Earlier this week a new method of Spotify Family plan verification came to light and, in its latest earnings call, Spotify says that it’s not a “crackdown,” but also something that doesn’t have an “end date.”
Like virtually every family sharing subscription, Spotify requires Family Plan members to be in the same physical household, but the music streaming app has been looser in its requirements and enforcement. A new method, though, started popping up recently in the form of a verification QR code that makes it a bit more difficult for remote participants to complete verification, and also threatens to ban users from Family plans for a full year if verification isn’t completed.
Today, Spotify’s Q3 earnings call included a question about Spotify “beginning to crack down on Family Plan subscribers that do not live in the same home.”
Responding to this, Spotify co-CEO Alex Norström says that this is not a “crackdown,” but a “routine improvement of our verification methods,” and something that Spotify will continue to work on. “This is not something that has an end date,” he said:
…this is not as much a crackdown as it is actually a routine improvement of our verification methods for our Family Plan. Family Plan has existed for a long while. It has been around for, I think it is now close to 12, 13 years in Spotify history, and it makes up a pretty significant proportion of our subscriber base. As such, it is important for us to just make sure over time that we improve the verification methods that we have. There are certainly ways, over time, to find holes around it. As that happens, we figure out how to improve it over time. This is not something that has an end date. This is not an implementation that is going to complete. This is just ongoing routine.
Reading between the lines, this is saying that Spotify isn’t going to be backing down from verification methods on its Family Plan sharing. QR codes are only the latest implementation.
More on Spotify:
- Spotify podcast memberships let you support your favorite shows and get added perks
- Spotify rolling out ‘User Notes’ and ‘Running Mode’ features on Android – here’s what they do
- Spotify adds its own AI chatbot – here’s what you can do with it [Video]
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.