In addition to our hundreds of human-curated and AI-generated Playlists, Rockbot allows you to easily create your own custom Playlists.
Creating Playlists
To create a new Playlist from scratch, click the 
button in the Playlist browser, and then use the dialogue to set the Playlist owner, title, and description. 
You can also use this dialogue to sync Playlists from external sources like Spotify and Apple Music, and then edit them in Rockbot by adding or removing tracks.
Synching one of your personal Playlists from a consumer service like Spotify or Apple Music is a great way to jump-start your Rockbot Playlist creation process. We import the list of songs, match them to the songs in our database, and re-create the list. If we're unsure of the correct match during that process, you'll be prompted to pick from a list of available options. And if we don't have the right match right now, we'll add it to your Playlist if and when it becomes available.
Keep in mind as you decide what to sync that the requirements for a business Playlist are different from a personal Playlist. For starters, a business Playlist typically needs to play for much longer and have enough variety to avoid becoming repetitive even when it is played every day. For that reason, we strongly recomend using our tools to build out your Playlists once they are synched. Content will not by synched from Rockbot back to external services - the process is one way - so you don't have to worry about impacting your personal playlists by doing so.
When you create a new Playlist or go to edit an existing Playlist you have permission to edit, you will be brought to the Playlist Editor.
The Song Browser
With a brand new Playlist you will be launched directly into the Playlist Editor's Song Browser modal. Because this Playlist is completely empty, there are no suggestions yet. Searching in the Song Browser will return results based on artist name, song name, and genre classifications. Once you've started to populate your list, this dialogue will launch pre-populated with suggestions for songs included in similar Playlists.
Searching for an Artist will prompt a dropdown menu showing possible matches.
Clicking on one of the suggested Artist matches will show all songs in the Rockbot catalog by that Artist.
Search Results and Suggestions can be previewed and sorted by Popularity, Content Rating, or Energy Level.
You can add individual tracks by clicking the + to the right, or use the checkboxes at the left to select multiple tracks and add them as a batch.
Searching for a Song title shows a similar list of suggestions. Clicking on one adds it directly to your Playlist. You can also hit Return/Enter to run a text search and see a wider range of matches.
As you add songs to your Playlist, the Song Browser will update to show what you have added. If you add the wrong song by accident, you can remove it by clicking the - sign next to it in the list.
Many popular songs have been recorded multiple times or covered by multiple artists. If you're unsure if you've found the best match, you can preview the track and play a 30 second clip by clicking the speaker icon. This will launch an embedded mini-player.
As you add tracks, the Playlist Progress bar will update with the length of your Playlist and a health indicator for how much content you need to add before you can schedule it safely.
For a Playlist that already has songs, the Song Browser will launch pre-populated with recommended songs based on what other Rockbot customers have added to similar Playlists. You can easily add these songs or ignore them. Searching clears these suggestions and replaces them with search results, emptying the search bar will bring them back. You can refresh the list of suggestions by clicking "More Suggestions" link at the bottom left of the window."
Exiting the Song Browser modal brings you the Playlist Editor's main interface. You can re-launch the Song Browser at any time by clicking 'Add Music'.
Playlist Editor
The Playlist Editor lets you see exactly what a Playlist contains. From here, you can browse and preview tracks, add the Playlist to a schedule, or customize it.
Songs in the Editor view are organized based on their attributes. By default they are sorted alphabetically.
Clicking on the column headings will allow you to change the sorting to
- Title
- Artist
- Popularity across Rockbot
- Energy Level
- Lyrics (Content Rating)
- Source (who added it)
- When it was added
As in the Song Browser, the progress indicator shows you how long a Playlist can play without being repetitive and will give you an indicator of the overall health of the Playlist.
If you change the Content Ratings setting for your Zone or Group, your Playlists will automatically be filtered to match that rating. For example, if you set your max rating to PG-13, explicit tracks that have a radio-edit version available will automatically be replaced by the radio edit version. Explicit tracks with no radio edit available exceed that limit will be automatically filtered out.
Tips for building your Playlist.
Due to licensing restrictions, Rockbot cannot play multiple songs from the same artist in a row. This means Playlists need a variety of both songs and artists to work well and avoid repetition.
Playback within a Playlist is always randomized, again due to licensing restrictions for a background music service. Songs with more user upvotes will play slightly more frequently. If you have Request enabled we’ll even tune that playback frequency based on the preferences of the Rockbot app users in your Zone at the time.
How big a Playlist needs to be ultimately depends on how long you are going to play it for. We recommend a minimum of 200 songs for a Playlist that will play for 8 hours - and even that will quickly become repetitive. The Rockbot system will not allow the scheduling of Playlists with fewer than 20 songs and 12 artists.