A Sound Community: East parent Tony Sheets and a dozen of his closest friends share and discuss music of all genres through Playlist Club

Sitting in Booklist Club one evening, East Parent Tony Sheets began to notice how everyone seemed to enjoy it when the conversation turned to music. 

Discussions of artists’ use of acoustic instruments. The story behind each song. Emotions the song releases.

From this observation and after six months of intermittent planning from East parents Adam Reese, Casey Barrett and Tony Sheets, Playlist Club was born.

“We had thought of the idea for probably a year,” East Parent Adam Reese said. “Mr. Sheets kind of pulled it over the finish line and said, ‘I’m gonna do this at my office, this is the group of people we’re going to invite and this is our first theme for what playlist we’re going to work on.’”

Now, the 17 members on a group chat playlist club consists of monthly 3-5 hour meetings at Sheets’ office, where members talk about the songs they’ve recently added, why they were added and what the next playlist category should be. 

Despite still being part of book clubs, Playlist Club quickly became their favorite club atmosphere, due to the community that forms around discussing music with friends. 

The purpose of the club is to broaden everyone’s music interest past what the “algorithm” on their Spotify For You Page has dished out to them.

“Companies have figured out an algorithm for all of us,” Barrett said. “We usually lie within the boundaries of an algorithm, and it’s really hard to explore [new genres]. It was really memorable to talk with a group that all had different algorithms and it brought the music that is now recommendations on my streaming platform.”

And the club doesn’t limit itself to just Spotify. They’re always discussing new ways to immerse themselves in music. Watching the Trampled By Turtles at the Uptown Theater is just one example of a group chat conversation that turned into a Playlist Club group outing.

“We’re nerds and we’re on alerts and we follow these bands, so we tend to know when they’re coming through town,” Barrett said. “If one just lines up with the Playlist Club, or we’re at Playlist Club, part of the conversation is who have you just seen, recently seen, and who are you going to see. So that might spark a whole group of us going to a show.” 

Diving deep into the emotions of the artist, why the song was written and the instruments used in the music is why the members of the Playlist Club have proclaimed themselves to be “music nerds.”

With playlist genres from Stadium Bangers to Adult Sing-Alongs and Bluegrass Covers the club has cycled through various types of music with six new playlists over the course of six months.

Specific playlist genres help members discover new, niche artists, causing playlists to become a compilation of non-mainstream music. 

But the club doesn’t always like all music. The one genre they’ve agreed to stay away from: pop country.

“Pop country is so fake and manufactured,” Barrett said. “You can cut through the BS and know whether something’s real or not and I think that’s what makes artists popular within our group.”

Genuine music, which is thought provoking music from singer-songwriters, is a common thread in each playlist, no matter the category, thanks to the club’s shared hatred of generated music.

Members’ appreciation for authentic music sparks friendly debates on playlists where they argue about whether or not a certain song fits in that specific category. 

“[Friendly debates] certainly help me to understand the person who has selected that song, and helps me to understand some of their background and some of their relationship to music which I think is what’s fun as well,” Reese said.

Friendly arguments are partially because of the length of the playlists. They can range from five to 10 hours long, making members of Playlist Club eager to limit the number of songs a person can add, giving them more time to discuss each song in meetings. 

Discovering new songs and pushing the boundaries of a member’s music taste is only one part of what members gain through Playlist Club. Deep discussion of music causes members to connect with one another and form relationships.

“I enjoy [Playlist Club] so much that I try to encourage my kids to start a playlist club at school,” Reese said. “It’s an incredible way for people to connect and share ideas and share passions and get to know each other in a way that’s not related to what car you drive or how much money you make. It’s a very easy, common way for people to connect and make a community.”