your dog, your next meal, would all have to wait in line.
The mixtape may have been invented in 1962 but it is still the most important platform in the world and I’ll tell you why. But first, you’re probably scratching your head thinking, “this guy has no fucking clue what a platform is, does he?”
Defining Platforms
plat·form — noun
1. a shoe with very thick soles.
“a pair of chunky platforms”
2. A technology that creates value by facilitating exchanges between two or more interdependent groups.
“Uber is a great platform run by assholes”
Let’s Get to the Music
Now that we know what a platform is, it’s pretty clear that the mixtape (or in 2017 speak, a playlist) is definitely one of them.
So why do I think they’re so important? Well let’s look at TV. When TV first started to become mainstream (more than just a couple white people owned them), there were only a few channels to choose from. Someone had to make sure that their channel was the one you chose, and more importantly, the one you stayed watching. We call these people Heads of Programming and guess what they were essentially making — yup you guessed it, playlists. This job can most simply be described as — “make sure we have great content, in the right order, that our viewers will love”. Sure, the audience was certainly bigger, but you get the point. A playlist is just a curated list of media, usually crafted with a specific audience in mind (even if that audience is just you). Today we see this spread across everything from Spotify to Youtube to Buzzfeed.
“10 Corndogs That Look Like Your Aunt”, yep that’s a playlist.
That’s Doesn’t Mean….
Yes, yes. I understand that there are plenty of other very valuable platforms out there but my point is, none of them are as universal. And that’s why I’ll finally get to my point. The best media companies of any era are the ones that help you find content you love. The best media companies of any era are the ones that help you find content you love. And the ones that are winning are going all in on the playlist. Spotify’s Discover Weekly, Netflix’s Recommendation Carousel and Facebook Trending have taken and now dictate what we hear, watch and read. The only question becomes, who will recreate it next?
Introducing Laylo
Yes, this article was obviously leading towards the inevitable… I wrote a story and now I’m gunna ask you to sign up for our product. But Laylo is built around the idea that people are the key to great content spreading around the world, and not the Heads of Programming in the ivory towers. We’ve implemented this whole playlist thing in a way that changes how music is discovered and shared. As a thank you for reading this far (yay for long attention spans!), we’d like to invite you to join the 30,000 people that have already been invited to beta test. Just head over to our Instagram and comment “Insider” on any of our pictures for an invite into the next generation of music discovery. Be the next music finding legend.
Join Us
If you want to connect with your fans, are a superfan yourself or just dig what we’re doing, come join us. Artists can get access to their dashboard by heading to app.laylo.com and clicking Let’s Go!
