Music is a lot more fun when you share it with other people. And while discovering new music is great, sharing music with others is an equally rewarding experience.

Thankfully, in the age of streaming music, sharing is easier than ever. Whether you want to publish your custom Spotify playlists to the world or create a fresh mixtape with friends, here are the many ways to share music using Spotify.

How to Share Playlists on Spotify Desktop

Let's first look at Spotify's sharing options when using the desktop apps.

First, make sure you have a playlist to share. If you need to make a new one, just click the New Playlist button above the album art on the left side of the screen. Give it a name and create playlist art for it if you want, then you can add tracks to the playlist.

Click and drag a song or album onto the playlist in your left sidebar to add it. You can also right-click a song or playlist and choose Add to Playlist > [Playlist Name].

Spotify Add Song to Playlist

1. Share Playlists Using Social Media

Once your playlist is ready to share, click its name from the list in the left sidebar. Then click the three-dot button next to Play at the top of Spotify's window to access options for it.

Highlight Share and you can choose to share the playlist using Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, Telegram, Skype, or Tumblr. Each one of these will open the corresponding website with a pre-formatted message, including a link to the playlist.

Spotify Share to Facebook

2. Share Playlists With a Spotify Code

Spotify Codes are like a QR code for a Spotify playlist, album, artist, or similar. Using the mobile app, you can scan these to jump right to the applicable page inside Spotify.

To generate the code for a playlist, select Spotify Code from the Share list. This will show an image of the playlist's art, along with a code at the bottom. To save a code you generated on the desktop, take a screenshot of it.

Spotify Share Code Desktop

We'll discuss more about scanning Spotify Codes below.

At the bottom of the Share list under the social links and code option, you'll see three additional types of links you can share using Spotify. These are great for embedding playlists on a website, sharing in a group chat with friends, or similar.

  1. Playlist Link: This is a standard URL that points to your playlist. If you open it in your browser, Spotify will show the playlist in its web player. You can also paste it into the Spotify desktop app's search bar to open it. Example:
            https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lOWPdxkfFnJxsBjK5Ye02?si=-RzNd22uTd6liLOFRWN5BQ
        
  2. Embed Code: Use this code to embed a widget with your playlist on a blog or forum post. If you edit the HTML, you can change the size, color, and other properties of the widget. See Spotify's post on embedding for more info. Example:
            <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0lOWPdxkfFnJxsBjK5Ye02" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>
        
  3. Spotify URI: This is a special link that will open the playlist in Spotify's desktop app when someone clicks it. Example:
            spotify:playlist:0lOWPdxkfFnJxsBjK5Ye02
        
Spotify Playlist Sharing Links

URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier. You might be familiar with other types of URIs, such as mailto. When you click a link that points to mailto:user@domain.com, for example, your computer opens your default email app with that address in the To field.

Similarly, when you click a link that's a Spotify URI, you'll jump right to the album or playlist it points to. They differ from a Playlist Link in that a URI link opens the desktop program, while the normal link opens Spotify's website interface.

Note that in Spotify's Web Player, you only have the option to copy a playlist link or embed code when sharing.

4. Try Collaborative Playlists

If you want some help making great Spotify playlists, you can set them as collaborative. A collaborative playlist lets anyone with the link make changes to it. This is great for opening up a playlist for an event—just make sure you trust everyone who gets the link. You wouldn't want someone sneaking an inappropriate track in.

Click the More button on a playlist and choose Collaborative Playlist to let others make changes. You can turn this off anytime, if you're happy with how it is currently.

easiest ways to share spotify playlists

5. Make Your Playlists Public

You'll notice one other pertinent option on the playlist settings menu. If you select Make Public, anyone using Spotify can access the playlist. They can't make changes, but they'll be able to see what's in it and play its contents.

Public playlists appear on your profile, as well as in search results. Click Follow on a playlist to add it to your sidebar. Since it's a link to the live playlist, you'll see any changes as the owner makes them.

easiest ways to share spotify playlists

If a playlist is only for your use, you should keep this disabled. But if you think your playlist is great and want others to find it, make it public.

How to Share Spotify Playlists on Mobile

Sharing Spotify playlists on your phone offers mostly the same options when sharing Spotify playlists on the desktop, with a few differences.

Open a playlist and tap the three-dot button to access various options. On iOS, this button appears below the playlist name. Meanwhile, on Android, the button appears at the top-right of the screen.

You'll see Make Collaborative and Make Public, which are identical to their desktop counterparts. Under Share, though, there are some different options.

Depending on the apps installed on your phone, you'll see options like Twitter and WhatsApp; tap these to easily share to those services. If you prefer, you can tap More to open the share sheet on your device and send it through any app you like. This makes it easy to send without having to copy and paste a link (which you can still do with Copy Link).

When you open the three-dot menu on a playlist, you'll see the Spotify code for it at the top of the list. Take a screenshot of this, and you can send it to friends or post it online so anyone can scan it to check out your mix.

To scan a code, head to the Search tab, select the search bar, and tap the Camera icon at the top-right. You can either scan a code with your camera or through a picture saved on your device.

6. How to Share Spotify Playlists Online

We conclude with a few alternate ways to find and share your playlists with the world.

Playlists.net is one great third-party resource for finding and sharing playlists. Log in and connect your account with Spotify, then click the Submit a Playlist button to add yours to the mix. Others can browse and search for playlists. Hopefully, they'll come across yours.

Playlists Net 2020 Screenshot

Another great site in this sphere is SharePlaylists. It offers a similar function: create an account and connect it with Spotify, then share your mixtapes with the world. Even if you don't want to share anything at the moment, it's a great way to discover something new.

What Will You Share on Spotify?

Now you know how to share Spotify playlists using several handy methods. Whether you want to send some music to friends or create an awesome mix for the world to enjoy, you can do it easily with these tools.

If you need something fresh to share, why not let Spotify help you find more music you'll love?