Alexa How To Create A Playlist

Let's celebrate Alexa's 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 we're 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. You'll find commands for setting sleep timers and music alarms. And, you will create your very own music commands with Alexa routines.

Please note, you've found a living post. We published this post initially in March 2018 and added six big and many smaller updates since then. ABIG THANK YOU goes to all of you who take the time and share their Alexa music experiences, questions, and answers inour thoughts section below! We are continuously updating 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 you're 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 you're 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.

Table of contents

• Alexa's Music Services
  • Amazon's Music Services
    • Amazon Music Free (ad-supported)
    • Amazon Music Prime
    • Amazon Music Unlimited (includes now HD and 3D content)
  • Apple Music
  • Spotify's Music Services
    • Spotify Free (ad-supported)
    • Spotify Premium
  • Pandora, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio Services
• How to set up Alexa Music Services?
  • How to Link a Music Service?
  • How to set your Favorite Music Service as the Default?
• Alexa's Music Commands Jump Table
• How to control Alexa's Music Volume?
• How to let Alexa whisper?
• How to let Alexa automatically adjust her Speaking Volume?
• How to make Alexa speak faster/slower?
• How to follow an Artist with Alexa?
• How to control Alexa's Music Playback?
• How to control Alexa's Equalizer?
• How to navigate Alexa's Music Library?
  • How to play Music by Title/Album/Artist?
  • How to play Music by Genre?
  • How to play Music by Activity and Mood?
  • How to combine Moods, Activities, and Genres in Music Commands?
  • How to play HD and Ultra HD music?
  • How to play New Music?
  • How to play Popular/Regional Music?
  • How to play something you rarely hear?
  • How to play something we already heard?
  • How to track the songs we listen to in Google Sheets with IFTTT
  • How to find out which Playlist/Station Alexa is currently playing?
  • How to play Similar Music?
  • How to play Favorites and how to like/dislike Songs?
  • How to play Songs by Lyrics?
• How to control your Music Library and Playlists?
• How to listen to Alexa's Radio Stations?
• How to ask for Music Information?
  • How to let Alexa announce every song?
• How to get the "right" version of a song?
  • 1. Try to find the "right" song by voice
  • 2. Find the "right" song with the music app
  • 3. Play the "right" song with voice from your library
• How to Listen To Podcasts?
  • TuneIn Podcasts
  • Spotify Podcasts
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Amazon Music Podcasts
  • Setting the Default Podcast Service
  • Alexa's Podcast Skills
• How to Control Music Playback on another Speaker?
  • Smart Home Groups
  • Multi-Room Music
  • Audio System
• How to move music wherever we go?
• What is the Preferred Speaker Set-Up?
• How to set a Sleep Timer and Music Alarm?
• How to Create Your Own Music Commands With Alexa Routines?
  • Creating a Simple Alexa Routine with Voice
  • Editing our Simple Alexa Routine in the Alexa App
  • Creating an Alexa Routine from Scratch: "Alexa, it's Dinner Time!"
• What songs can Alexa sing?
• But I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For!
• Conclusion

Alexa's 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!)

Amazon's Music Services

If you are an Amazon Prime member, you'll start with Amazon Music Prime, which is included in your Prime subscription. If not, you'll find Amazon's Free ad-supported music service. If you don't like ads or find that two million songs aren't 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.

No subscription or credit card required, Amazon's 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. It's 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 Free Trial (+Prime, +Prime Video)
U.K.: Amazon Prime Music30-day Free Trial (+Prime, +Prime Video)

Amazon Music Unlimited (includes now HD and 3D content)

Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon's native, and therefore most extensive music service for your Amazon Echos. Here we can look into all the 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 you're 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 Amazon's 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 you're 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 won't be able to tag your favorites in Apple Music, search for songs by lyrics or play similar music. You'll miss some features where Siri could help.

Spotify's 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!)

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 you're currently enrolled at an accredited college or university, you can get 50% off a Premium subscription with the Premium Student plan.

You won't 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, you'll find limitations around music playback control and selecting specific music.

Alexa Music Commands 2019: While Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd guitarists "can't miss", Alexa does, sometimes …

How to set up Alexa Music Services?

Alexa's music service setup is basically a two-step process. First, we need to link all the music services we'd 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 you'd 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 you've 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

Alexa App: Link New Service and Default Services

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

• Alexa, play a <genre> station
• Alexa, play a <artist> station

Alexa's 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 you're interested in.

🟥 not supported 🟧 kind of supported 🟩 fully supported tap for more information	Amazon Music Unlimited	Amazon Prime	Amazon Free	Apple Music	Spotify Premium	Spotify Free	Pandora	TuneIn	iHeartRadio
Controlling the Volume	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟩
Controlling the Playback	🟩	🟩	🟩	🟧	🟧	🟧	🟥	🟥	🟥
Controlling Echos's 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 Alexa's Music Volume?

Following music commands will change Alexa's 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) <1-10>
• Alexa, volume 3 (Note, that's 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) <group>

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 Alexa's 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, she'll 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 Alexa's 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 Alexa's 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 <artist>
• Alexa, follow this artist (Note, this comes handy if you're listening to music and do not know the artist's 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 you'd like to stop receiving those notifications:

• Alexa, unfollow <artist>
• Alexa, stop following <artist>

How to control Alexa's 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) <title/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 Alexa's 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, set bass/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

🟩 Alexa's equalizer is an Alexa feature and available for all music services.

How to navigate Alexa's 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) <title>
• Alexa, play/shuffle (the album/record) <album>
• Alexa, play/shuffle (songs/music by) <artist>
• Alexa, play (the song/track/title/tune) <title> by <artist>
• Alexa, play (the album/record) <album> by <artist>

🟧 The "free" services Amazon Free, Spotify Free, and Amazon Music Prime will mostly play a station with music similar to what you've 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 <number> from the album <album name>

Alexa will confirm "playing the album …, starting with track number …"

• Create an iHeartRadio station based on <artist>
• Alexa, play <artist> radio on Pandora
• Alexa, play "ESPN Radio" on TuneIn

How to play Music by Genre?

• Alexa, play <genre> music

Here are the main genres from Amazon's database:

• Alternative & Indie
• Blues
• Broadway
• Children's 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 <activity>
• Alexa, play (some) <activity/mood> music

Here are some activities, which we've 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 you've 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, and activities. 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 you've 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 <artist> playlist

How to play New Music?

Want to hear some new songs? Here's 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 <genre> music
• Alexa, play new songs by <artist>

🟧 Amazon Free and Amazon Prime Music have a limited music library that does not include all new songs.
🟧 Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium don't 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 <city>
• Alexa, play what's hot in <country>
• Alexa, play the top/best <genre> songs from the 60s

🟧 Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium don't 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 you'd like to hear some songs you haven't heard in a while from Amazon Music:

• Alexa, play something I haven't heard (in a while)
• Alexa, play <artist> songs, I haven't heard

🟥 Amazon Free, Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium don't 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 <artist/genre/station/playlist> I was listening to on <day>
• Alexa, play the <artist/genre> songs I heard <yesterday (morning/afternoon) / last night>

🟥 Amazon Free, Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium don't 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 Alexa's 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. We'll 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 Alexa's playlist and station recommendations fit your musical taste, and you'd like to look up which playlists or stations she's playing to be able to request them later, open the Alexa app and tap on the 'Play' button at the bottom of the screen. You'll 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?

There's this one catchy tune and you'd like to hear more like that:

• Alexa, play more like this/that
• Alexa, play songs similar to <title>
• Alexa, play songs similar to <artist>

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 <artist> station

🟥 Apple Music, Spotify Free, and Premium don't 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/don't like this song

Just in case there's this one nasty tune hunting us, and we have Amazon Music, let's skip it from now on:

• I'm 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 you'll need to "thumb up" in the Spotify app.
🟧 According to their documentation, Pandora and iHeartRadio support "thumbs up/down". As we've failed to verify, we're 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 <lyrics>
• Alexa, what's the song that goes <lyrics>

🟧 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 <playlist>
• Alexa, listen to my <playlist> playlist
• Alexa, shuffle my <playlist> 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 you'd like to hear from there:

• Alexa, play my music by <artist>
• Alexa, play some <genre/artist> 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 <playlist>

🟧 Apple Music and Spotify don't 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 Alexa's Radio Stations?

Listening to radio stations is as straightforward as:

• Alexa, play <genre/station> radio
• Alexa, play the station <station>
• Alexa, play another <genre > 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. You'll find over 6,000 radio skills.

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

Alexa's Music Commands 2020 – "Alexa, who plays guitar in this song?" – ask Alexa for music information

How to ask for Music Information?

Alexa's music knowledge has quite expanded. She can give us the following music information when we ask about what's playing:

• Alexa, who sings this?
• Alexa, what (song/tune) is this?
• Alexa, what's the album?
• Alexa, when was this (song) released?
• Alexa, what's <artist> newest album?
• Alexa, who plays the <instrument> (in this (song))?
• Alexa, what's the song that goes <lyrics snippet>?
• Alexa, what was the top song in <year>

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 it's 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 <title>, 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, it's definitely worth trying to be more specific in your Alexa music commands. Here's how to try to get the right version of a song by giving Alexa more information:

1. Alexa, play <title> Let's assume this plays the "wrong" song
2. Alexa, play <title> by <artist> Try this, if it's the wrong artist
3. Alexa, play <title> from <album> Try this, if it's the wrong version
4. Alexa, play the live/album version of <title> (by <artist>). Try this if you'd 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 doesn't help, voice commands will unlikely help you to find the right version of the song. In this case, it's best to search with your music app (e.g., Amazon Music, Apple Music, or the Spotify app).

Assuming you've 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 you've 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 <title>

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 <title> from my library".

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

• Alexa, play my playlist <playlist> (from Spotify)

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 <topic> podcast

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

• Alexa, play (the latest episode of the) <podcast> podcast
• Alexa, play the first/second/… episode of the <podcast> 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

Alexa's 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 you've 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.

Alexa's 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). You'll 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 <song/album/artist/genre> on <Echo's name>
• Alexa, previous/next on <Echo's name>
• Alexa, stop/pause/resume on <Echo's name>

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

• Alexa, play <song/album/artist/genre> in the <group>
• Alexa, next in <group>
• Alexa, stop in <group>
• Alexa, play <song/album/artist/genre> everywhere
• Alexa, volume 3 (in the) <group>

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 we're currently listening to, with us. Wherever we go.

Let's 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 <room/group/device>

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 <title/album/artist/genre> 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!)

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 don't tell her what "music", she'll wake us up to something we've recently heard on one of our music services (thanks, Kelly!). If we want to be more specific:

• Alexa, wake me up to <song/album/artist/genre/playlist/radio station>

• Alexa, wake me up to <song/album/artist/genre/playlist> at 7 AM (every Tuesday)
• Alexa, wake me up to the song that goes <lyrics> 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 you'd 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 won't 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 can't 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.

Let's 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 we'd 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, we'll edit our "Goodnight Routine," which we've 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, we'll find the "Routines" section, just tap on it.

Within our Routines, we'll find the routine we've created with our voice: "Alexa, goodnight".

• Underneath the "Add Action" button, we'll 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.

Let's 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, it's Dinner Time!"

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

• Alexa, it's 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, here's 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. Let's start by tapping on "When this happens," select "Voice," and type in "it's 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.
   • You'll 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. We'll 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, it's 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 group's 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 name> playlist shuffle <multi-room music group name>".

Please note, DO NOT give your Multi-Room music group a "custom name", rather select a suitable "common name" from Alexa's 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 – we've 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 Haven't Found What I'm 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 what's 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 Alexa's 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, you'll 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! It's 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 doesn't work for you, ideally by additionally giving a command example, like "Alexa, skip 50 songs," skips only 1 song.
6. Tap "Send Feedback"

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. Alexa's 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 you've enjoyed this extensive list of Alexa's 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, please join our thoughts section below! You can subscribe to receive notifications when we're 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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Source: https://www.smartenlight.com/alexa-music-voice-commands/

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