A new Uber driver has started tailoring playlists for the types of passenger they get
TJ has tailored playlists for ‘basic’, ‘heady bros’, ‘woc’ and more.
TJ Jones, a student and photographer in the US, has started driving for Uber and Lyft.
Despite being just 12 days into driving passengers around Asheville, North Carolina, they’ve found their Spotify playlists – tailored to passenger types like “heady bros”, “white dudes who look like they like rap” and “quiet people” – have gone down pretty well.
TJ told the Press Association they created the playlists a few days into the job, after making a longer playlist to listen to while driving but realising “pretty quickly not everyone vibes with all of the songs picked out”.
“I want them to have a comfortable and enjoyable trip, I also love to talk about music and I like to increase my chances of getting tipped so I thought why not make a few playlist for the kind of people you pick up in this town?”
The “basic 20-30s” list features Fleetwood Mac’s big hits, some Drake, Sia and Lorde, while the playlist for “POC” (people of colour) features artists like Sza, Lauryn Hill and Frank Ocean.
“A mid-30s tourist was very impressed (for some reason) with my 30+ playlist playing Hall and Oates immediately followed by The Zombies,” TJ said.
The 30+ list also features Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lou Reed.
TJ said that although the playlists hadn’t bumped up their rating on the taxi apps yet, tips were coming in from a certain group.
“I have noticed that people who leave the best tips also complimented my 30+ playlist during the ride, which turned out to be more of a 40+ kind of playlist,” they said.
TJ seems to have struck the “f****** hipster” playlist just right.
“A mid 20s local found it necessary to proclaim that she ‘hasn’t heard this song since middle school’,” TJ said of one passenger.
And TJ’s 20,000 new Spotify followers as a result of the tweet might convince them to take to the decks outside of their car.
TJ said it was “pretty reassuring that my music taste isn’t all trash and (DJing has) been something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while”.
You can check out all of those playlists, which are updated daily, on Spotify here.
