Spotify has several cool features that make discovering new music on the platform an exciting and enjoyable experience. Simply looking up a song title or a music artist is enough to get a user started on a deep dive into Spotify's extensive catalog. However, knowing what to look for and typing in the right search terms can help to yield the best tracks and playlists for any mood or occasion.
Users of the audio streaming service can already discover new music by checking out what their friends are listening to on the app. They can also switch on the 'Enhanced' feature on playlists they've already created that'll automatically generate and add songs that the app deems fit to include in the mix. However, what most Spotify listeners use is the Search function of the app, and there are a number of ways to maximize the tool in the quest for new songs or the perfect playlist.
Spotify's Search function can be further fine-tuned through the use of special keywords that'll narrow down results. Every track available on Spotify has search tags associated with it that make them easily findable, such as artist, track (aka song title), or album. Others that may not be as known, but will certainly make a user's search more precise, include year (of track or album release), genre, or label (as in recording label behind the release). These search terms can be combined to find Spotify playlists and individual songs alike by using search modifiers 'AND' and 'NOT'.
How To Use Spotify Search Tags
As an example, if a U2 lover wants to listen to songs of their favorite band, but only those released in a specific decade, they can type 'artist:U2 year:1980-1990' into Spotify's search bar. If a Jason Mraz fan wasn't in a particularly lovey-dovey mood but still wanted to listen to the artist's songs, they can try entering the string, 'artist: Jason Mraz NOT love' to display all Mraz tracks that don't have the word 'Love' in the song title. On a friend's birthday, consider looking up their favorite genre and combining it with their birth year to produce a fun house party playlist to play nonstop in the background by searching for something like 'genre:pop AND year:1984'. These are only some examples of combined searches that can be done using Spotify's advanced search options.
Spotify Search can also be incredibly useful when a user wants to know more about a music artist through their best hits, or if they want to find a specific song they've only heard in passing but don't necessarily recognize. Simply type 'this is [name of music artist]' to check if a best-of playlist exists for a particular musician. If the artist has enough of a catalog or a following on the platform, it should produce a Spotify-generated list of the artist's most played tracks, with the same playlist name as the search phrase used. It should also be the first result under 'Playlists' and have the official Spotify account as playlist creator. As for looking up songs heard on the go, knowing some of the lyrics is key. Spotify users must type in at least three words from a song's lyrics into the search bar. When doing the search on any of Spotify's mobile apps, songs that have those lyrics will be tagged as 'Lyrics match' in the results.
Spotify's search feature can also be used to look for exact song matches. Simply enter the search term in quotation marks so that only results with those exact words will show up. Users can also enter a mood (feeling pensive), time of day (morning), or activity (jogging) to find playlists created by fellow Spotify users for any particular musical need.
Sources: Spotify Support, Spotify Community