Spotifys Family Plan will soon work better for actual familiesPlus a new shared family playlist 
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Spotify is adding new features to its Family Plan subscriptions to give parents more control over the listening habits of their children. Starting today in Ireland, and soon in the other countries where the plan is offered, parents will be able to set the Explicit Content Filter on their childrens accounts, preventing them from playing anything that Spotify marks as explicit. The ability to change the filter will be password protected, meaning only parents will have control over the setting. First announced in 2014, Spotifys Family Plan is a way for up to six people to share a discounted $14.99 monthly subscription. Considering an individual Spotify Premium subscription is $9.99, it can result in a pretty massive price reduction. However, outside of a vague requirement that all members live in the same place, the plan hasnt previously had any features that are actually designed for families. The parental controls will be available to whichever user has the Family Plans master account, and sub-accounts will not be able to switch it on and off themselves without a password. The filter can be controlled from the Family Hub, which is where you can also add and remove family members, or update your family address. The new Family Mix will contain music based on the whole familys listening habits.
Image: Spotify
Alongside the new parental controls, Spotify is also adding a new Family Mix, which will offer a personalized playlist generated from the listening habits of the accounts on the shared subscription. Spotify says youll be able to control who is in each session to personalize the playlist, which suggests youll be able to stop the playlist being dominated by a family members Michael Bublé obsession. It sounds like a similar feature to the Duo Mix that Spotify introduced with its Premium Duo subscription earlier this year. If your familys listening habits are anything like mine, however, then you might end up with a shared playlist that veers chaotically between easy-listening and heavy metal. At least youll get to try something new though, right? |
Comments
I would be interested to see how many actual families use thisI know a lot of people who club together to get the cheap subscription and just put the same postcode on their signup.
Not me though, I wouldnt do such a thing. Nooooo.
(also I adore the anachronistic heavy metal. Is this 1986?)
By Miniaturised Jim, the Tiny Ribald Scot on 08.19.19 4:34am
Hope that they will finally put to work some algorithms or just set of rules because in my country so many people abuse it. Maaaany people live even in different countries and this family plan still works for them :O
By Saeglopur on 08.19.19 7:36am
And I hope they dont because its a shitty thing to do.
In North America it is not uncommon for a family to reside at many addresses, split custody, kids in college, truckers, temporary residents for work, kids in boarding schools, etc
Why would Spotify put any resources to stop a parent from sharing a Spotify family plan with a kid living away for most of the year, and why would you encourage that?
By The Artgineer on 08.19.19 8:44am
AFAIK, the T&C state they must reside at the same address.
By reeset on 08.19.19 11:13am
My family uses it. I dont want my feed to populated with Kids Bop or Beyonce, so its nice to have my own account. Yeah, its extra money that I dont HAVE to spend, but I dont mind the small monthly code difference.
By biznessbro on 08.19.19 10:15am
Not sure I agree. Spotify family plan doesnt classify my kids as my family because they dont live with me full time. However, the gentleman who lives across the hall from me shares a building number, so he is eligible for the family plan.
Id like Spotify to classify my family as an actual family.
By dsellis on 08.19.19 7:14am
While I get your point, they have to cut it off somewhere. I think theyre being fairly reasonable with this. If your kids are grown, then its time for them to get their own accounts. If your kids live with another family due to a separation, then Spotify seems to be pretty lenient with this rule as long as they live with you some of the times (or even if they really dont. As the story mentions, Spotify doesnt crack down on these too hard).
By joshrocker on 08.19.19 8:13am
Or they actually dont have to cut it off, and just let anyone with a Family plan share their 5 accounts and not care about it.
By The Artgineer on 08.19.19 8:47am
Thats not really the point of this though. Saying they should give away 6 accounts for only $15 is a little greedy. Its specifically made for a couple to share with their kids.
If everyone signs up for $15 and shares the account with 5 other people, theyll be out of business.
By joshrocker on 08.19.19 1:39pm
What I want is to be able to switch which family account is playing using a voice command, so that the kids arent listening to old town road and various George Ezra tunes on my account on Echo, and turning my discover weekly into a pop travesty.
By Jonners88 on 08.19.19 8:22am
I had to create a separate account on my Family plan just for my grandparents Echoes because I was sick of my playlists having random Perry Como and Connie Francis songs being thrown in with my music.
By BeeksElectric on 08.19.19 9:19am
I keep saying Im going to do this and havent yet. Baby shark is going to be my number 1 song this year.sigh.
By joshrocker on 08.19.19 1:40pm
I was about to comment on how clean music was an American thing, but then I thought about the Middle East. I bet this is one of the most requested features in that region.
By The Artgineer on 08.19.19 8:36am
Man, two big features Id love to see with the Spotify Family is the ability to have shared playlists just within the family and to designate which sub-account is in control of Alexa. Spotify pls
By smlocke on 08.19.19 8:38am
* shudder *
By thespacecowboy on 08.19.19 10:44am
Still cant use gift cards if you have a family account. Some time a gift card is given and it is pretty much lost money since it cant be used by anyone on the plan.
The above suggestions for separate smart speaker account is reasonable.
By colanut on 08.19.19 10:53am