Spotify is such a useful way to instantly access your music library wherever you are. But what if the albums you want to listen to aren’t on there? PLUS, wouldn’t it be useful if any backing tracks you wanted to play along with could be accessed instantly from your mobile device? Then you could play them through your amp, or jam along with them at a friend’s house … the possibilities are endless.
I have a number of music tuition books with backing track CD’s included. None of these are available in the Spotify library. But I have discovered that you can upload music tracks to Spotify easily. And then you have access to them on all your devices – Android and iOS. If you have the following then you can do it too.
- Premium Spotify Account (cannot be done with free version)
- Media files (eg MP3’s already available on your desktop computer – import from CD’s into your music library)
- All devices logged into the same WiFi network
- All set? Here is a complete step-by-step guide to how to add any song or music track to your Spotify library
Step-by-Step Video Tutorial
Time needed: 10 minutes.
How To Add Music Tracks To Spotify – Step by Step
- Sign into your Spotify Premium Account
This process is only available to Premium Spotify account holders
- Copy media files onto your desktop computer
Make sure you have imported CD tracks or any other MP3 files you want to add to your Spotify library – they need to be available locally on your desktop computer
- All devices signed in on the same network
For this to work, your computer and mobile devices need to be signed in to the same WiFi network
- Open Spotify and navigate to Settings
Open up the Spotify desktop app on your Mac or PC. You can access the Settings menu on either by clicking the arrow next to your name in the top right hand corner of the screen
- Toggle the switch to show local files
Within the Spotify settings, navigate to Local Files and toggle the switch to show local files
- Add a source
Click the button to Add a Source, and then navigate to the folder where you have media files on your Mac or PC that you want to upload to your Spotify library
- Click the open button
When you have located the folder of files, simply click Open to add the new files to Spotify
- Navigate to your Spotify Library
Now you have added the desired folders, navigate back to your Spotify library
- Create a new Spotify Playlist
Click to ‘Create Playlist’ or navigate to the playlists in your Spotify library and click Add new
- Name your Playlist
Name the Playlist, and maybe upload a square image too so that it is easily identifiable
- Navigate to your Spotify library – Mac
Go to your Spotify library, and then click the local files square (on Mac)
- Navigate to Local files – PC
On a Windows PC, the link to local files appears in the list on the left hand side of your screen
- Search local files
Now you have navigated to the local files folder in Spotify, use a search term to display the files you wish to add to your playlist
- Select the files
Click the first file at the top of the list, then shift-click the file at the bottom of the list to highlight the specific files you want to include in your Spotify playlist. Now right-click and choose ‘Add to Playlist’
- Playlist is now created
The playlist is now available to play locally on your Mac or PC
- Download files on Android mobile device
Open up the Spotify app on your Android mobile device. The playlist will show up in your library. To access the files on your Android device you need to toggle the switch in the playlist to download all the tracks
- Download files on iOS mobile device
The process is almost identical on your iOS device. You need to navigate to the playlist in your library, then download the files. The button looks different on iOS, but the process is the same
All done! You can now access the files you have added to your Spotify library wherever you are. Either on your desktop mac or PC, or on the go via your mobile device. Enjoy.
I already loved Spotify, this just made me like it a little bit more. It’s a very useful facility. And one I use a lot …