It has been a tough time for Spotify users. Prices have risen significantly, AI ‘artists’ abound, and extraneous features have received a mixed reception from the fanbase.
Now, Spotify has quietly announced that it is rolling out a new way of clamping down on Family plan sharing, aiming to make it far trickier for members to share their accounts with users who aren’t actually living under the same roof. No more farming out access to your mate who lives in a different country, then.
As you’ll find on Spotify’s support page, Family plan members may need to “verify they live with the plan manager by scanning a QR code. The code appears on the plan manager’s device and is scannable following a pop-up on the device of the member wishing to be added.”
A foolproof method, then. Well, unless you use video calling to scan the code via, say, FaceTime, but given that it is designed to change every few seconds, that could throw a spanner in the works.
Spotify is playing hardball with its implementation, too. Users have a seven-day window between when the QR code prompt first appears to complete the process, and if you miss that window, you won’t be able to join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months. You can still sign up for an Individual plan, because hey, business is business.
We imagine that this is the way that the wind is blowing for most major streaming subscriptions, be they audio or visual.
Netflix’s recent crackdown restricted account sharing to members living under the same roof, and with services (supposedly) facing rising operating costs, don’t be surprised to see them use every trick in the book to claw back as much revenue as possible.
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