Spotify Cracking Down on Family Plans

According to Music Business Worldwide, Spotify plans (pun intended) stepping up enforcement of its present policies regarding Family and Duo subscriptions. The plans require extra users to scan a QR code in person on the plan manager’s device in order to maintain access. Those who fail to scan the address verification QR code within seven days will suffer two penalties, First, they will see their account demoted to the free tier, and second, a ban from joining any other Duo or Family plan for 12 months.

According to Spotify, the plan manager must open the QR code on their phone (a three-step process), then the member scans the code with their phone camera. Both manager and additional member need to be in the same place to complete the scan. An additional burden is the verification can only be done in the mobile app.

That sounds like a pain-in-the-butt, and is one reason I don’t pay for Spotify… or any other company that gets overly greedy.

The enforcement stems from Spotify’s insane requirement that family plan members reside at the same address. Some may find that reasonable, but is it? What if you have a child away in college? What if you have a spouse who travels for work? What about a relative caring for a loved one out-of-state? A family plan isn’t a family plan if immediate members may be gone for more than seven days at a time. It wouldn’t even cover a two-week vacation overseas or across the country. Corporate greed has gone too far.

Granted, a significant share of family plan users may not be actual household members, but friends sharing a plan to reduce costs. Is that a huge crime? Is that much different then friends sharing physical CD’s which once dominated music? No! So are why are they doing it?

As I like to say, “follow the money.” It’s all about strategy and maximizing profits.

Streaming services often ignore account sharing during their initial growth. Once they become popular, they walk back the leniency when listeners/viewers become hooked. That’s what drug dealers do. “Hey, here’s some free stuff… for now.”

In 2017, Netflix stated, “Love is sharing a password,” before cracking down on its sharing policies. They got everyone hooked, then forced new accounts on members to create 9 million new subscribers. Then they started raising prices on a regular basis. All this despite that most of us pay for our own bandwidth. Now, other providers such as Max (back to being HBO) and Disney+/Hulu have followed the greedy scheme.

Family plans aren’t really family plans. They basically amount to introductory offers. Bring in a bunch of subscribers on one account, then insist all of them pay for a new subscription for not following financially greedy small-print rules. This will happen until more of us say, “enough.”

I’m waiting for SiriusXM and ESPN+ to crack down. Why? I have the apps installed at my girlfriend’s house so I can listen/watch. How long will that last till they block a different IP, which would also block my computer using a hotel internet?

Source: Verge

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