Last year Spotify tried to make their Premium Family subscribers verify their addresses, this year they’re doing it again. The company seems adamant to make sure their Premium Family subscribers are indeed family members.
The current Spotify Premium Family costs RM22.40/month while the individual Spotify Premium costs RM14.90/month. The family plan can be used by up to six accounts, meaning that it’s only about RM3.70/month per person — that’s RM11.20 cheaper! It’s only logical that the company wants to guarantee that no one will abuse the system since they’ll be profiting less from the family plan.
Previously when the company launch its pilot program that asked users for their exact GPS coordinates, the subscribers complained and raised questions regarding their privacy concerns. The pilot program quickly ended after that, so this time Spotify is going with a new approach.
According to its new terms and conditions, family members must be residing at the same address and will need to verify their home address once the Premium Family account is activated. The company also stated that they will ask for re-verification every now and then with the help of Google Maps.
Still, it gets us wondering what Spotify will do to those family members who might be studying abroad or working in different cities. Spotify also didn’t specify how often they would be re-verifying the subscribers.
To be honest, we’re pretty sure there are many Spotify subscribers out there that are abusing the system. If they are caught and their accounts are terminated, they can easily switch to Apple Music Family Plan that’s RM22.90/month instead of subscribing individually to Spotify Premium. Spotify’s plan to earn more might just drive some of its subscribers away.
