Previously, free Spotify users were only able to listen to music on shuffle. This would mean, any playlist streamed would be randomised. However, now, they can listen freely.
Spotify previously had quite the restriction for music listeners on their free tier. While they could listen to whatever music they liked, they’d have to listen to the album or playlist on shuffle mode. Quite frustrating as many music artists choose their track list order specifically.
Often, an album is designed to be listened to from start to finish, but free Spotify users weren’t able to partake in this. Spotify has now lifted the restriction, and enabled the option for listeners to play tracks freely.
However, it’s worth noting, on free accounts, the shuffle mode will still be selected. Users will have to turn off the shuffle button manually, which will then enable them to listen to songs on demand. There is, however, a limit to how many on demand songs can be played per day.
Users have a certain amount of minutes per day that they can choose songs on demand. However, Spotify haven’t released how many minutes this is. Premium users aren’t restricted in this way, and they still have full access.
Once your minutes are up, you will only have a certain amount of skips per hour if you’re on a free account. The two new features are called Search & Play and Share & Play and the details can be found below:
Spotify Search & Play and Share & Play
- Search & Play: Free users can search for individual songs and play them on-demand.
- Share & Play: Tracks shared by friends in a message, or artists via social media, can be played on mobile immediately (previously only available on desktop or tablet).
Spotify hopes that with being more generous with their free tier, they’ll have more engagement and therefore ad revenues will rise. This would then help them cover extra costs that come with having free users.
With the regular changes Spotify are introducing, questions have come as to what their Super Premium tier will entail. After all, this has been in the pipelines for quite some time, though, never has it come to fruition.
The direct messages feature recently launched, and this came to both free and premium accounts. There is certainly less of a divide now than there was previously. It’s great for those wanting to access more without having the funds, but, is there still a drive for premium users?
