Spotify has updated its free plan to let you choose your song
With the latest update, Spotify's free tier lets you listen to particular tracks and share with friends, though you'll still get ads and a shuffled playlist experience.
It's been a hot minute since I was a Spotify subscriber, so I was a little confused when I first heard that Spotify was updating its free tier to let you listen to the song you wanted. Like, isn't that the whole point of music streaming?
I had to dig into it a bit more to discover that up until... well, today... you couldn't actually choose the tracks you wanted to hear: when you searched for something, it would play back songs in a shuffled order, forcing you to skip tracks (and view ads) until you got to the song you wanted.
That was also true of playlists like Discover Weekly. You'd see the tracks included, but only be able to hear them in a randomised order
Now though, you can choose the song you want to hear without having to skip through the shuffled mix. It will start shuffling after you hear your searched track, though, so if you want complete control over your music playback, you still need to subscribe.
The update also makes it easier and quicker to listen to tracks shared by friends or artists, either via messages or social media. You can tap to listen to the song straight away.
According to Spotify, this update has been four years in the making. Beyond being able to hear the music you want on the first attempt, Spotify has also added in the ability to create personalised playlist covers, view and share lyrics and enjoy additional playlists.
This feels like a pretty good compromise to me, but then again, I'm not the target audience at all.
What do you think? Would this entice you to switch to Spotify free?
BTTR relies on support from readers like you to keep going. If you'd like to support our work, consider a one-time donation. Every little bit helps us to cover costs and stay independent. 100% of donations go directly to authors. Thanks for your support!
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
