Spotify is perhaps the most talked-about best music streamer. It's certainly the only one that seems to be able to land in the news multiple times in one week. From new ways to turn off core features to a new payment method, the first week of May has been a jam-packed one for the green circle.
But less about the what, and more about the how. How are these changes going to affect you, a potential Spotify user? And why should you care?
A new way to pay
The most recent piece of news to come out of Sweden is Spotify's app update. It follows the recent court proceedings that have ruled against Apple, and it looks to bring years of irritation finally to rest.
For a long time, you've not been able to buy a Spotify subscription on the Spotify app on iPhone or iPad. That's down to Apple's restrictions and Spotify's stubborn need to avoid paying Apple money for each sale.
If you buy an account on any service through an Apple device app, Apple gets a piece of the pie. Apps weren't allowed to link out to separate web pages either. If you want a subscription to Spotify and you use an iPhone or an iPad, you needed to go to Safari and open the correct web page yourself.
That's now changing. Thanks to the recent court proceedings above, Apple has to to allow Spotify and other apps to link from the app to the subscription webpage. Spotify has confirmed on its blog that the newly-submitted update will make the process of subscribing on an iPhone much more convenient.
It's just waiting on Apple to approve the update, at which point it'll start rolling out to prospective Spotify users like you.
No new subscription tiers
There have been rumors about new subscription tiers on Spotify for some time. They'd be lined up to join the premium and free tiers that you can currently sub to. Rumblings have spoken of a 'superfan' tier, as well as a potential 'Spotify HiFi' tier that would finally bring hi-res streaming to the service.
Thanks to a recent earnings call (Via Yahoo Finance), we now know what kind of tiers Spotify isn't thinking about. When talking about the rumored superfan subscription tier, Daniel EK (Spotify's CEO) said that he thinks " you should expect for the near term and midterm growth when it comes to the just working on our existing subscriptions, the family plans, all of these things is plenty enough for us."
In the call, the idea of further subscription tiers isn't completely shot down, however. Instead, the firm sees them as potential ways to add more revenue to its ever-expanding bank account and offer subscribers extra value.
For you that means the potential for ways to spend your money at Spotify might expand – but it's going to be further down the line. And the wait for Spotify HiFi continues.
Goodbye smart shuffle
Ok, so it's not completely goodbye to one of Spotify's most controversial features, but you can now turn it off. Smart Shuffle was first introduced in 2023, and it placed similar songs into your carefully curated playlists.
And, as you might imagine, lots of users hated it.
Then, but a few days ago, some very attentive Reddit users noticed you can turn it off. Finally. No more annoying additions to meticulously crafted lists of play — just what you want, when you want it.
You'll find the setting in the playback menu, and it's called 'enable all play modes.' Disable it, and Smart Shuffle shuffles off this mortal coil. Excellent.
A busy start to May
There's always something going on at Spotify. Be that the aforementioned news above, more cash slipping into Joe Rogan's pockets, or more Kanye West music being pulled from the service, it's rare that there's not something to talk about.
Either way, Spotify remains the most popular streaming service in the world — and it looks like that's not going to change any time soon.
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