Music is at the heart of every great indoor cycling class. The right track can motivate, push, and connect riders to the experience in a way that transcends simple movement. But let’s be honest—finding the perfect songs, curating playlists, and making transitions seamless can be a time-consuming process.

If you’re spending hours crafting your setlists, I have good news: you don’t have to.

As both a DJ and a fitness coach, I’ve spent years honing my process for finding, editing, and organizing music in a way that saves time while maximizing impact. In this guide, I’m sharing five essential music tools to streamline your workflow, elevate your classes, and help you focus on what really matters—coaching and connection.

1. Use the Algorithm to Your Advantage

Most streaming platforms—Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and even YouTube—are designed to help you discover new tracks. The key is knowing how to work with the algorithm.

• Spotify: Utilize Discover Weekly, genre-based playlists, and the “Go to Song Radio” feature (found under the three-dot menu) to generate 50-track playlists based on a single song’s vibe.
• SoundCloud: Click on the three-dot menu and select Start a Station to uncover similar music.
• Apple Music: While not as strong for discovery, it offers curated genre playlists that can be helpful starting points.
• YouTube Music: Use “Start Radio” based on a song you love to generate a mix of related tracks.

Once you start curating and saving music, these platforms will continuously serve you better recommendations.

2. Optimize Your Playback Experience

Finding music is one thing, but how you play it back matters just as much. Many instructors rely solely on Spotify for streaming, but Apple Music provides superior sound quality—and yes, that difference is noticeable in a studio setting.

• Apple Music allows you to adjust volume levels per track, ensuring consistency.
• You can edit song start and stop points, cutting overly long intros or outros that don’t serve your ride.
• If you use local files (music you’ve purchased and downloaded), Apple Music lets you fine-tune playback settings more than other platforms.

For those who want full control over their music experience, Apple Music is a game-changer.

3. Make Your Transitions Seamless

How a song ends and another begins sets the tone for the ride. Whether you prefer smooth transitions or intentional moments of silence, ensuring your music flows well is key.

• Spotify and Apple Music offer basic crossfade options, but if you want more control, Virtual DJ is a great tool.
• Virtual DJ lets you beat-match tracks, making transitions between BPMs more seamless. You can even record an entire class as a single track, removing the need to cue songs manually.
• If you’re an Instructor Magic student, there’s a full tutorial on advanced mixing techniques using Virtual DJ inside the course.

4. Subscribe to a DJ Record Pool

One of the biggest challenges for instructors is finding remixes that are the right length. Many popular songs today are released as short radio edits, making it hard to fit them into a cycling format. DJ record pools solve this problem.

• BPM Supreme and DJ City are two of the top subscription-based record pools where DJs source high-quality remixes.
• These services offer extended versions, instrumental intros, and clean edits, giving you more flexibility in how you use tracks.
• Your studio may even consider purchasing a shared subscription for all instructors, making this an affordable option for getting professional-grade remixes.

5. Organize Your Library Like a Pro

Having thousands of songs at your disposal is great—until you can’t find the one you need. Organizing your library properly will save you time and frustration.

• Use Playlists by Category: Create dedicated playlists for climbs, sprints, jogs, intervals, and recovery tracks. This way, when you need a song for a specific moment in class, you’re not scrambling.
• Use Soundiiz to Transfer Playlists: If you use multiple platforms, Soundiiz is a tool that transfers your playlists between Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.
• Tag Your Songs by BPM and Energy Level: In Apple Music, you can create smart playlists that automatically sort tracks by BPM, ensuring you always have the right song at the right moment.

Bonus Tip: Reduce Time Spent on Playlists

If you find yourself spending way too much time creating playlists, you’re not alone. It’s easy to get lost in the music search, but ultimately, your riders don’t remember the exact songs you play—they remember how you made them feel.

The goal of these tools isn’t just to help you find music faster—it’s to free up more time to focus on your coaching, cueing, and the connection you’re building with your riders. Every minute spent searching for the perfect song is a minute that could be spent developing a new coaching technique, refining your personal brand, or engaging with your community.

Next Steps

If you’re ready to dive deeper into advanced playlisting, music mixing, and class structuring strategies, Instructor Magic is the place to be. This program is designed to help instructors develop consistently waitlisted classes, build their personal brands, and connect with riders on a deeper level.

Whether you’re a new instructor looking to refine your skills or a seasoned pro aiming to level up, these music tools will make your life easier and your classes even more impactful.

Got a favorite music tool or trick? Let’s continue the conversation—drop a comment, share this with an instructor friend, or tag me on Instagram. And if this post was helpful, a rating or review on Apple Podcasts goes a long way in helping more instructors find the resources they need.

See you on the podium!