AARP's SongTheme™ FAQs

[AARPLynne]

What is AARP's SongTheme™?

AARP’s new activity, SongTheme™, is song-matching fun and a great way to build playlists with the help of your peers. Try your hand at submitting a unique song to match one of ten themes, then listen to sound clips. You can also see what your peers have also submitted. As an AARP Member, you can add your successful submissions and those of the community to your playlist—all through the power of Spotify®. As a final benefit, each day you can earn AARP Rewards points for submitting three unique songs. So, start the music and have some healthy fun today!

Can I submit the same song as one of my peers?

SongTheme™ requires unique song submissions, so duplicates are not considered as successful submissions. To provide more opportunity to submit songs, peer submissions are refreshed every 12-hours.

How do I access AARP's SongTheme™?

AARP’s SongTheme is located in AARP’s Online Community. Remember, you will need to be registered and logged in on AARP.org to enter songs. If you would like to earn AARP Rewards points for playing each day, make sure you are signed up with the AARP Rewards loyalty program. Registering and activating are quick, easy, and free!

Who can earn AARP Rewards points while playing?

Anyone who is an active AARP Rewards participant can earn points for submitting three songs successfully. Earn points daily for matching songs—what could be more fun? Not part of AARP Rewards yet? Get started for free. 

How many AARP Rewards points can I earn for this activity?

If you are not an AARP Members, you will earn 100 AARP Rewards points daily for successfully entering three songs AARP Members get 50% more AARP Rewards points—150 points daily. Look for the AARP Rewards badge on the game for the point value indicator. 

How often can I earn AARP Rewards points by playing?

You can earn AARP Rewards points once a day, so make AARP’s SongTheme™ part of your daily routine!

Can I play AARP's SongTheme™ on my mobile phone or tablet?

Yes, you can! This online activity is available on all devices—desktops, laptops, tablets, and smart phones. To optimize your experience, please play in one browser at a time to ensure the activity keeps an accurate count of your submissions. Also, keep in mind that submitted songs get refreshed at noon and midnight Eastern Time, so if you’re aiming to submit three (3) songs in a day to earn AARP Rewards points, it’s best to do before the refresh.  If you submit songs on different devices, each device will count your submissions separately. However, AARP Rewards points will be limited to the once a day maximum, regardless of how many songs are submitted from multiple devices. Please see our Minimum System Requirements to be sure your device is up to date.

Still have questions?

Get support by phone from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET weekdays by calling 866-839-0463, get AARP Help online, or look for answers in our community forums.

[MaVolta]

I accidentally added a song that I do not know, and I can’t remove it! Be careful when you’re scrolling through title choices below the search box. It seems to be very sensitive to touch, and there is no way to confirm your choice, or remove a wrong selection. 😖

[FluffyBlack]

I can't play because I don't do Spotify. I'd be happy to join in if you can find a way to just let me use my own personal song library.

[Caleidoscope]

It seems you must log in (lower right) *again* to be able to play. Spotify wasn't needed. I too was stuck.

[AARPLynne]

Hi, @DenisO61777 and DavidT298696, thanks for your questions! As @CherylH648753 mentions, there isn't a submit button per se. It's the action of clicking your song choice from Search Results that adds it to your "song selections". Songs are submitted by following these steps:

- Select a Theme;
- Enter a song title;
- From the search results, click the song title of your choosing; and
- Your unique song is added to "My Song Selections"

1) Select a Theme; 2) Enter a song title
3) Click song title; and 4) Song is added to "My Song Selections"

[DenisO61777]

It seems that since my original post on 2/17, they have fixed the game. I now see the search box and after finding 3 songs, I get the points. Thanks to all for their contributions. 

[AARPLynne]

Hi @DenisO61777, thanks for confirming!

[SusanH238460]

Hi Lynne, I can select a theme, but there’s no place to type in the name of a song. There is only one search box to type in , and it pulls up internet entries, not songs, in response to what I type. Any tips?

[AARPLynne]

Hi @SusanH238460, once you select a theme and type the name of your song choice, click on the song from the search results. Here's a screenshot of what you should see, for example:

[KellytheBelly]

Wheee! I'm on a roll! 😉 However, I've found a typo...

This is fun, though! 🙂

[AARPLynne]

Good catch, @KellytheBelly, thanks for the edit!

[CambrianX]

If you're having trouble submitting a song, I was able to get it to work by trying a different browser. Firefox did not give me the option to submit a song, but Microsoft Edge did. I don't use Google, but since Edge is a Chromium browser, I would guess that Chrome would work as well. Here is a screenshot of the page from Edge.

[DavidM940586]

The "enter song title'' box appears in some, but not all, themes.  I was able to enter 3 songs, 2 in one theme and 1 in another theme.   In other rewards games, a pop up message appears saying I earned rewards points, but not in song theme.   I saw an instruction that I need to enter 3 songs to earn points.   Either the "3" is wrong (perhaps a typo), or the instructions are unclear and you need to enter all songs under one theme, or it's broken.

[AARPLynne]

Hi @DavidM940586, that's correct, anyone who is an active (logged in) AARP Rewards participant can earn points for submitting three songs successfully. You can enter songs from one or more themes. In this example, my first two songs were  from the theme Love, then I finished the activity by choosing a song from Heartbreak. I've highlighted the Rewards badge that appears and the confirmation messaging in the lower right-hand corner:
AARP Rewards

[KeithK808557]

Why don't I have a search box under the My Song Selection box? I have the list of 5 songs then the What a Great Song box. I can't submit a song without that correct?

[AARPLynne]

Hi @KeithK808557, if you haven't entered 5 songs in a theme (and you're not seeing the search box), I recommend that you clear your cache. It's also important to double-check the Minimum System Requirements, especially when it comes to your browser of choice. Will you let me know if that solves things for you? Thanks!

[CambrianX]

Seems like I saw something saying I earned points, but you can see the Song Theme rewards in your Rewards Transaction History.

Transaction History for your AARP Rewards points

[AARPLynne]

Thanks for sharing that tip, @CambrianX. Here's a copy of the messaging that appears when earning your Rewards Points:
AARP Rewards

[DavidM940586]

I checked my rewards transaction history, but songtheme wasn't listed.  The 2 trivia games and 3 crossword puzzles that I played were listed.  I'm using the AARPnow app which I believe uses Chrome.  When I encountered the problem, I saw the enter songs box.  It took a bit for the page to load and when it was finished loading there were a bunch of song titles. I scrolled down and down and down and down and saw a text box with "search". I entered a song title and got results from the AARP community.   When I looked at song theme today, the list of titles is missing and the "enter song titi" box is visible.  My hypothesis is that the list of song titles overloaded the slot allotted to them and hid the text box.   The similarity between the song title text box and AARP community search text box was coincidence.

[AARPLynne]

Hi @DavidM940586, thanks for letting us know about this. Are you still experiencing the same thing or was it a one-time occurrence? If you meet the Minimum System Requirements and are still having trouble, please try clearing your cache on your Android or iPhone devices.

[DavidM940586]

I'm starting to get the hang of Song theme.   The top section is "my selection" (maximum 5 titles) and the bottom section contains the selections of other players.  You must enter a title that has not already been selected.  If someone else has already selected the title, you can't use it.   The part l don't understand is why the "my selection" portion has been prefilled with 5 titles, and hiding the "enter song title" text box.  Today there was only 1 theme that was not prefilled with 5 titles.  

[AARPLynne]

Hi @DavidM940586, that's great! I'm just curious, did you have a chance to try clearing your cache to see if that brings back the area to "enter song title"?

[DavidM940586]

I missed the tip to clear my cache, so I didn't try it.  I noticed when I went back in today that the My selection section is clear.   If it prefills again, I'll try your tip and let you know.  Thanks.

[AARPLynne]

Sounds good, @DavidM940586, thank you!

[CherylH648753]

Chrome worked for me, but Firefox did not.

[DavidT298696]

How do you submit songs? This isn’t explained and there’s no obvious way to do it.

[CambrianX]

@DavidT298696 See my response above

[DenisO61777]

It is truly not clear HOW a song gets submitted in this 'game' in order to earn points. I can search and choose songs (although not in every category) but I don't see anything that allows me to submit. Where am I submitting? When I click the button to add to a personal Spotify playlist, it opens a new tab on my browser, for each song. Nothing about this makes sense. Please help make this clearer.

[CambrianX]

@DenisO61777 See my response above

[CherylH648753]

There isn't a submit button. You search for the song, and if you find it in the list, click on it. If someone has already submitted that song, a message will tell you that you need to select a different song. Otherwise, it will tell you something like "Great choice!" and that is that. Do this three times and you will get your reward points.

I did have trouble when using a browser that does not have DRM enabled, but after I switched to a DRM- and Spotify-friendly browser, it worked.