If you ever find yourself in a position where you are elected the DJ for an upcoming social event, then it can seem like quite a dubious honor. While you’ll get to have the power of what music gets played at the event, failing to appease the crowd will cause people to doubt your music tastes and ability to cater to people’s desires.

If you are facing the daunting task of having to organize a party playlist, consider the following tips.

1. Don’t let power go to your head

Absolute power is often absolutely corrupting, and this is no different when it comes to being given power over a party playlist. When you have control, it can be tempting to fill the playlist up with songs you know that you enjoy while at a party and end up neglecting the wishes of the other guests.

Most people don’t want to make a fuss about music, so it can actually be easy to bully your way into only your music being played. Don’t allow this to happen – be collaborative from the start and let everyone know that you are eager to hear their suggestions about what tracks to include in the playlist.

This is where services like Spotify come in handy since you can use the platform to create collaborative playlists that each guest can add to at their leisure. Be careful with who you give the link to the collaborative playlist too, as some people might abuse the power in the same way you are trying to avoid in the first place!

2. Expand your music catalog

If you want to create the best party playlist possible, consider expanding the music library you have by finding new sources of music. If the vibe of the party is going to be laidback, you could try finding new music by listening to the radio, such as a chill internet radio station.

Alternatively, you can find new music by asking the guest list of the party what their tastes are and what kind of radio stations they listen to during the week. Knowing the kinds of music that the party guests listen to on a habitual basis will allow you to construct a playlist that is more closely suited to them.

If you do this, you will likely get a lot of compliments from the guests on how well you did in building the playlist. Appease the people and they will let you know about it!

3. Look for examples of party playlists from other sources

If you’re stuck on ideas for what a good party playlist might look like, don’t hesitate to research other playlists that exist online and get some ideas from them. If you’re really lazy, you could just download one of these playlists or copy it and say it was yours.

You can’t really copyright a playlist, so there’s nothing wrong with taking someone else’s and using it if you are really stuck for ideas. However, you will probably find it more rewarding to create a playlist yourself and see the enjoyment in creates at the event.

You can look at what tracks are included in different popular playlists and throw them into your playlist. This is a great method if you really are stuck on what kind of music people typically expect to hear at a party.

4. Consider the demographics of the crowd

Of course, if you are planning a playlist for a children’s party, you probably wouldn’t include songs with explicit lyrics and themes. This means that heavy metal or hip-hop probably won’t be appreciated by the parents of children in attendance, so you should stick to clean top 40 tracks in this instance.