Spotify wants to ferret out users who, despite having subscribed to the family subscription, could not use it. To do so, it will exploit geolocation
The work of “refining” the offer and services by Spotify continues. In recent months, the Swedish audio streaming giant has been trying to differentiate its subscription profiles, so as to meet the needs of an increasingly wide and heterogeneous user base.
For some time now, for example, the Duo profile has been in the testing phase, a special plan dedicated to couples that is positioned between the traditional premium and the family plan. On the family subscription front, on the other hand, Spotify intends to tighten controls on users, so as to unearth multiple subscription fraudsters. The conditions of use of Spotify Family, in fact, require that all users reside in the same building, or at least in the same address. It often happens, however, that the family subscription is activated by friends with the aim of dividing the costs.
Spotify and geolocation
The streaming giant has decided to solve the problem at the root and, apparently, from October 13 Spotify will adopt a new policy. In the streaming platform’s terms and conditions of use, a clause has been included that refers to the possibility of verifying the geographical location of accounts in a Spotify Family subscription.
As announced, the purpose is to check if indeed all activated accounts reside in the same household. The geolocation of users should not be continuous, but the location will be verified with a manual check. All this will take place in full respect of the privacy of the subscribers and all information relating to geolocation will be encrypted and not stored, in addition to not being available for use for advertising purposes.
Spotify and geolocation: the controversy
This intervention wanted by Spotify wants to counter the phenomenon of the sale of secondary accounts often made by groups of friends and aimed at reducing costs. But for many people, especially for the so-called defenders of privacy, it doesn’t take into account, for example, the possibility that the members of the same family, for different reasons such as study or work, may reside in different locations or why not, even in different homes.
Spotify and SoundBetter
Always with a view to strengthening to offer a better and more exclusive service, Spotify has recently purchased SoundBetter, a small company specializing in connecting independent musicians, professionals and producers in the music industry. SoundBetter will remain a standalone company, but will offer a series of services that will be integrated into Spotify for Artist, the section designed by the Scandinavian company to help emerging musicians and others.