account sharing | GIZMODO.cz

Popular streaming site Spotify has now announced plans for a subscription sharing feature.

The benefits of Spotify for music listeners are far and wide. As someone who pumps a whole bunch of jams into their earholes on the regular, Spotify can help them to bridge the gap between music they already own and music they don’t own or perhaps can’t afford to.

On the free version of Spotify however, you have to give up some much-loved features. For example, you can create your own playlists and play any song on demand but you’ll also be thwarted with unavoidable ads every few songs or so. Hence why Spotify Premium exists so that you can pay for better audio, no ads and the ability to download tracks and listen on the go.

But even Spotify Premium has its downsides. Specifically, if someone (say a family member or friend) is making good use of your $9.99 subscription, you may find your playlists and music recommendations getting all mixed up with theirs. So, Spotitfy’s new subscription sharing feature will allow them to have their own accounts at a cheaper rate, no longer jumbled with yours.

Called Spotify Family, the music streaming company explains that “you can now invite up to four family members and share one billing account whilst keeping your listening history, recommendations and playlists completely separate.” Each and everyone one of you will be privy to ad-free listening only instead of before when you were all sharing one user profile, everybody you invite will have their own.

There is a slight catch though – Spotify Family isn’t free. Rather, the service allows your friends/family/whoever you feel like inviting to get the service at a discounted rate. Instead of the full $9.99, the bill payer will pay an extra $5 for each Spotify Family member who signs up.

It might be a little expensive with all five of you paying out of one billing account but if you have a family with teens and children who want to listen to their own tastes in music then it could be a useful gift. Furthermore, people with friends who can’t afford the full $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription can now take advantage of your having already signed up.