How to Create Your Own Custom Radio Stations on YouTube Music

Feb 29, 2024

YouTube Music lets you create a radio station with your favorite artists in just a few taps.

YouTube Music's radio stations are some of the best out there. The algorithm hardly misses when it comes to playing what you might like based on what you're listening to. But you can take it one step further and show off your musical taste by creating your own radio stations on YouTube Music.

In this article, we'll show you how to use YouTube Music's Radio Builder to create your perfect radio station.

When you stream a song or playlist on YouTube Music, the app creates a radio station from it. But given that the radio station is inspired by one song or playlist, you don't have as much control over the music that makes it onto that radio station.

That's why YouTube Music released Radio Builder in early 2023 as a way to create your own radio station manually. This gives the algorithm a better idea of the kind of artists and music that would be a good fit for your station and also reduces the work of setting up a playlist, which requires time and meticulousness.

You can create and enjoy custom radio stations on YouTube Music whether you're a paid subscriber or use it for free. The feature is available on the iOS and Android apps in any country where YouTube Music is available.

Custom radio stations are nothing new; other music streaming services offer similar features. For example, Spotify radio stations can help you break out of Spotify's feedback loop. However, YouTube Music's Radio Builder gives users more control since you can add up to 30 artists to a single radio station.

The good news is that you don't have to be a DJ or music genius to set up a custom radio station on YouTube Music. Anyone can do it; you just need to know how you want your radio station to sound. In other words, you need to know what vibe you're going for.

Follow the steps below to start creating your custom YouTube Music radio station:

YouTube Music will create your radio station. Scroll down the track list to explore your radio station. Navigate it like any other radio station by shuffling, skipping, queuing tracks, and more. YouTube Music will continuously update your radio station, so it doesn't get boring. It's not a playlist, after all (the process of creating and editing a YouTube Music playlist is slightly different).

But you can also update the radio station yourself by tapping Tune (below the play button) and adding more artists. We advise adding your custom radio station to your library by hitting the add button next to the play button. We weren't able to find the first custom radio station we created when we opened the app again because we hadn't added it to the library.

Afterward, you can treat your radio station however you want. For instance, you can share your custom radio station with friends or download it for offline listening if you have enough storage.

You're often on the receiving end of all the beautiful mixes YouTube Music has to offer. But the app gives you an opportunity to curate new and specific experiences to bump to by creating custom radio stations. Give them a shot and experiment with different sounds. Remember, practice makes perfect.

Aya has been a copywriter since 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce Marketing Management Honors degree and a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Marketing/Management and Media & Cultural Studies. She's been a marketing consultant and freelance writer for international websites, writing about cybersecurity, tech, media, social media, and more, since 2019.