Spotify is launching a premium plan for couples
Premium Duo costs $12.99 a month
- By
- on July 1, 2020 6:00 am
Spotify is making it easier for couples who live together to split the cost of a premium membership while also merging their music taste. The company is debuting its newest subscription offering, Premium Duo, which costs $12.99 a month and allows two people who live at the same place to share one plan while maintaining their own accounts.
With Premium Duo, Spotify will also create a special Duo Mix playlist thatll update regularly and incorporate music that both people like. The idea is that Spotify knows what you and your partner like individually, so its software will design a playlist that you can put on in the house thatll appeal to both of you. Listeners can switch between a chill or upbeat playlist.
Existing, single Premium members can upgrade to Premium Duo at any time and doing so wont erase their account listening history or preferences. A Family plan membership is $2 more than Duo and supports up to six accounts. That plan also comes with a special Family Mix playlist that promises the same thing as the Duo Mix, except it accounts for the entire familys preferences. A single Premium membership costs $9.99.
Spotify is clearly trying to design a premium plan for everyone and every stage of life. It offers student discounts, a kids app thats available through the family plan, and now, a plan for couples. Recurring subscription revenue is especially important to Spotify during the COVID-19 pandemic because advertisers are tightening their budgets. The company said in its most recent earnings report that its ad-supported revenues fell short of its forecast, and it lowered its revenue guidance for the year as a result.
As such, its attempted to make Premium a more enticing option through features available only to subscribers. Premium users can share DJ duties with anyone in their immediate vicinity and hide songs from playlists, for example. In the past, it also offered free Hulu and a Google Home Mini to Premium members. With more plans and more features, Spotify is hoping everyone will eventually become a Premium subscriber.
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Comments
I love Spotify, but ever since my wife hijacked my 4.99 student account, Ive found YouTube Music to be just as good. $12 a month [with student discounts] for Spotify, Hulu, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music is tough to beat.
By jkitch03 on 07.01.20 6:48am
YouTube music is nowhere near as good as Spotify
By jcevox on 07.01.20 6:58am
I moved from spotify [which I had for 4 years] to youtube music and have stuck with YT for a year, I wouldnt say either is better than the other. Both have their benefits, the only real thing I miss from spotify is the end of year recap.
By Matthew Birch on 07.01.20 7:03am
Does it have Discover Weekly? No thanks.
By ROMSPAX on 07.02.20 5:45am
Pretty much, cant say I really used it on either service.
//i.imgur.com/yZb63KH.jpg
By Matthew Birch on 07.03.20 6:50am
DW is like finding a new dimension, you have no clue what youre missing.
By ROMSPAX on 07.23.20 4:17pm
As a music player Spotify is better [and their playlists are amazing] I really like the music video feature in It music though. That combined with no ads on YouTube and Im sticking with yt music
By Skobie1kanobie on 07.01.20 8:49am
The idea of listening to a pre-generated playlist makes my skin crawl.
By jkitch03 on 07.01.20 11:42pm
Seems like you have too much free time on your hands.
By ROMSPAX on 07.02.20 5:45am
Way too much.
By jkitch03 on 07.02.20 12:18pm
Its good enough though for me not to care.
By theratchetnclank on 07.01.20 8:53am
100% this. Have subscribed to YT music for years. The only reason I stay is because my subscription also removes ads from YouTube. Music curation on YT music is awfuljust terrible. I recently did a Spotify trial and, my goodness, it felt like the future. And by that I mean Ive been stuck in the past for a long time.
By irishnugget on 07.01.20 9:05am
Right?! Yes yes, "opinions," but some are just so hilariously wrong
By NukedKaltak on 07.01.20 10:09am
YT Music family plan is $14.99, which gives unlimited YT Music and ad-free YouTube to 5 people. $2.50 per person for unlimited music and ad-free YouTube is highway robbery, imo, and the reason I will never consider anything else.
Also, if you listen to a lot of remixes and covers [like me], having access to every YouTube video ever in a song form is impossible to beat.
By Electric City on 07.01.20 1:46pm
How can a video platform that plays video in a song form be better than a MUSIC platform that just plays songs?
By ROMSPAX on 07.02.20 5:47am
Cuz its also a music platform? Its not like your only option is to listen to audio-only versions of YouTube videos. All of the albums and tracks are there as well.
By jkitch03 on 07.02.20 12:22pm
Dont get me wrong, I like Spotify more, but YouTube Music plays the albums I search for just as adequately as Spotify.
By jkitch03 on 07.01.20 11:41pm
I tried YTM, really tried. But the way it handles downloads is a mess and playlists are limited to 5000 songs. Thats a big killer for me. I add albums to my library and like songs from those albums. I mainly then just shuffle my Liked Songs playlist and be done. YTM limits their Your Likes playlist to 5000 songs. Spotify used to limit it to 10,000 songs but now its unlimited. Then theres the delay in transferring over from GPM and other underlying issues [like app crashes].
By P_Devil on 07.01.20 9:18am
Same boat exactly. I go to my Liked Songs and hit Shuffle most of the time.
The way YTM mixes liked music videos from YouTube and liked songs from the app all into one list also left me with lots of duplication. Their Carplay interface is abysmal.
By TDHawk00 on 07.01.20 11:11am
I can see how that would be an issue. I generally have a specific album in mind when I listen to music.
By jkitch03 on 07.01.20 11:44pm
Im locked into the promo rate on Google Play Music [$7.99/mo] and recently transferred my library over to YTM. YTM is fine if you dont use any sort of smart speaker or assistant whatsoever. Google Assistant apparently doesnt support playing playlists from YTM, which is baffling.
In my car, Id regularly say "Hey Google, play [name of album]" or "Hey Google, play my [name of playlist] playlist" and itd start it right up from GPM. With YTM, itll either say "Playing the playlist [some random album or playlist that may or may not be what I said] on YouTube", there will be a few second pause, followed by "Sorry, something went wrong. To continue, please open the YouTube app". Also happens when I try to do the same thing on my Google Home. And this is after setting YTM as my default music player in the Google Home app.
Ive since gone back to GPM, but this Spotify Duo is certainly intriguing.
By thekerker on 07.01.20 12:17pm
You probably have.but just checking if youve changed the default music player through your Google Home app to be YTM instead of GP?
By ryan_linz on 07.01.20 1:42pm
And this is after setting YTM as my default music player in the Google Home app.
I sure did. Apparently its a known issue, so Id expect Google to provide that functionality prior to shutting down GPM, but Id think that would be basic Day 1 functionality.
By thekerker on 07.01.20 7:55pm
Hmm. I have Google speakers everywhere and have no issues.
By jkitch03 on 07.01.20 11:37pm
Nice feature for those who want to keep their stats and recommendations as their own, or stream individual content on separate devices. Ive been sharing my account with wife for years with no problems though, no need to change that.
By Hevo on 07.01.20 6:50am