Alexa, add songs to playlist

Lets celebrate Alexas birthday with an update on the new features she recently brought us to enjoy music on our Amazon Echos. We can finally move the music were listening to from room to room and even take it outdoors. Amazon Music Unlimited Spatial Audio [3D Audio] is now supported on all headphones, and Alexa will adjust her speaking volume to the ambient noise at our home.

In this post, we will look into all the Alexa music commands to enjoy all the music services supported by our Amazon Echos. We will cover basic volume and playback commands, as well as tips and tricks on how to manage and listen to your favorite music. Youll find commands for setting sleep timers and music alarms. And, you will create yourvery own music commands with Alexa routines.

Please note, youve found a living post. We published this post initially in March 2018 and added six big and many smaller updates since then. ABIG THANK YOUgoes to all of you who take the time and share their Alexa music experiences, questions, and answers inour thoughts sectionbelow! We arecontinuouslyupdating this post based on your feedback.

Thank you [in alphabetical order]: Anne, Barbara, BBushell, Brantome, Brenda, Briane, Chris, Cindy, DanM, David, and David G, Dawn, Debbie, Debra, Don, Donald, ESK, Finula, G., George, Guy, J Anne, Jane, Jesse, Jimmy, Josiah, Kay, Karen, Kelly, Kim, Martin, Mary, Mike, Mj, Nicholas, Paddy, Steve, Peter, TheDexterTeam, Timothy, William, and Val!

Before we start, you can enjoy this post in three flavors:

Estimated reading time: 47 minutes

1. Do you have time? Wonderful, keep reading. This post is quite detailed as it has evolved over the years. You will get a good overview of all the Alexa music features and services.
2. Would you like to see which Alexa music command works for which service? Take a look at our Alexa Music Commands Jump Table, which gives you an overview of all Alexa Music features across all Music services. Just tap on the colored boxes to jump directly to the music commands youre interested in. Swipe or tap back to return to the table.
3. Do you want to find an Alexa music command quickly? Check the Table of Contents below to jump directly to the topics youre currently interested in. Just swipe or tap back to return to the table.

Pro-Tip: You can subscribe to receive an email when we update this post with new features and when someone adds a comment, or when someone replies to your comments.

Alexas Music Services

Alexa supports many music services: Amazon Music, Apple Music and Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Pandora, Deezer, SiriusXM, Tidal, and Vevo.

Depending on your location, you might find other music services in your Alexa app.

Please note, following services are not available in the U.K.: Pandora, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, and Tidal. [Thanks Brantome!]

Amazons Music Services

If you are an Amazon Prime member, youll start with Amazon Music Prime, which is included in your Prime subscription. If not, youll find Amazons Free ad-supported music service. If you dont like ads or find that two million songs arent enough, you can subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited with more than 75 million songs. This music service now includes high-quality streaming audio with over 75 million songs in HD and 7 million songs in Ultra HD, at no extra cost.

Amazon Music Free [ad-supported]

No subscription or credit card required, Amazons free, ad-supported Amazon Music service is currently available in the U.S., U.K., and Germany [Thanks, Brantome!]. You can listen to top lists and thousands of stations on your Amazon Echos, the Amazon Music app on your smartphone, FireTV, and the web. In other countries, the command Alexa, play some music will enable 14 free days of Amazon Music Unlimited. From time to time, Amazon provides free Amazon Music Unlimited trials for 30 days or 3 months. After the trial period, your subscription renews automatically until canceled.

Amazon Music Prime

Amazon Music Prime is included in your Prime subscription and has like the ad-supported free tier a limited music library with about 2 Million songs. Its ad-free but lacks some features compared to Amazon Music Unlimited, like playing songs by lyrics and access to all new songs.

U.S.:Amazon Prime Music30-day FreeTrial[+Prime, +Prime Video]
U.K.:Amazon Prime Music30-day FreeTrial[+Prime, +Prime Video]

Amazon Music Unlimited [includes now HD and 3D content]

Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazons native, and therefore most extensive music service for your Amazon Echos. Here we can look intoallthe music commands which Alexa understands. Other music services will only provide a subset.

With over 75 million songs, you can pick between the cheaper Single-Device Plan to listen only on one single Amazon Echo device, the Individual plan to listen to one music stream on all of your Echo devices, or the Family plan to listen to up to 6 different music streams on all your Echo devices. If youre a student currently enrolled in a degree-granting college or university, you can register for the Student plan [50% off].

As of May 17th, 2021, Amazon Music Unlimited includes the content of Amazon Music HD at no extra cost. With over 75 million songs in High Definition [HD], about double the bitrate of other music services, we can listen to music in CD quality. It also includes over 7 million songs in Ultra HD [UHD], which is up to 10 times the bitrate of other music services [better than CD quality].

Please note that you will need a fast internet connection [1.5 Mbps or higher], a device that supports 16-bit/44.1 kHz or higher [like an iPhone 5s or later], and wired headphones or speakers that support a dynamic range of 20kHz+ for HD or 40 kHz+ for Ultra HD.

Alexa-enabled Echo devices [2nd generation and later], Fire TVs, and Fire Tablets all support HD quality audio. The Echo Studio, Echo Link, and Echo Amp support Ultra HD quality audio.

Amazons HD and Ultra HD preferred brands include: Echo Studio, Denon, marantz, polk, Definitive Technology, Klitsch, Sound R|evolution, Sonos, Bose, Sony, Pioneer, Onkyo, Martin Logan, McIntosh, Sennheiser, Arcam, Sonus faber, Integra, Fusion, Bluesound, phorus, Anthem, Elite, aerix, audiolab, Paradigm, Control 4, Rotel, wren, and Soundcast.

Alexa Music Commands Early 2021 Amazon Music Unlimited includes now Amazon Music HD at no extra cost!

With the latest update, spatial audio aka 3D Audio is now supported for playback through the iOS or Android Amazon Music app with any headphones. We can cast music from any source to select smart speakers, such as the Echo Studio, Sony SRS-RA3000, and Sony SRS-RA5000. You can find Amazons Music Unlimited HD FAQ here.

U.S.:Amazon Music Unlimited3 Months FREE trial Please note the Black Friday bundle options with 6 months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free, with the All-new Echo [4th Gen], All-new Echo Dot [4th Gen], All-new Echo Dot with Clock [4th Gen], Echo Buds [2nd Gen], Echo Dot [3rd Gen], and Echo Auto.

U.K.:Amazon Music Unlimited3 Months FREE trial Please note the Black Friday bundle option with 6 months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free, with the All-new Echo Dot [4th Gen].

Apple Music

Apple Music also provides over 75 million songs. You can pick between an Individual plan or a Family plan for up to 6 people. If youre a college student, you can subscribe to the Student plan [50% off].

You can listen to Apple Music across all your Apple devices and Amazon Echos. It includes many local live radio stations around the world. You can enjoy Apple Music on your Apple Watch when you are away from your iPhone or in your car with CarPlay. Apple offers free Apple Music trials from 30 days to 3 months.

With Alexa, you wont be able to tag your favorites in Apple Music, search for songs by lyrics or play similar music. Youll miss some features where Siri could help.

Spotifys Music Services

Spotify supports Spotify Free, an ad-supported tier. For ad-free music, you can subscribe to Spotify Premium, available as Individual, Duo, Family, and Student plans. All Spotify services can also stream the music directly from the Spotify app on your smartphone to any Amazon Echo device, FireTV, or Alexa multi-room music group through Spotify Connect. [Thanks Brantome!]

Spotify Free [ad-supported]

Amazingly, you have access to over 50 million songs, podcasts, and audiobooks, that is, if you can live with ads in your listening experience. You can download songs for up to 14 days for offline listening. Spotify Free works with Alexa in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, India, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. [Thanks, Brantome!]

Spotify Premium

Spotify Premium has over 50 Million songs in its library, this time without ad interruptions. You can set the audio quality to very high [up to 320 kbit/s] and download songs to listen to without an internet connection.

You can pick between Premium Individual for one person, Premium Duo for two people living together for one discounted price, and Premium Family for up to 6 people living together. If youre currently enrolled at an accredited college or university, you can get 50% off a Premium subscription with the Premium Student plan.

You wont be able to tag your favorites with Alexa. However, if there is a playlist on Spotify, even for activities and moods, you can access it with Alexa.

Pandora, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio Services

Since those are radio-like services, youll find limitations around music playback control and selecting specific music.

Alexa Music Commands 2019: While Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd guitarists cant miss, Alexa does, sometimes

How to set up Alexa Music Services?

Alexas music service setup is basically a two-step process. First, we need to link all the music services wed like to use. Then we need to define which service should be our default for music and artist and genre stations.

How to Link a Music Service?

To link a music service:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button
2. Select Settings and then Music & Podcasts.
3. Tap on Link New Service, and then on the music service youd like to link.
4. Tap on Enable to use and enter the music service account information.
5. Tap Done

You can now use all the music services youve linked, just by adding the service to your request:

• Alexa, play music on Spotify
• Alexa, play music on Apple Music
• Alexa, play music on Amazon Music
• Alexa, play a jazz station on Spotify

How to set your Favorite Music Service as the Default?

To set your favorite default service for music:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button.
2. Select Settings and then Music & Podcasts.
3. Tap on Default Services and then on Change in the Music section.
4. Tap on your favorite Music service.

Now we can leave out the music service and just have to say:

• Alexa, play music

and shell play it from our favorite music service. Repeat the process to set your favorite music service for artist and genre stations:

• Alexa, play a station
• Alexa, play a station

Alexas Music Commands Jump Table

This is an overview of all the Alexa Music features across selected Alexa Music services. The colored boxes indicate whether a feature is supported for a music service. You can tap on the colored boxes to jump directly to the music commands youre interested in.

not supported
kind of supported
fully supported

tap for more
information

Amazon Music UnlimitedAmazon PrimeAmazon FreeApple MusicSpotify PremiumSpotify FreePandoraTuneIniHeartRadio

Controlling the Volume
Controlling the Playback
Controlling Echoss Equalizer
Navigating the Music Database
Playing by Title/Album/Artist
Playing by Genre
Playing Activity and Mood Music
Combining Mood, Activities and Genres
Playing New Music
Playing Popular/Regional Music
Playing something you rarely hear
Playing something you've heard
Playing similar music
Favorites and Like/Dislike
Playing by lyrics
Managing your library and playlists
Listening to radio stations
Getting Music Information
Let Alexa announce every song
Manage and Listen to Podcasts
Controlling Music on another Speaker
Setting a Sleep Timer and Music Alarm

Note, if you have not set your preferred service as default music service in the Alexa app, make sure to add from Prime Music, on Spotify, on TuneIn, etc. at the end of your Alexa music commands.

Pro-Tip: Check out this pro discussion about different Alexa music services on reddit. [Thanks a lot Brantome!]

How to control Alexas Music Volume?

Following music commands will change Alexas volume in 10% steps:

• Alexa, [change/make/turn the] volume up/down
• Alexa [make it] softer/louder
• Alexa, lower/raise [the] volume
• Alexa, increase/decrease [the] volume
• Alexa, turn/crank it up/down

Another way to specifically set the volume level is:

• Alexa, [set the] volume [to level]
• Alexa, volume 3 [Note, thats the snappy, short command]

Furthermore, we can mute Alexa:

• Alexa, mute/unmute

If you have configured Smart Home Groups or Multi-Room Music groups, you can control the volume of multiple Echos:

• Alexa, volume 3 [in the]

A group could be a room [kitchen, bedroom, ] with multiple Echos or multiple rooms with multiple Echos [downstairs, upstairs, ].

Controlling the Volume is an Alexa feature and available for all music services.

Note: [Thanks, Cindy!] With the volume commands above, e.g., Alexa, volume up/down or Alexa, volume 1-10, we control Alexas voice volume and the Music/Media volume simultaneously. Some music services, flash briefings, etc., do not provide their audio at the same volume [normalized]. Whenever we change their volume, we also change the volume of Alexas voice.

How to let Alexa whisper?

Sometimes, it feels more appropriate to have Alexa whisper back, rather than waking up everybody:

• Alexa, turn Whisper Mode on

Pssst, from now on, when you whisper a command, shell whisper back, unless you command:

• Alexa, turn Whisper Mode off

Whisper Mode is an Alexa feature and available for all music services.

How to let Alexa automatically adjust her Speaking Volume?

U.S. only : In a noisy environment, Alexa can adapt her voice to the background noise in our home. To make sure that we always hear Alexas response, even around noisy kids, barking dogs or when taking a shower, we just need to say:

• Alexa, turn on Adaptive Volume

Adaptive Volume is an Alexa feature and available for all music services.

How to make Alexa speak faster/slower?

We can adapt Alexas speaking rate by saying:

• Alexa, speak faster [Note, up to four times faster]
• Alexa, speak slower [Note, up to two times slower]

To reset Alexas speaking rate, we just need to say:

• Alexa, speak at your default rate

How to follow an Artist with Alexa?

Never miss a new release from your favorite artist by saying:

• Alexa, follow
• Alexa, follow this artist [Note, this comes handy if youre listening to music and do not know the artists name]
• Alexa, let me know when this artist releases a new album

Alexa will then send you a notification [yellow color indicator]. Check them by asking:

• Alexa, what did I miss?
• Alexa, check my notifications
• Alexa, read/play my messages

If youd like to stop receiving those notifications:

• Alexa, unfollow
• Alexa, stop following

How to control Alexas Music Playback?

You can stop and resume playback by saying:

• Alexa, play/resume [music]
• Alexa, stop/pause

But you can also play some music you might like:

• Alexa, play some music
• Alexa, what should I play? [Note, on an Echo Show this will only display a station,just say: Alexa, play that afterward]

If you would like to get some help from Alexa:

• Alexa, help me find a playlist
• Alexa, help me find a holiday playlist

And she will ask you different questions and play previews to find the right playlist for you.

To navigate within an album or playlist, just say:

• Alexa, next/previous [song/track/title]
• Alexa, skip [this song]

To navigate within a song, you can say:

• Alexa, play [this song] from [the] beginning
• Alexa, restart [this song]
• Alexa, jump/skip back/forward [x seconds/minute[s]]

For shuffling, repeating a song and looping, we can use:

• Alexa, repeat [this song]
• Alexa, loop [this album/this playlist]
• Alexa, loop MY [name of the playlist] playlist [thanks, J Anne!]
• Alexa, loop mode on [thanks, J Anne!]
• Alexa, [turn] repeat [on/off] [Note, off will stop playback]
• Alexa, [turn] shuffle [on/off]

Another way to repeat/loop songs, albums, and artist stations, is by telling Alexa for how long she should play them [Thanks, Brantome!]:

• Alexa, play [the song/album/artist/genre] for x seconds/minutes/hours

Alexa will confirm that she will play for the time specified.

Repeat mode currently does not work for Apple Music and Spotify
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing most music control features.

How to control Alexas Equalizer?

Amazon Echos support an equalizer to control the bass, mid-range, and treble of our Echo devices. You can check the availability of this feature in the Alexa app under Options, your Echo device, sounds. If you find an equalizer setting at the top of the page, the following commands will work.

• Alexa, increase/decrease[the] bass/mid-range/treble
• Alexa, turn/crank up/down [the] bass/mid-range/treble
• Alexa, set [the] bass/mid-range/treble to minimum/maximum
• Alexa, setbass/mid-range/treble to [minus]; Note, we have a range of +/- 6 dB which we can set directly

To get back to neutral EQ settings, we can say:

• Alexa, reset [the] equalizer

Alexas equalizer is an Alexa feature and available for all music services.

How to navigate Alexas Music Library?

There are so many ways that lead to your favorite music in the millions of songs that we need to structure this a bit

How to play Music by Title/Album/Artist?

If you know what you want to hear, you can say:

• Alexa, play [the song/track/title/tune]
• Alexa, play/shuffle [the album/record]
• Alexa, play/shuffle [songs/music by]
• Alexa, play [the song/track/title/tune] by
• Alexa, play[the album/record] by

The free services Amazon Free, Spotify Free, and Amazon Music Prime will mostly play a station with music similar to what youve requested.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing these features. However, you can mostly request or create an artist radio station. For TuneIn, you need to specify the radio station name.

We can also jump directly to a track number on an album [Thanks, David!]:

Alexa, play track from the album

Alexa will confirm playing the album , starting with track number

• Create an iHeartRadio station based on
• Alexa, play radio on Pandora
• Alexa, play ESPN Radio on TuneIn

How to play Music by Genre?

• Alexa, play music

Here are the main genres from Amazons database:

• Alternative & Indie
• Blues
• Broadway
• Childrens Music
• Christian
• Classic Rock
• Classical
• Country
• Dance & Electronic
• Easy Listening
• Folk
• Gospel
• Hard Rock & Metal
• Holiday
• International
• Jazz
• Latin
• New Age & Meditation
• Opera & Vocal
• Pop
• R&B
• Rap & Hip-Hop
• Rock
• Soundtracks
• Vocal
• World

With Pandora, it seems to be a hit or miss which genre station is played.
TuneIn and iHeartRadio only support radio station names or callsigns.

How to play Music by Activity and Mood?

Alexa supposedly knows around 500 undocumented activities and moods, which you can use to play the music that fits what you are up to. These are basically [curated] playlists created by Amazon for frequently requested activities/moods.

• Alexa, play music for
• Alexa, play [some] music

Here are some activities, which weve have tested [musically =]:

• Wake Up
• Running /Jogging /Workout
• Party /Partying /Dancing
• Working /Study / Studying /Reading
• Cleaning /Cooking /Dinner
• Relaxing /Meditation / Chill-out
• Love
• Sleeping

Here are some examples ofmoods, which Alexa understands:

• Angry
• Energetic
• Feel Good
• Happy
• Upbeat
• Sad
• Mellow
• Romantic
• Relaxed
• Laid Back

The free services Amazon Free, Prime, and Spotify Free, will mostly play a station similar to what youve requested.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to combine Moods, Activities, and Genres in Music Commands?

Now comes the interesting part: You can combine some moods, genres, andactivities. Of course, only if Amazon has created a playlist, which matches.

• Alexa, play mellow meditation music
• Alexa, play sad blues music
• Alexa, play happy Latin music
• Alexa, play classical music for sleeping
• Alexa, play mellow country music

The free services Amazon Prime & Free will mostly play a station with music similar to what youve requested [vs. curated playlists with paid services].
Spotify Free is especially weak in finding combined stations.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to play HD and Ultra HD music?

Amazon Music always plays the best available audio quality that your device and network support. In most cases, your music will automatically play in HD quality or better.

The easiest way to find HD and Ultra HD music is with the Amazon Music app. Songs and albums in HD or Ultra HD have an HD or Ultra HD icon. To play music on your Echo, connect to Alexa Cast by tapping on the Casting icon on the Now Playing screen.

You can play Ultra HD music on your Echo Studio by requesting the Ultra HD playlists:

• Alexa, play the Best of Ultra HD playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Dance playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Pop playlist
• Alexa, play the New in Ultra HD playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Chill playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Classic Rock playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Country playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Rock playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Latin playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Hip-Hop playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Blues playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Jazz playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Alternative playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD Folk playlist
• Alexa, play the Ultra HD playlist

How to play New Music?

Want to hear some new songs? Heres what to say:

• Alexa, play brand new music
• Alexa, recommend some new music [Note, on an Echo Show, this will only display a playlist, just say: Alexa, play that]

With Amazon Music Unlimited we have following additional commands:

• Alexa, play new music
• Alexa, play new songs by

Amazon Free and Amazon Prime Music have a limited music library that does not include all new songs.
Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium dont support new genres and new artist music. However, you can use your New Music Mix or your Discover Weekly.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to play Popular/Regional Music?

Interested in what is trending someplace, sometime, some genre?

• Alexa, play the top/best songs
• Alexa, play the top/best songs from the 80s

With Amazon Music Unlimited we have following additional commands:

• Alexa, play the top songs in
• Alexa, play whats hot in
• Alexa, play the top/best songs from the 60s

Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium dont support countries, locations, or a combination of genre and decade.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to play something you rarely hear?

If youd like to hear some songs you havent heard in a while from Amazon Music:

• Alexa, play something I havent heard [in a while]
• Alexa, play songs, I havent heard

Amazon Free, Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium dont support this feature.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to play something we already heard?

If we want to play music we were already listening to, we can try:

• Alexa, play the I was listening to on
• Alexa, play the songs I heard

Amazon Free, Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium dont support this feature.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

Alexa Music Commands 2018: Alexa singing a tune for the lone sailor, guess which one?

How to track the songs we listen to in Google Sheets with IFTTT

Sometimes Alexas dynamic song suggestions are so good, that we forget to tell her which songs we like. We remember one or two songs of the mix but cannot remember when we heard them. So we cannot use the voice commands of the previous chapter.

We can keep a list of all the Amazon Music songs we listen to in a [free] Google spreadsheet. Well use the IFTTT service [If-this-then-that] which allows us to connect services like Amazon Alexa with Google Sheets.

To track the songs we listen to, we need to:

1. Create an IFTTT account [free for up to 3 IFTTT applets, we can do this via the web or download the IFTTT app]
2. Create a free Gmail account
3. Tap on this IFTTT applet [created by Amazon]
4. Tap on Connect
5. Connect our Amazon account with IFTTT [sign in]
6. Connect our Google account with IFTTT [sign in and tap allow]

The applet will create a Songs played Google sheet on our Google account and track for every song we listen to on our Amazon Echo devices:

• date and time,
• artist name,
• song name,
• and album.

Now we just need to search this list and use it as inspiration for our own playlists. Thanks, Donald and Brantome!

How to find out which Playlist/Station Alexa is currently playing?

If Alexas playlist and station recommendations fit your musical taste, and youd like to look up which playlists or stations shes playing to be able to request them later, open the Alexa app and tap on the Play button at the bottom of the screen. Youll find the recently played playlists, stations, and channels across all the music services you are using. [Thank you, Val!]

Please note, we have not found a voice command yet, to request this information on the fly.

How to play Similar Music?

Theres this one catchy tune and youd like to hear more like that:

• Alexa, play more like this/that
• Alexa, play songs similar to
• Alexa, play songs similar to

Note, a very nice feature thanks to Briane and Dawn which comes via Amazon Music Prime are artist stations, which will play songs similar to the artist you have chosen, along with some of their best songs: Alexa, play station

Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium dont support this feature.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to play Favorites and how to like/dislike Songs?

For Amazon Music and Spotify, Alexa can play stations based on your preferences:

• Alexa, play [some other] music I like
• Alexa, play my likes

If we want Alexa to be able to find our favorite music, and if we have Amazon Music, we can tell her what we like:

• Alexa, thumbs up/down
• Alexa, I like/dont like this song

Just in case theres this one nasty tune hunting us, and we have Amazon Music, lets skip it from now on:

• Im tired of this song

For Like/Dislike on Apple Music, Alexa returns: Sure, your feedback is saved. We cannot find the feedback reflected in Apple Music. Play music I like will play your personal Apple Music station.
Like/Dislike on Spotify returns: You can only set thumbs up or down for a song playing on your custom stations. Not sure what she means, we tried with playlists, stations, and personalized stations like Discover Weekly. It does not work for us. Play music I like will play your liked songs, which youll need to thumb up in the Spotify app.
According to their documentation, Pandora and iHeartRadio support thumbs up/down. As weve failed to verify, were leaving this feature on orange.

How to play Songs by Lyrics?

You might remember some lyrics snippets of your favorite songs rather than their title. No worries, if you have Amazon Music, Alexa got you covered:

• Alexa, play the song that goes
• Alexa, whats the song that goes

Amazon Free and Prime will play a station based on the song lyrics.
Playing songs by lyrics is only supported by Amazon Music Unlimited.

Pro-Tip: Echo Shows are great to sing along. With Amazon Music, they display song lyrics during playback.

How to control your Music Library and Playlists?

To listen to your own playlists, you can say:

• Alexa, play my playlist
• Alexa, listen to my playlist
• Alexa, shuffle my playlist

You can control what goes into your Amazon Music library by saying:

• Alexa, add this song to my library

And you can control what youd like to hear from there:

• Alexa, play my music by
• Alexa, play some from my library

Note, to create and add to your playlists on Amazon Music [thanks a lot Brantome!]:
Alexa, start/create a new playlist
Alexa, add this song to my playlist

Apple Music and Spotify dont support the library commands as well as creating and adding to a playlist with voice.
Amazon Free does not support playlists or a library.
Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are naturally missing this feature.

How to listen to Alexas Radio Stations?

Listening to radio stations is as straightforward as:

• Alexa, play radio
• Alexa, play the station
• Alexa, play another station

Note: if you want to listen to a different service, add, e.g. on TuneIn to your command.

You can also check out radio skills in the Alexa app: Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button, then on Skills & Games. Either search for radio with the lens symbol [top right] or select Music and Audio from the categories. Youll find over 6,000 radio skills.

TuneIn does not support genres but over 120,000 live radio stations.

Alexas Music Commands 2020 Alexa, who plays guitar in this song? ask Alexa for music information

How to ask for Music Information?

Alexas music knowledge has quite expanded. She can give us the following music information when we ask about whats playing:

• Alexa, who sings this?
• Alexa, what [song/tune] is this?
• Alexa, whats the album?
• Alexa, when was this [song] released?
• Alexa, whats newest album?
• Alexa, who plays the [in this [song]]?
• Alexa, whats the song that goes ?
• Alexa, what was the top song in

Note, this feature will not work for every song as music information for some songs is missing.

Radio-like services [Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, etc.] are missing this feature.

How to let Alexa announce every song?

A new feature only supported for Amazon Music is called Song ID. If its turned on by:

• Alexa, turn on Song ID

Alexa will announce the title and artist of every song you are playing. You can turn this feature off by saying:

• Alexa, turn off Song ID

Song ID works only for Amazon Music.

How to get the right version of a song?

Thanks a lot, Mike, for pointing out that we need this chapter!

When you ask Alexa to play a song by , you might hear the wrong song. Maybe Alexa will play a completely different song, not the artist you expected, a bad cover version, or the live version, and you want to hear the studio version or vice versa.

There could be many different reasons for this unexpected Alexa behavior:

• she has too many versions of this song title in her music library and too little information which song you actually meant,
• she tries to please the masses and takes the popularity of song versions into account,
• she tries to save some money and plays cheaper covers/versions of a song [especially for smaller plans],
• or she has not figured out your musical taste yet.

1. Try to find the right song by voice

Whatever the reason might be, its definitely worth trying to be more specific in your Alexa music commands. Heres how to try to get the right version of a song by giving Alexa more information:

1. Alexa, play Lets assume this plays the wrong song
2. Alexa, play by Try this, if its the wrong artist
3. Alexa, play from Try this, if its the wrong version
4. Alexa, play the live/album version of [by ]. Try this if youd like to hear the live/studio version of a song. You can also try: acoustic, remastered, remixed, lullaby, instrumental, or even different language versions.

2. Find the right song with the music app

If this doesnt help, voice commands will unlikely help you to find the right version of the song. In this case, its best to search with your music app [e.g., Amazon Music, Apple Music, or the Spotify app].

Assuming youve found the right version of the song [otherwise, it is not available in your plan], you can now add it to a custom playlist or your music library.

Note, please see the music commands in the chapter above How to control your Music Library and Playlists?

3. Play the right song with voice from your library

Now, that youve added the right version of the song to your playlist/library, as Alexa searches first in My Music [thank you, Brantome!], and then the Amazon Music catalog or samples from the Digital Music Store, you just need to ask again for the title to hear your preferred version.

• Alexa, play

Please note, it takes a couple of seconds to synchronize your Music Library with Alexa. You can immediately enforce hearing your preferred version of a song by adding Alexa, play from my library.

For Spotify you can only request your playlist, which now contains the preferred version of your song:

• Alexa, play my playlist [from Spotify]

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How to Listen To Podcasts?

Alexa supports podcasts from TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more recently Amazon Music.

If you are feeling lucky, Alexa can recommend you some podcasts:

• Alexa, [can you] recommend a podcast

If you have a preferred topic, like astrophysics, sports, top-rated, fun, kids, finance, relationship, business, history, stress-relief, popular, spooky, science, self-help, career, technology, comedy, etc. you can ask for the topic:

• Alexa, [can you] recommend a podcast

If you already know which podcast youd like to listen to, just request:

• Alexa, play [the latest episode of the] podcast
• Alexa, play the first/second/ episode of the podcast

If you have already listened to a Podcast, Alexa can resume where you left off. This works for all podcast services on Echo devices.

• Alexa, resume my podcast

To navigate within one podcast, we can say:

• Alexa, skip back/forward 10 seconds/minutes

To navigate between podcasts, we have following command:

• Alexa, [play the] previous/next episode

Note, especially heavy Podcast listeners might feel that they have more playback control when using their Podcast app and streaming to their Amazon Echo device via Bluetooth or SpotifyConnect.

Skipping back/forward within an episode does not work on Spotify.

TuneIn Podcasts

Alexas pre-installed default service for podcasts is TuneIn. You can browse the Top 10 TuneIn Podcasts and the Full TuneIn Podcast catalog on the web or in the TuneIn app.

Spotify Podcasts

Spotify podcasts are already set up when you link the Spotify music service. You can browse the Spotify podcast catalog on the web or in your Spotify app. To link the Spotify music service:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button.
2. Select Settings and then Music & Podcasts.
3. Tap on Link New Service and then on Spotify.
4. Tap Enable to use and enter your Spotify account information
5. Tap Agree to let Alexa access your Spotify account
6. Tap Done

Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts need to be separately linked in the Alexa app. You can browse the Apple Podcast catalog on the web or in your Podcasts app. To link to the Apple Podcast service:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button.
2. Select Settings and then Music & Podcasts.
3. Tap on Link New Service and then on Apple Podcasts.
4. Tap Enable to use [Note, Apple Podcasts will use your AppleID from the Apple Music service]
5. Tap Done

Amazon Music Podcasts

Amazon Music Podcasts are automatically available through your Amazon Music service. Just make sure to set it as your default podcast service.

Pro-Tip: With Amazon Music, you can even resume the podcast youve listened to on your Amazon Echo Auto, your Amazon Music app, and your Amazon Echo devices. Just ask Alexa to resume your podcast.

Setting the Default Podcast Service

Once you have linked your favorite Podcast service, you should set it as your default Podcast service. Otherwise, you will need to append on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify to your Podcast request. To set your default Podcast service:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap on the More button.
2. Select Settings and then Music & Podcasts.
3. Tap on Default Services and then on Change in the Podcasts section.
4. Tap on your favorite podcast service.

Alexas Podcast Skills

You can also check out Podcast skills in the Alexa app: Open the Alexa app and tap on the menu at the top left, then on Skills & Games. Search for podcast with the lens symbol [top right]. Youll find over 3,600 Podcast skills.

How to Control Music Playback on another Speaker?

You can easily control the music playback of another Echo device by saying:

• Alexa, play on
• Alexa, previous/next on
• Alexa, stop/pause/resume on

You can group your Echo devices for music playback either through smart home groups or multi-room music groups:

• Alexa, play in the
• Alexa, next in
• Alexa, stop in
• Alexa, play everywhere
• Alexa, volume 3 [in the]

Smart Home Groups

You can create Smart Home Groups which typically represent your rooms [e.g. office] and add your smart home devices and Echos located in this room. An Echo device can only be added to one smart home group.

• Alexa, play music in the office

will play music on all Echo devices in the office [group].

Multi-Room Music

To play music in multiple rooms, you can create multi-room music groups [e.g. everywhere, upstairs, downstairs]. An Echo device can be in multiple multi-room music groups.

• Alexa, play music downstairs

will play music on all Echo devices in the downstairs multi-room music [group].

Audio System

The audio system setup allows you to create stereo pairs of two compatible Echo devices and an optional subwoofer. You can also set up a home theater by connecting up to two compatible Echo devices and an optional Echo Sub as speakers for a compatible Fire TV stick.

This Alexa feature is available for all music services.

Note, you can now stream directly from your Spotify app to individual Echo devices and Multi-Room Music Groups through Spotify Connect. [Thanks, Brantome!]

How to move music wherever we go?

This long-awaited feature [thank you, Brantome!] lets us take the music, podcasts, and radio stations were currently listening to, with us. Wherever we go.

Lets say we move from A to B, where A and B could be any Echo device, including Echo buds and Echo Auto, or a room/group, or a multi-room music group.

While still at A, we can either pause the music to not miss a beat while we get to B:

• Alexa, pause

Or, we can move the content instantly to B:

• Alexa, move my music/podcast/radio to B

When at B, we can resume the paused playback from A:

• Alexa, resume music/podcast/radio here

Or, we can move whatever is playing someplace else to where we are:

• Alexa, move my music/podcast/radio here

You can find more information from Amazon here.

This Alexa feature is available for all music services.

What is the Preferred Speaker Set-Up?

You can set a preferred speaker of a smart home group to stream to with Alexa, play music. The preferred speaker can be an Echo device, a speaker from Bose or Sonos, a multi-room music group, or a speaker set. Just tap on preferred speaker at the bottom of your smart home group to configure it.

Note, the preferred speaker settings are only for music playback.

How to set a Sleep Timer and Music Alarm?

To set a sleep timer, we can say:

• Alexa set a sleep timer for 30 seconds/minutes/hours
• Alexa, stop playing in 1 hour
• Alexa, cancel the sleep timer

We can now request a song, album, artist, or genre and specify for how long Alexa shall play it [Thanks a lot, Brantome!]:

• Alexa, play for x seconds/minutes/hours
• Alexa, play nature sounds for 30 minutes

To create an Alexa Routine, where Alexa magically creates the perfect ambiance to put you in the middle of the story you are reading, or just asleep please see Alexa Routines: Immersive Storytelling with Ambient Scenes and Sounds

We can set a music alarm by saying:

• Alexa set a music alarm
• Alexa, wake me up to music [thanks, Kelly!]

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Alexa will come back with Alarm for what time and we can set a one-time or repeating alarm by saying, e.g. at 7 a.m. every Tuesday. We can also tell her in one command:

• Alexa wake me up to music at 6 AM [every weekday]

If we dont tell her what music, shell wake us up to something weve recently heard on one of our music services [thanks, Kelly!]. If we want to be more specific:

• Alexa, wake me up to

• Alexa, wake me up to at 7 AM [every Tuesday]
• Alexa, wake me up to the song that goes at 8 AM [at weekends]
• Alexa, cancel/disable [the] 7 am alarm
• Alexa, cancel/disable [all] alarm/s

Please find our dedicated Alexa Alarm post here: Alexa Alarms, the Smarter Alarm Clock!

Note: If you have not set the music service youd like to hear as default music service, add e.g. on TuneIn to your command.

Pro-Tip: [thanks, Kelly!] We can currently only set Music Alarms with voice commands. There is also an option to create scheduled Alexa Routines to play music at a specific time. Please, be careful with Routines instead of Regular/Music Alarms, as they wont activate if your Echo loses WiFi or Internet connection. Music Alarms are safe, as they get converted into regular alarms in case the Echo device goes offline, and those work offline too. You can still create Alexa Routines, which run when you dismiss an Alexa Alarm or Music Alarm. Please check out our post: Alexa Alarms, the Smarter Alarm Clock!

Our Alarms, Timers and Notifications have their own volume settings, per Echo device

Another Pro-Tip: You can find the volume for the [Music] Alarm in the device settings: Devices Tab / Echo & Alexa [top left] / Your Echo device / Sounds / Alarms, Timers, and Notifications. Ascending volume works currently only for Regular Alarms.

How to Create Your Own Music Commands With Alexa Routines?

Up to now, we were looking into predefined music commands. But there is a powerful feature that can help us to create our own voice commands to listen to whatever we like and even more.

If you are completely new to Alexa Routines, you might enjoy this overview: Alexa Routines: How to Automate your Life with your Amazon Echo!

And, if you want to watch Alexa herself, creating a bedtime story Routine, please see Alexa Routines: Immersive Storytelling with Ambient Scenes and Sounds.

Creating a Simple Alexa Routine with Voice

There is a surprisingly easy way to create an Alexa Routine, we just need to say:

• Alexa, when I say [command], then [do something]
• Alexa, when someone says [command], then [do something]

Alexa will come back with: Great! I created your Routine. When you say [command], then I will [do something]. Change it anytime in the Routine Section of the Alexa app.

We can use this to control our smart home quickly: Alexa, when I say goodnight, turn off the bedroom lights, or as a quick remedy for all these songs our kids love but we cant hear any more:

• Alexa, when someone says play baby shark, play my favorite music!

But this is just the beginning, only one simple action. We can now adapt this single action and add as many additional actions as we like.

Lets start with a Good Night Routine. If you already have a goodnight playlist, you can follow along. Otherwise, just use your favorite album/artist/genre/playlist/radio station.

• Alexa, when I say goodnight, play my goodnight playlist

Alexa will confirm that she has created our goodnight routine. Now, every time we say Alexa, goodnight! she will play our goodnight playlist.

But what if wed like to play our playlist on loop and for some hours? No problem, we can edit our Routine in the Alexa app.

Editing our Simple Alexa Routine in the Alexa App

Where to find your Alexa Routines

In this section, well edit our Goodnight Routine, which weve previously created with our voice to:

• set the proper volume for falling asleep
• loop our goodnight playlist
• for a period of time, e.g. 2 hours

When we open our Alexa app and tap the More button, well find the Routines section, just tap on it.

Within our Routines, well find the routine weve created with our voice: Alexa, goodnight.

• Underneath the Add Action button, well find the action we told Alexa earlier: play goodnight playlist. Just tap on it.
• We can now edit the action and add on loop to our command, goodnight playlist on loop.
• Underneath, tap on the Timer and select for how long, e.g. 2 hours.

Lets quickly add another action to make sure that the volume is set appropriately.

Tap on Add action, Device Settings, Volume, and select something between 10-20% or any volume which suits you. Tap Next to confirm.

Our goodnight Routine with the appropriate volume setting

Now, we have 2 actions in our Goodnight routine: Alexa will lower the volume and play our Goodnight routine on loop for 2 hours. Nice!

Please check out our next section for another routine example.

Note, Alexa Routines require WiFi and an Internet connection to run. If your Echo loses connection to your Wifi and Internet during playback, the music playback will be interrupted. This can also happen if your Echo receives a remote firmware update and has to reboot during the night.

Creating an Alexa Routine from Scratch: Alexa, its Dinner Time!

Up to now, weve looked into creating an Alexa Routine with a voice command and later editing this simple Routine in the Alexa app. Lets create a routine from scratch in the Alexa app. When we say:

• Alexa, its dinner time

Alexa will:

• announce that Dinner is Ready on all our Echo devices
• turn off the TV
• set the right light scene[s]
• play some dinner music

Before we begin, heres a quick overview of all the different options we have in the Alexa app. When we create a new routine by navigating to the More button / Routines / + [top right], we can specify one trigger for When this happens, which can be:

• a voice command,
• a schedule/time of day, which can be reoccurring
• the push on an Echo button, or
• a motion/contact sensor that senses movement / or opening of a door/window [currently only limited devices like SmartThings support that]
• when an Alexa Alarm is dismissed.

And in one Routine, we can combine many different actions, like

• setting the device volume on Alexa devices
• letting Alexa say/sing something [custom or categorized]
• announcing our calendar events
• sending announcements to Alexa devices
• playing our News Flash Briefing
• controlling our smart home devices
• playing a traffic report
• playing the weather report
• and last, but not least: playing a song/artist/playlist from a music provider, like Amazon Music/Our Library/Spotify/TuneIn for a certain duration on a specific Echo device or Multi-Room Music Group

Our Dinner Time Routine: announcements, smart home and music actions

1. Lets start by tapping on When this happens, select Voice, and type in its dinner time. Confirm with Next at the top right.
2. To add the announcement:
   • Tap on Add Action, then Messaging, and Send Announcement.
   • Type in the message, like dinner is ready! hurry up!. Confirm with Next at the top right.
   • Leave All Devices checked, or select the devices which will receive the announcement. Confirm with Next at the top right.
   • Youll see the confirmation Alexa will announce dinner is ready on All Devices. Confirm with Next at the top right.
3. To turn off the TV [assuming you have a Logitech Harmony]
   • Tap on Add Action, then Smart Home, then Control Scene, and select the name of your Logitech Harmony running, e.g. TV.
   • Set Power to Off and confirm by tapping Next at the top right.
4. To set the right light scenes [assuming you have Philips Hue]
   • Tap on Add Action, then Smart Home, then Control Scene, and select your preferred scenes. Well set the living room to the scene Relax.
   • Add any additional light scenes, e.g., set the dining area a bit brighter [here to Read]
5. To play dinner music:
   • Tap on Add Action, then Music and type in dinner music [or your preferred album/artist/genre/playlist/radio station for dinner]
   • Tap on From and select your preferred music service.

We are ready:

• Alexa, its dinner time!

With Alexa Routines, you can get creative. You can specify your own voice command for a radio station or your favorite music group, which is difficult to pronounce or set the right lighting scene with the right music for a romantic dinner. Or all these actions together and many more. The only limit is your imagination!

Pro-Tip: The brilliant example from Brantome [Thank you!], shows the powerful flexibility of music routines: You can add shuffle to a play-action in a routine, plus you can also direct the output to a group, not just a single device by adding the groups name to the end of the play-action text e.g. good stuff playlist shuffle downstairs will shuffle my good stuff playlist on my Downstairs group. The play command would look like: playlist shuffle .

Please note, DO NOT give your Multi-Room music group a custom name, rather select a suitable common name from Alexas list, because Alexa might otherwise not be able to address the Music Group in the Alexa Routine, and come back with I cannot find the playlist .

You can control the volume of individual devices of a multi-room music speaker group

Note, On the now playing screen in the Alexa app, you can select the volume icon and adjust the volume slider for each device in a group. [Thank you, Brantome!]

What songs can Alexa sing?

There are so many Alexa songs weve found 288 up to now so we had to create a dedicated post only for them.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain Alexa singing! Welcome to smartenlight flight number 288, non-stop from your couch to Germany, the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia, Canada, Spain, Mexico, Canada, France, Italy, Brazil and back to your couch: Alexa, sing a song! A Musical World Trip with 288 Alexa Songs

But I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For!

Sorry! There are so many interesting topics around music, and though we everyone who takes the time to contribute to this post have climbed the highest mountains we might have missed whats important to you! Please join us by taking the time to share your Alexa music experiences, questions, and answers in our discussion section below! You are helping to improve this post for everyone!

Still, there might be features, which Amazon has not developed or rolled out yet.Amazon continuously expands and refines Alexas music commands. They have to rely on statistical data based on our Alexa usage. But once you try a command and it does not work for you, youll rarely try it again

To support the development of the Alexa music commands and features we are missing, we need to send feedback to Amazon! Its easy, and we can do it directly from the Alexa app:

1. Tap the More button select Help & Feedback.
2. Select Send Feedback
3. Select the category Music & Apps.
4. Select other issues or, like in this example, Wrong song or radio station.
5. Describe the music command that doesnt work for you, ideally by additionally giving a command example, like Alexa, skip 50 songs, skips only 1 song.
6. Tap Send Feedback

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Conclusion

Alexa supports, especially with Amazon Music as a service, many novel music features. She has even learned to give us some music information recently. And now, in 2021, we just received HD and 3D audio content at no additional cost. What a present for audiophiles!

Sleep timers and music alarms are helpful features supported across different music services. Alexas Routines are a powerful feature to create our own voice commands to integrate our music into simple or more complex routines. Multi-Room Music Groups and Preferred Speakers for Smart Home Groups help us to streamline our music experience throughout our home.

We hope youve enjoyed this extensive list of Alexas music commands. If yes, please consider helping this living post to grow by sharing it with friends and family. Thank you!

If you have any questions or want to help others with their questions, pleasejoin our thoughts sectionbelow! You cansubscribe to receive notificationswhen were updating this post.

Happy Alexa Music!

P.S. You can find more Alexa posts here:Amazon Alexa.
P.P.S. For more information from Amazon, please see:
Amazon: Listen to your music
Amazon Music Unlimited FAQ
What are the Differences Between the Amazon Music Subscriptions?

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