How the tape works

PlaylistBid is one mixtape on this website. Every track position has a price, and you buy the position rather than a rank you hope for. Playback runs through Spotify’s official embedded player. We do not add songs to Spotify playlists and we do not touch streams.

1. 01

   You buy a track position

   Pick the track you want — track 1, track 3, anywhere down the tape — and pay what it costs. The song lands on that slot, not on “whatever your money was worth”.

2. 02

   A slot costs a dollar more than its holder

   Whoever holds track 2 at $9 sets the price of track 2 at $10. The open end of the tape always costs $1.

3. 03

   Everything below shifts one track later

   Taking track 3 moves the old track 3 to track 4, track 4 to track 5, and so on. Nobody drops two slots from one payment.

4. 04

   Ties keep the earlier song above

   The tape is ordered by price, highest first. When two songs carry the same price the one written on earlier stays above — which is what makes a bought slot land exactly where you paid.

5. 05

   The song goes on once the payment clears

   Picking a slot opens a card checkout. The tape only moves when the payment is confirmed back to us — so a checkout you abandon changes nothing, and nothing you click here can write a song on by itself.

6. 06

   The same link moves up, never repeats

   Sending a song that is already on the tape moves that song instead of writing it on twice. Only positions above its current one are offered.

7. 07

   Public song links only

   One open.spotify.com/track link per slot. Albums and playlists are turned away — the parser reads a track id and nothing else.

8. 08

   Plays are counted here only

   Tapping a cover plays it in the deck at the bottom of the screen and records a play on this tape. It has no effect on Spotify charts, playlists or stream counts.

9. 09

   Titles and playback come from Spotify

   Names, artists and cover art are read from Spotify’s own public metadata APIs, and playback runs in Spotify’s own embedded player. Nothing is uploaded or rehosted, and none of it makes PlaylistBid a Spotify product.

10. 10

    One tape, the same for everyone

    The tape is kept on the server, not in your browser, so the positions you see are the positions everyone sees. Your receipt is the one private part — it is readable only by the browser that opened the checkout.

PlaylistBid is an independent fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or connected to Spotify AB. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB. Track positions exist only on PlaylistBid and do not change Spotify playlists, charts, rankings, or streams. Payments are handled by Dodo Payments on their own hosted checkout — we never see your card details.