Apple Creates Playlists from Emerson College Musicians

Well, that’s not Apple.

Elizabeth Apple ’22, marketing coordinator for the Iwasaki Library, recently put together a growing playlist featuring Emerson College alumni musicians.

The three-hour-plus playlist spans pop, alternative, folk, rock, hip-hop, and more. Apple spoke with Emerson Today about why she created the list, other Emerson-related playlists she makes, and (given her last name) why she went with Spotify instead of Apple Music.

Listen to Sounds of Emerson: Alumni Edition on Spotify.

Why did you put together the Spotify Sounds of Emerson College: Alumni Edition list?

Apple: The idea for an alumni playlist came to me when I was thinking about how new Emerson students would connect with each other. As a former student, I knew that music could bridge that gap. This community is full of incredibly talented artists, and I couldn’t think of a better way to introduce new students to this creative environment than to let alumni music guide their path and provide the soundtrack to their first few days of their Emerson journey.

In addition, Cheryl McGrath (director of the Iwasaki Library) and I have been wanting to further develop the concept of a library that creates curated playlists for students for a while now. For example, creating playlists that students can listen to while studying. So it was really exciting to finally put this hope into practice!

When was it made?

Apple: In early August I reached out to the Emerson Mafia Facebook group to ask if I would submit songs. I explained what I wanted to do and the response was overwhelming! I re-shared the finished playlist with the group at the beginning of the orientation week (late August) and still got more songs to include!

What are the requirements to be added to the playlist?

Apple: The only requirements I had for creating that playlist were to include musical works by an Emerson alumnus. Are you an Emersonian who is a musician? Are you in a band? Do you write music? Do you sing and produce your own songs? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are welcome to be added! Any musical work with Emerson fingerprints is welcome to be included.

I try to limit the playlist to one entry per artist, so listeners get a taste of the artist’s style of music! The last requirement was to ask people to submit a Spotify link to their work. I know there are Apple Music fans out there, but I thought using Spotify playlists was the best way to make the playlist more accessible and shareable for everyone.

Gina Alibrio in the forest — Gina Alibrio ’05

What else do you want people to know about the playlist, about yourself, about the library in relation to the playlist, etc.?

Apple: The Sounds of Emerson: Alumni Edition playlist was just the beginning! Now I’m working on creating a Faculty Edition, Staff Edition, current Student Edition, and a master playlist with all the alumni, faculty, staff, and student submissions in one place called the Sounds of Emerson: Community Edition playlist.

If you are an Emerson musician (alumni, faculty, staff, or current student), you can submit your song requests to me using this form and I will add them to the appropriate playlists!

I also created a Wicked Awesome playlist (with help from our friends in the Emerson Mafia Group on Facebook) with songs that emulate the feel of Boston. This playlist is designed for new students who may not have been to the East Coast before! I hope to do the same with (Emerson Los Angeles) and (Kasteel Well), plus more community-focused and curated playlists related to Emerson in the future.

I recently discovered that Holly Sverdrup Hoyer ’13 made a similar playlist in 2021, and I want to give them credit and highlight Holly’s work. Holly made a playlist with 2,922 songs, and that’s a lot of work to put together each song! In my opinion, Holly’s playlist contains more songs that really showcase the best of each artist, while the library playlist serves as an introduction. Definitely check out Holly’s playlist to get a deeper look into the music of former members and learn more about them.