…or 545 for short if you like. :)
I’ll start off by saying that I’m blatantly stealing this idea from my friend Glenn, who started this with a bunch of us on Facebook about a month ago. It’s worked out great, and I’ve found on-ramps to artists whom I’d never appreciated (and in many cases, even heard of) before.
To start with, this is probably pretty much a Spotify-based idea. I’ve seen folks try to sub in some Youtube and whatever. You can try…but for simplicity’s sake, the more Spotify for this, probably the better.
The basic idea is simple: Imagine a musical artist that you know well and like. What 5 songs would you recommend for someone to help them “get” this artist and become a potential fan?
For instance, let’s say I wanted to highlight and make a 5 for 5 for Tool. My goal would be to make others appreciate Tool as much as I do. So…I could go and pick 5 Tool songs that I think stand the test of time, or maybe have always felt like they had widespread appeal.
Easy, right?
Well, let’s make it a little more interesting than that, maybe. Everyone and anyone is free to do any 5for5 for any artist in any way that they like. But…let’s say you were going to do one on Pink Floyd. So, you could just do Comfortably Numb, Money, Wish You Were Here, Hey You and Us and Them. Fine; that works.
But what’s probably a WAY more interesting 545 to your fellow Qt3ers is a Pink Floyd 545, pre Dark Side. Or a 545 of only deep cuts from late period Floyd. Etc. Assume, again, that people are curious and interested non-fans. Assume that maybe folks have heard all those listed Floyd songs a gajillion times, and they don’t need to necessarily hear them again. So maybe a 545 that goes beyond that to hook people?
But sometimes also, a hit or well-known song is necessary. You think it’s an important part of how people would connect to an artist. Go for it! You be you.
Just again, the idea: you’re introducing an artist to us. You’re trying to make us want to hear more. You’re trying to give us an on-ramp to an artist with a gajillion records.
Another thing I’d like to have is a request list. Have an artist you know is pretty great, but have never been able to really “get”? Put up a request and see if someone here is a fan and picks it up and posts a 545 for it.
Rules? Yeah, there are some rules. Guidelines. :)
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A 545 (don’t ask about what that means, it’s nonsensical) consists of a 5-song playlist by an artist. Often, it pulls songs from as many different albums by the artist as possible.
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The 545 should be all about being a playlist that introduces people to the artist, with the idea of making listeners into fans.
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When you’ve made a 545 playlist for an artist, just post it in this thread. Use the “Share” button on Spotify, and grab the link!
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Any genre of music is fair game! Wanna do jazz? Go for it. Metal? Absolutely. Punk? Pop? R&B? Hip Hop? Country? Make it so.
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In order to keep anyone from monopolizing things, try to maybe only post one 545 per day. (On the Facebook group where this originally hatched, there were people posting like a dozen per day for a while!)
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Feel free to do a 545 on an artist that someone else has already done! Just please maybe use different songs on your own playlist.
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Try to use the original albums instead of greatest hits compilations, when possible when you put songs into your 545 playlist. That way if someone really loves a song they hear on your 545 playlist, they can easily find the album it originally was on. Still, there are times when Spotify doesn’t have the original record, but has the song you want on a greatest hits. Or, maybe the greatest hits has the highest-quality version of a song. Go with the flow. We’re easy. :)
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Feel free to be creative! A great 545 that someone came up with elsewhere was “David Bowie, the 1990s: a 545” I also liked one that an Americana music fan came up with for Johnny Cash, the 1960s.
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Ok, so about the whole 5 for 5 thing. Originally Glenn’s idea was that he was just going to make a playlist of 5 songs from the first 5 albums by a band called Polvo. 5 for 5, get it? But then he realized a better idea of inviting lots of folks to make playlists of artists and stuff. So, really this is probably more like a 5 for 1, or something smarter like that. But 545? It’s catchy. Maybe?
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No judging. :) Someone in this facebook group posted a Bieber 545. And crazy thing is…it’s not terrible. It’s actually kind of OK.
Feel free to fire away, and I’ll post one or two of my own as well to seed the thread out.