TikTok is a popular short-form video app that allows users to create, share, and discover 15 to 60-second videos. The app launched in 2016 and has over 1 billion monthly active users. Some of TikTok’s key features include duets, stitches, and react videos that allow for creative collaborations. However, one standard feature that’s missing is the ability for users to create playlists to curate and organize their favorite videos.
Playlists are collections of videos that users can create and customize. They allow you to save and group videos on a specific topic or theme. Playlists are a ubiquitous feature across platforms like YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music. They help users organize and return to their favorite content.
Currently, playlists are not an option within TikTok. Users are unable to compile videos into a playlist for easy access later. The lack of a playlist option on TikTok has left many users frustrated and confused. In this article, we’ll explore why TikTok doesn’t allow playlists and the impact this has on creators and users.
What Are Playlists?
A playlist is a curated collection of media content such as videos or songs that are grouped together for continuous playback. Playlists allow users to save and organize their favorite content into a single place for easy access. On platforms like YouTube and Spotify, playlists have become a core feature that provides many benefits:
Playlists make it easy for users to save their favorite songs or videos in one place for continuous listening or viewing. This saves users the hassle of searching for each individual piece of content they want to replay.
Playlists allow users to organize media content according to theme, mood, genre, artist, or other characteristics. This caters to different preferences and situations – playlists can be created for working out, relaxing, focusing, or entertainment.
Playlists enable seamless playback of a batch of content. Once a playlist is created, the content flows continuously rather than having to select each new song or video manually.
Playlists are shareable, allowing users to share their favorite customized collections of media quickly with friends and followers.
In summary, playlists empower users to save, organize, and share batches of content for seamless and customized consumption.
Current TikTok Format
TikTok currently operates primarily through its “For You” page, where users are presented with an endless feed of recommended short-form videos based on TikTok’s algorithm (The Atlantic). This differs significantly from platforms like YouTube and Instagram that allow for more user control over feeds and focus less on algorithmic recommendations.
The TikTok algorithm analyzes user behavior like dwell time, likes, shares, and follows to populate the “For You” page with personalized video recommendations (Klug et al.). The goal is to keep users engaged by predicting and serving up videos they are most likely to enjoy. This creates an endless stream of tailored content.
Unlike YouTube, TikTok does not allow users to create playlists or have much control over their feeds. The emphasis is fully on the algorithm directing a passive viewing experience. This format has proven extremely effective at capturing user attention, but limits users’ ability to personalize the platform (Digital Content Next).
Why Playlists Aren’t Allowed
TikTok’s success is largely owed to its powerful recommendation algorithm that predicts and serves users an endless stream of tailored short videos. Allowing users to create playlists could disrupt this core algorithm.
Playlists would enable users to bypass the algorithm and watch content in an order they choose. This goes against TikTok’s main goal of algorithmically determining which content each user sees.
TikTok wants to keep users engaged on the platform by consistently surprising them with relevant and personalized content. Pre-selected playlists may not achieve the same addictive effect.
There are also concerns that playlists could be used to promote harmful challenges or inappropriate content. As a platform catering to young users, TikTok likely wants full control over how videos are sequenced.
Additionally, TikTok may lack the infrastructure needed to support playlists while upholding its content moderation standards. The platform has historically struggled with offensive and dangerous content slipping through.
While users have expressed interest in creating playlists for convenience, this feature does not currently align with TikTok’s core priorities. Unless playlists can be implemented without undermining the algorithm, they are unlikely to be supported.
User Demand for Playlists
Many TikTok users have expressed a strong desire for the ability to create playlists on the platform. This potential feature has been frequently requested across social media and in app reviews. Users cite numerous benefits that custom playlists could provide:
– Curating content around specific themes, moods, or interests (e.g. workout playlists, cooking playlists, spooky playlists for Halloween)
– Organizing favorite videos from creators they follow into one easily accessible place
– Planning content to watch for a road trip, party, or other event
– Introducing friends to their favorite videos and creators
– Creating a queue of videos to watch instead of manually searching
– Showcasing their tastes and interests through tailored playlists
Playlists focused around audio content, such as playlists of trending songs or sounds, are especially sought-after. Many users want to recreate the music playlist experience common on other platforms. Allowing users to compile and share playlists could provide significant value, enhancing the TikTok experience.
Possibility of Future Implementation
While TikTok has not officially announced plans to add playlists, there have been hints that the feature could arrive in the future. In August 2021, TikTok launched a “Future Playlists” hashtag, encouraging creators to make videos imagining what their own playlists might look like on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/discover/future-playlists-songs). The hashtag indicates TikTok is aware of user demand for playlists and considering how the feature could work within the app.
Playlists could integrate with TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which analyzes user behavior to serve up engaging videos. The algorithm could detect patterns in the types of videos users add to playlists and suggest additional videos to include based on those preferences. Playlists would essentially act as a signal to the algorithm about a user’s interests.
However, implementing playlists poses challenges. Playlists would allow users more control over what videos they see, whereas TikTok wants to maintain control over the recommendation system. There are concerns playlists could be abused to promote certain videos. TikTok would need to balance user curation desires with its own business goals.
Workarounds for Users
Since TikTok doesn’t have an official playlist feature yet, users have found creative ways to mimic the playlist experience. Here are some of the main workarounds TikTok users utilize:
Many users try to manually create playlists by carefully curating their For You Page (FYP) feed. They will watch one specific hashtag or sound repeatedly in hopes of training the FYP algorithm to show them more of that content. However, this can be tedious and doesn’t guarantee the FYP will cooperate.
Some third-party apps have emerged to help TikTok users compile playlists. For example, TokPlay lets you search for sounds and hashtags and save them into playlists. However, you still have to manually search for each video in the TikTok app. Other tools like TikTok Playlist and Tokmate take a similar approach.
There are also websites that aggregate TikTok videos with a specific sound or hashtag into a playlist-like format. Users can visit these sites to browse different themes and get that playlist experience. However, these sites are unofficial and can have copyright issues.
While these workarounds provide some ability to mimic TikTok playlists, users are still eagerly awaiting a native playlist feature within the TikTok app itself. The workaround solutions often require significant manual effort and don’t integrate seamlessly into the app.
Impact on Artists & Creators
The lack of playlists on TikTok can negatively impact music artists and creators in a few key ways. First, it limits their ability to promote full projects or albums, since users can’t save and replay a collection of songs (How to Promote Music on TikTok). Playlists allow fans to digest a body of work, which builds interest and loyalty. Without them, artists must promote one song at a time.
Second, reposting others’ TikTok videos with an artist’s music can cause copyright issues. If not done properly, these reposts violate copyright and platforms may issue takedown notices (
What to Do If You See a Copyright Notice on TikTok?). This hurts creators by limiting their exposure. Proper licensing and crediting is required, which is easier with official playlists (How to Promote Music Without Copyright Issues).
Overall, the lack of playlists makes full music promotion more difficult on TikTok. Creators must be vigilant about copyright issues caused by reposted content. Implementing playlists could benefit artists by enabling album promotions and reducing improper copyright claims.
Comparisons to Other Platforms
Other popular social media and music platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Instagram utilize playlists as a core feature. Here’s how TikTok compares:
YouTube allows users to create playlists to save and organize videos. Playlists make it easy to watch a customized collection of videos. YouTube also auto-generates some playlists based on viewing history and recommendations. One advantage of YouTube playlists is the ability to play videos back-to-back without interruptions (Source).
Spotify revolves around playlists for music discovery and consumption. Users can create endless personalized playlists or browse Spotify’s editorial playlists. Playlists are shareable and collaborative. Spotify also auto-generates Discover Weekly playlists. However, Spotify lacks the viral video aspect of TikTok.
Instagram recently introduced the ability to create playlists of Reels. This provides a more seamless viewing experience. Playlists also increase watch time. However, Instagram Reels lack the duet and stitch features that make TikTok collaborative.
Introducing playlists could benefit TikTok by allowing users to easily save, organize and re-watch videos. Playlists tailored to specific interests, creators, or themes would improve discovery and watch time. However, TikTok would need to implement playlists thoughtfully to maintain their short-form video style.
Conclusion
In summary, TikTok currently does not allow users to create playlists due to its focus on short-form viral videos rather than long-form music streaming. While unlikely in the immediate future, there is a possibility TikTok may add playlist features to compete with platforms like Spotify and Apple Music as it continues expanding its music offerings. For now, users have found workarounds like linking to other platforms in TikTok bios. The lack of playlists impacts artists’ ability to curate their discographies on TikTok. Overall, TikTok’s format as a video-first platform explains the current absence of playlists, but the company may reevaluate this stance as music becomes more central on TikTok.
