Spotify goes family friendly with multi-user accounts

If you’re a subscriber to one of the many all-you-can-hear music streaming services out there, it’s possible that you share the service with your significant other, but if you wanted to share it with kids, you’re out of luck. Until now, that is.

Spotify is looking to be the first to make sharing an account possible, giving access to members of the family with special Spotify Family accounts, available for as many as five different accounts.

“This is one of the most asked for features from our audience,” said Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer at Spotify.

“With today’s announcement we’re making it easier than ever for the whole family to experience Spotify Premium on their phones, at home and on the go.”

Previously, Spotify offered an offline three device limit per account, making it possible to access millions of songs from your phone, computer, and smart home stereo system, with the playlists and library favourites shared between devices. Not everyone made use of three devices, however, and this made it possible to take advantage of this system, using this as a loophole to let a friend or significant other listen to Spotify Premium offline on your account.

With Spotify Family, each member listed as part of the family account will have those three offline devices at their disposal, as well as their own list of favourites and playlists, so they won’t have to be shared with the account holder.

Pricing for the family accounts is a little different to the one monthly account price, mostly because Spotify discounts the extra addition to the account as you add more people, changing the $11.99 per month price to $17.99 account for 2 people, $23.99 for three, $29.99 for four, and $35.99 for five people.

It hasn’t kicked in yet, that said, with Spotify sending word that it will roll out over the next few weeks, hopefully with some annual pricing, too.