Spotify Free tier upgrade allows for more song control & new features

Spotify has rolled out a major upgrade to its free tier, giving ad-supported users more freedom to use the platform.

According to the company’s September 15 announcement, listeners can now “pick and play any song you want,” search tracks instantly, and play songs shared by friends.

Free users also get access to daylist, custom playlist covers, real-time lyrics, and personalised playlists that update as they listen.

This means, for the first time ever, free users can manually play songs from playlists and albums instead of being stuck on shuffle mode.

In an interview with Music Business Worldwide, Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify’s VP of Markets and Subscriptions, said “having both free and premium is the cornerstone of Spotify’s strategy” and added that the company “felt it was time to give Free a glow-up.”

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He explained the update responds to younger listeners’ expectations: “When you look at Gen Z and teenagers… they really felt like the old Spotify free experience on mobile was almost broken, in the sense that they tried to tap on things and it didn’t work.”

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Gyllenhammar confirmed the changes were made with music rightsholders on board: “We obviously have alignment with our industry partners on this feature,” continuing: “It is very important for us, as well as for our industry partners, to continue to drive increased monetisation for the music industry.”

Premium still offers ad-free playback, offline listening, and lossless audio, but Spotify’s free tier now delivers a more flexible listening experience.

Via Spotify Newsroom & Music Business Worldwide

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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