Tag: Steely Dan

Pick Out the Perfect Father’s Day Gift With a Little Help From Spotify

June 2, 2022

father and daughter dancing to music

Father’s Day is just around the corner, which means it’s time to find a gift dad will love. Do they need a new Bluetooth speaker for their backyard cookouts? What about a better way to consume podcasts in the car during their morning commute? Or maybe they could benefit from a good pair of wireless headphones. Whatever it may be, there are a variety of perfect gift options that also integrate easily with Spotify to deliver an experience perfect for music and podcast discovery. 

Check out these gift ideas to help you get started:

  • Car Thing: Spotify’s smart player provides a seamless and personalized in-car listening experience. Just in time for Father’s Day, it will be available for a limited time at $69.99 (normally $89.99). Whether it’s their daily commute or the next family road trip, your dad can easily listen to their favorite music and podcasts using “Hey Spotify” voice commands, as well as with simple taps, turns, and swipes. 
  • Ikea Vappeby Speaker: This Bluetooth speaker lamp is perfect for dads who enjoy the great outdoors. And thanks to Spotify Tap, the perfect soundtrack to their adventure is just a single button push away.
  • Philips Hue Light Bulbs: Dads may love to complain when people leave the lights on, but even they can’t resist these Spotify-integrated light bulbs. Once they’re synced up, they’ll flash, dim, brighten, and change color right along with the beat, mood, genre, and tempo of any music on Spotify. 
  • Sony LinkBuds: Whether they’re concentrating in the office or hard at work in the yard, a pair of wireless headphones is a handy accessory for any dad. With a pair of these plugged into their ears, they can jump into their favorite songs with Spotify Tap.
  • Spotify Premium Gift Card: Want to introduce dad to your favorite new song or podcast? How about giving them a new way to find old favorites? A gift card is the perfect way to get them started on Spotify Premium, where they can enjoy music without ads, with unlimited skips, and with the ability to go offline and keep listening. 

Gift a custom playlist made just for dad

So what pairs perfectly with shiny new audio gear? A good selection of tunes, of course. And nothing says “I’m thinking of you” like a custom playlist. Create a playlist with all of dad’s favorite tracks and podcasts—and even take the extra step of adding custom cover art, a name, and a description. 

Need some inspo? Here are the top songs users in the U.S. typically stream on Father’s Day: “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet, “Father and Son” by Yusuf / Cat Stevens, “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin, “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, “Daughters” by John Mayer, “Dance with my Father” by Luther Vandross, and “Suavemente” by Elvis Crespo. 

Some of the top artists streamed on Father’s Day going back to 2016 include Jimmy Buffet, Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra, Marc Anthony, Vincente Fernandez, Bob Marley & The Wailers, and Steely Dan.  

This Father’s Day, give your dad the gift of music and discovery! And for the perfect Father’s Day soundtrack, be sure to check out the playlist Father’s Day Love:

Yacht Rock: How the Smooth Sounds of the ’70s and ’80s Became a Genuine Genre

July 9, 2019

When the weather’s warm, the weekends long, and the cocktails crafted using blue curaçao, there’s no better music than yacht rock—the soft, smooth sounds released between roughly 1976 and 1984 that typically feature vocals and keyboards with guitars barely audible in the background. Yet, this genre of music didn’t even have a name until a few years ago. 

Artists like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Chicago were once viewed as belonging to an adult-contemporary, soft-rock bridge between ’70s disco and ’80s arena rock. But in 2005, a few friends noticed that several artists’ albums of the era had boats on their covers. They jokingly called these albums “marina rock” and created a 12-episode comedy video series that went viral. Yacht rock was born, and today the video series’ creators even have a podcast, Beyond Yacht Rock.

On Spotify, yacht rock is most popular among those aged 45-54 and 18-24, indicating that listeners who came of age during the music’s heyday and their children love those smooth grooves. While yacht rock is most streamed in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, when measured as a percentage of total streams yacht rock is far and away the most popular in New Zealand. In fact, seven of the top 10 cities that keep yacht rock on repeat are in New Zealand (which also just so happens to be the current holder of the America’s Cup—coincidence?). 

But what are the defining characteristics of yacht rock? Let our yacht-or-knot list below be your celestial guide.

Check out the official Yacht Rock playlist.