Building a playlist for a road trip

Midway through the Route 66 project, the senior designer put forward the great suggestion to include a Spotify playlist for the route. With music being such an integral part of long, cross-country drives this was immediately loved by all working on the book. I began to assemble a song list to 'stress test' the idea, mainly to see exactly what the music could be and how we could best share it.

In the distant past a journey crossing the continent would have been at the mercy of AM radio - aided by all its crackles and interference. It wasn’t until the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s that the superior FM radio frequencies were opened up but these had short range and were found only in larger urban areas. Cassettes, CDs and iPods took the weight until the early 2010s when SiriusXM brought satellites to the car. Now it’s more likely a smart phone will be connected to an online and near infinite library.

What is missed is the experience of the unpredictable, you never knew what was coming next and when a song was played it was for that moment, not to be rewound. It was music chosen by somebody else from a different part of the country with differing experiences and tastes. No wonder the good radio stations and DJs had such loyal followers, islands amidst the talk and religious programming.

We wanted to become a radio station for the journey

Having been a music fanatic my entire life, often planning travel based around concerts or music history I was delighted to have this opportunity to work through the playlists. It was also a nice way of stopping me from pitching the ‘Music Traveller’s Guide’ again. Almost yearly for half a decade. One day...

We were initially unsure if the playlist would be a single list for the whole journey or if it would be split either thematically or geographically. As we discussed the idea it became clear that each of the states would benefit from its own dedicated playlist. The selections I then chose were songs that either relate directly to the route or each individual state. The obvious connection being an artist’s home state but with only a limited possible number of entries per state the selection became more focused, as did the order and versions of songs to include. 

Although selected music was mostly commercial pop, country and rock artists, I felt it was important to include a diverse selection to highlight the different music born from each state, this is why Pantera was included alongside Garth Brookes, and The Rondelles were on the list with Miles Davis. The possibilities for each state were plentiful and it was a delight to research. The sheer variety of music was the death nail for an early suggestion to include a different cover version of the track Route 66 in each state’s playlist.

I had an additional cartographic task to take on, marking any locations mentioned in song on the maps that were being produced. I Ain't in Checotah Anymore by Carrie Underwood needed the city of Checorah in Oklahoma adding to the map as well as highway numbers mentioned within the songs lyrics. The stories in these songs can literally be seen on the road.

We needed to check that every track was available across the main sales markets the book would be sold in, although this is not guaranteed as music licences change with surprising regularity. Once printed there is obviously little that can be done. Likewise should any shocking revelation about an artist be revealed we will have to wait for the next edition to be replaced. 

Once I had the list checked and approved by the editorial team, writers and international publishers, the designer was able to create the artwork replicating a traditional diner jukebox listing and we placed it on the opening map for each chapter. A cover for the playlist was created and uploaded to Spotify and the playlist shared using a Spotify barcode. This graphic  needed to be printed in full black, both for the licensing by Spotify and technically this would enable us to swap out if needed in later printings. We split the black elements onto a seperate file to print making a change cheaper and quicker.

This was a lovely idea which was only marred by being anchoring to a single music provider. Spotify has regularly been criticized for its royalty payments (or lack thereof) as well as some controversial investments in military and ai tech by its founder. The obstacle to alternatives such as Tidal or Deezer was their market share and awareness was not strong enough at the time of printing to consider.

Personal Highlights from the Playlist