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Spotify's New Family Plan Is Cheaper, $14.99 For Up To 6 people (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Spotify on Monday announced some changes to its family plan subscriptions, allowing them to use Spotify Premium for $14.99 per month and get six different Spotify accounts and profiles. This is the exact same deal as the one you can get on Apple Music today. Spotify is just making sure you're not going to move your entire family over to Apple Music for pricing reasons. The company introduced family plans back in 2014. At the time, it was one of the first subscription services with family plans. You could get 50 percent off extra Spotify accounts. So it would cost you $14.99 for two accounts, $19.99 for three accounts, $19.99 for four accounts, etc. For big families with at least three accounts, the new Spotify family plan is cheaper. For singles and couples, it's the same price.

67 comments

  1. Greay Plan! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is the deductible?
    And does this include Vision and Dental?

  2. What is Spotify? Help a brother out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about a quick summary of what the damn thing is?

    1. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by kav2k · · Score: 4, Informative

      You pay a monthly fee for technically not pirating music (while the artists only get fractions of a cent), as long as you're paying and the country you're in is blessed by licensing agreements.

      If you don't pay, you can't cache music for offline use and it inserts ads (but still can listen to it).

    2. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The current largest streaming music service available. Aside from Youtube I suppose. Apple music was created as a competitor.

    3. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Renting music, and buying a good conscience while not giving a cent to artists.

    4. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Since all the artists only get fractions of a cent, why not send them a few Dogecoins instead?

    5. Re: What is Spotify? Help a brother out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should point out the ads are kind of irritating... almost every song, or every second song.
      Thankfully its a web-based player for desktop, and uBlock Origin will take care of the ads for you and you can keep your money.
      $10/mo for the regular plan just isn't worth it to me. If it were like $4 then i'd consider it not using uBlock and actually paying for it.

    6. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes and while you're at it why not send Zoidberg a few as well...

    7. Re:What is Spotify? Help a brother out by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

      So, just like buying CD's except you don't get to keep it in the end.

  3. If it ain't free it ain't worth a damn. by EzInKy · · Score: 1, Troll

    Crazy how others want to profit from other people's thoughts, isn't it?

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    1. Re:If it ain't free it ain't worth a damn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crazy how others want to profit from other people's thoughts, isn't it?

      Free is exactly what this generation demands.

      The only problem with that is the rest of the world isn't devoted to the idea of selling their privacy soul in exchange for a fucking free app.

      You get what you pay for? Damn right you do.

    2. Re:If it ain't free it ain't worth a damn. by jitterman · · Score: 1

      Well, thieves get what other people pay for.

      --
      For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
  4. Group savings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could a group of six non-family people band together and use this to obtain a cheaper per-person price?

    1. Re:Group savings? by garaged · · Score: 1

      the main account (the one paying) has some control over the others, so, it can be done, but you depend on trust, that's why it is called "family plan".

      --
      I'm positive, don't belive me look at my karma
    2. Re:Group savings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you can.

      The accounts are separate, but the master account can add/drop people at will, but they cannot see anything other than your registered email address and account name. It's a pretty good deal.

  5. I'm sorry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is this actually news, or is it just a fucking ad?

    1. Re:I'm sorry... by ripvlan · · Score: 1

      Just a #$& ad.

  6. welcome to 1993 by nimbius · · Score: 1

    family plans? seriously? let me break this down as a dad how it works...
    My Wife: uses itunes nearly exclusively since it interfaces with her nano which she needs for the gym. if she gets something for $holiday its usually through amazon.
    me: Perfectly happy with whatever audible frequencies are coming out of mpd and ncmpc. icecast is good enough for me because back in my day we whipped the llamas ass and we liked it.
    Kids: youtube, youtube-dl, and sharing mp3s at will during school or while hanging out. otherwise pandora, or some freemium service that caters to obscure genres like glitch-core or butter-pickle-hop or whatever squeeling fan belt noises kids listen to these days.
    my parents: Vinyl and tape...mostly tape.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:welcome to 1993 by garcia · · Score: 2

      I think you meant: Welcome to Slashdot

      You're complaining about this? Seriously? If you have alternatives to this, by all means, employ them; it's great that you choose to do so (something we all fully support), but the vast majority of people like having easy options to use, even if they're subscription based.

    2. Re:welcome to 1993 by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Kids: youtube, youtube-dl, and sharing mp3s at will during school or while hanging out. otherwise pandora, or some freemium service that caters to obscure genres like glitch-core or butter-pickle-hop or whatever squeeling fan belt noises kids listen to these days.

      No kidding. My daughter was recently telling me about the websites she listens to right now... it's mostly background music from games like Harvest Moon and Minecraft.

      Good luck keeping up with "the kids", Spotify, Apple, Pandora et. al.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:welcome to 1993 by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Kids: [...] obscure genres like glitch-core or butter-pickle-hop or whatever squeeling fan belt noises kids listen to these days.

      You owe me a coffee. And a new keyboard.

    4. Re:welcome to 1993 by enjar · · Score: 2

      As a fellow dad, this just saved me $10/month. I like being not tied to one platform only, or having a platform be so obviously be second fiddle -- "Apple Music runs on Android". We also avoid the hot abortion that is iTunes.

      Wife: has Android phone, a Kindle, a laptop for work and we have a shared desktop. Spotify has all her playlists on all those platforms.
      Me: I listen using the Spotify web interface at work, sync albums to the phone for driving so I don't burn through data plan. Whenever the corporate Linux distro catches up to something modern I can go back to the Linux native player.
      Kid 1, the tween: She has a Kindle and an iPod. Spotify works on both. Whatever tweens are listening to.
      Kid 2, the elementary schooler: She has a Beatles fixation. I can't complain, but she listens on her Kindle.

    5. Re:welcome to 1993 by enjar · · Score: 1

      The Minecraft soundtrack is on Spotify, FWIW

    6. Re:welcome to 1993 by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Glitch-core. I like that. Lemme fire up FL

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:welcome to 1993 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the point when we move to some country without internet access.

    8. Re:welcome to 1993 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Let's Play Rap Battle Cancer Remix, however, isn't.

    9. Re:welcome to 1993 by jbolden · · Score: 1

      They release game soundtracks. Have for years and almost all the services have them.

  7. Discrimination! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Single person here. Fuck family plans. That is all.

    1. Re:Discrimination! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Single person here too, and I share your hatred. But I do understand why society does it and if I ever get into the situation of getting a family myself (I'm not yet too old for this endeavour) then I'll want to benefit from this myself as well.

      Children do not work (child labour is forbidden in all civilized (aka expensive to build factories in; *trumpface*) parts of the world ) so the people who pay for them are under extra stress. Society is in constant need for children as humans still tend to die from all sorts of mostly natural deaths, so putting children into the world is considered something good, and the parents should be relieved from that extra stress they are under, as a kind of a thanks for their service to the society.

      Think of it this way: your parents got your personal benefits when they had to pay for only a family plan when you were a child.

    2. Re:Discrimination! by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Yes, you need to fuck if you plan on having a family. That is all.

  8. Worth noting... by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

    Family plans usually have a "one household" restriction in their terms and conditions, but here Spotify didn't put any requirements on where or who the...

    primary account holder and up to five (5) subsidiary accounts (“sub-accounts”)

    ...need to be.

    The conspiracy theorist in me says it was intentional, since Spotify and Apple Music know they could make way more money if they cut their subscription rates—and have repeatedly tried to do so—but the labels are adamant about a $10/mo minimum. This could be a clever end-run around their contractual obligations.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re:Worth noting... by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Labels are insane to ask for $10/mo for streaming music. I pay less than that to watch unlimited movies and TV shows with Netflix.

      I'd pay at most $5/mo for music, but there's so many free streaming options out there that it's not even worth looking for paid alternatives, no matter how good they are.

    2. Re:Worth noting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Labels are insane to ask for $10/mo for streaming music. I pay less than that to watch unlimited movies and TV shows with Netflix.

      But Netflix only gives you a very small percentage of movies and TV shows to stream. The music streaming services allow you to stream most music that's ever been released on a label aside from a few exceptions here and there.

      If anything, Netflix is the one that's overpriced.

    3. Re:Worth noting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The big web companies in control of the online media experience (Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Google, etc.) have simply too many incompatibilities when it comes to hardware.

      At this point I watch Netflix and Amazon Prime (since I've got the subscription anyway). I'd love to add a $5 Spotify or Google Play, but now I need to switch from the Amazon FireTV to Chromecast. Roku almost has most of the options I need, but not Amazon Prime Music.

      I've never owned an Apple product after my first IPAD was basically made obsolete (500 MB of Ram in 2012, seriously Apple) - within 2 years after I bought it brand new, the next OS update rendered it unusable. Of course, you will need their overpriced hardware for any of their services.

      At this point, I'm just losing interest in it all as it is more of a chore to constantly fiddle with HDMI inputs, apps on the phone that drain my battery spying on me every second, and constant upgrade churns that render previous working hardware obsolete.

      I'm not interested in spending hours on usenet or Pirate Bay looking for movies and music, anymore, either. There is more than enough entertainment out there that I'm content with just giving them all the finger and listening to my already huge music collection and streaming radio.

  9. People pay for music streaming?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why?!?

    1. Re:People pay for music streaming?? by enjar · · Score: 0

      Because spending (now) $3.75 a month means I can easily find the music I like and listen to it everywhere as well as syncing it to my phone.

      Compared to the $20 I used to spend on a CD that had two good songs, it's a bargain. Even at the old price it was a bargain. I've listened to more new artists than ever since I got Spotify as there are effectively zero barriers to entry for me to find new music and up and coming artists. This has also translated into much more regular concert attendance, as up and coming bands generally play smaller venues with ticket prices I can more easily afford. I can catch 3-4 small venue shows and actually feel some connection with the people on the stage versus spending $100+ a ticket and being so far away I might as well watch it on a screen.

    2. Re:People pay for music streaming?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These services do have a pretty convenient set of features - almost anything you want to listen to at your fingertips

      I think they are mostly paying for - 1. the peace of mind that they are being legal (lots of people don't want to break the law to listen to music) - 2. control to play exactly what they want instead of having a limited number of skips - 3. to be able to download what they want to their device at home instead of having to stream each song on the go over their data plan

    3. Re:People pay for music streaming?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because its cheaper than paying for the electricity to keep your computers on 24x7 as well as buying hard drives and SAN's and all the other nonsense you need to pirate stupid

    4. Re: People pay for music streaming?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wtf are you talking about? There's so many 'download mp3 from YouTube' sites you don't need to torrent, share, or run 24/7.

      Fucking shill.

      That being said, I subscribe to Sirius on promos.

    5. Re: People pay for music streaming?? by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      Because it's worth $10 a month for the convenience of not scouring the Internet for free music.

  10. And as an added bonus... by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    And as an added bonus, Spotify won't delete all your existing music during setup.

  11. Thanks for letting us know by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other important News for Nerds, CostCo has a great deal on dairy products and Jiffy Lube just mailed me a coupon for $15 off my next oil change (so watch your mailbox, everyone!).

    --
    "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    1. Re:Thanks for letting us know by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      In other important News for Nerds, CostCo has a great deal on dairy products

      I shop at Sam's you insensitive clod!

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  12. 'Cutting the cord', LOL by kheldan · · Score: 0

    How can you people claim you're 'cutting the cord' when you PAY for all these rediculous streaming services? Go back to owning your own music, not paying every month to listen to it, and turn on the nice, free, broadcast radio otherwise, and not use up your expensive, overpriced dataplans. Seriuously: Pay for a connection to the Internet, then pay someone for content, too, every month? Rediculous. You're just cutting one cord and getting TWO new ones.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Solely owning your own music / listening to broadcast/satellite radio is for people who mostly just listen to top 40. If you're someone who enjoys a broad range of genres and enjoys discovering new music, then the cost of buying every single album you ever want to listen to (including ones you're not sure you're going to like it yet) would be absolutely ridiculous and far more than $10/month.

      Even if you only listen to 10 new albums a month, if you were to buy the physical or digital copy of each one you'd be spending upwards of $100/month. That's $1200/year. Compared to just $120 with Spotify/Apple Music/Google Play Music.

    2. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by ripvlan · · Score: 1

      hmm... interesting thought. Although I've never heard Music Streaming services be referred to as Cord Cutting folks (just Cable TV) - you do bring up an interesting paradigm. If one cut the cord - wouldn't they be switching to plain old AM/FM radio? First time I ran into this was listening to my local radio station --- streamed over the internet. It made me think of building an in-home Wifi device with AM/FM radio on it.

      But I have cut the cord - I now stream HDTV in my house over Wifi to my devices and direct with my TV.

      The mailman hates the long hike up into the woods to deliver my Netflix DVDs.

    3. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by kheldan · · Score: 1

      I've been listening to the radio my entire life, regardless of tape, CDs, MP3s, internet radio (back when it was free) or streaming; I've even tried streaming, and found it lacking. Broadcast radio has never been perfect, but then again what is? Yes, you have to listen to commercials -- but commercials or no, you pay one way or another. You don't always get to hear exactly what you want to hear, but if you want that you have to pay anyway. The only way you don't have to pay is if you pirate. I'd rather own copies I can listen to whenver I want and never have to pay again, rather than pay monthly whether I listen or not, plus use up a dataplan (if mobile). What I'm seeing is that they're monetizing you one way or the other. I can switch stations via presets or just turn the volume down/mute the radio if there are commercials on broadcast FM. If I want to hear something specific then I'll play my own music.

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    4. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      then there's option b, something like spotify (ad supported, or premium -- doesn't matter.) + audacity, and just record whatever songs you like.

      boom! variety + economical.

    5. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by jbolden · · Score: 1

      I've been a Pandora user for years. I have a dozen custom radio stations. jbolden radio, filled with songs jbolden likes and the entire spectrum is organized around jbolden's various interests. I can't get anything remotely that good with broadcast.

      I'm thinking of switching to Spotify because Pandora isn't keeping up. As for the data plan the services run about 1m / minute. Data in bulk is running about $3-5/gig.

    6. Re:'Cutting the cord', LOL by ripvlan · · Score: 1

      My father listens to Canadian radio because the ads are in French. He finds that not being able to understand them makes the content more enjoyable - more background noise. :-)

  13. All you Apple Music haters... by rsborg · · Score: 1

    You gotta say, this is one of the good results of competition. Apple started with the $15/mo family plan, then Google added, now Spotify must compete.

    Of course, with pricing exactly the same one would wonder if it's the music industry who's actually setting the price...

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
  14. Re:Music Should Be Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just imagine, Deep Purple would be obscure and penniless if everyone knew the source code for Smoke On The Water. We cannot allow economical terrorism to run rampant with their tablature and g-clefs and their music theory.

  15. Slacker by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    I have the cheap Slacker plan at $5 /mo and while you can only have one stream active, you can cache to somewhere around 5 devices, as I recall, so everyone can listen to a cached station simultaneously without any additional fee. I've not directly compared to Spotify, which I read has a larger library, but I've been pleased enough with it.

  16. That's *too* cheap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been using Spotify almost since the beginning. All along I'd be happy to pay even twice as much, if the artists actually get a healthy chunk of that (big if, I know).

  17. You already pay for music... by aaronb1138 · · Score: 1

    Given how much goes to the hands of middlemen and just a pittance to the artists, I am happy obtaining the music I want through non-subscription means and alternate distribution channels.

    Seriously, I can't see how people would stomach paying more than $20-40 a year for unlimited, well curated music and music suggestions. The current Spotify and Pandora pay models are just stupid overpriced.

    Secondly, I already pay for most of the music. You know the products which the do the radio ads which pay for the music on the radio. We've all bought some of them. The margin on those products paid for the music, we've paid for it already.

    You know what music I do pay for and buy all the time? Albums from local artists I enjoy who aren't on AM/FM radio. Some are marginally obtainable on online services, but I rather pay $10-15 for a CD and know that $8-14 went straight to the band / artist.

    1. Re:You already pay for music... by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      Seriously, I can't see how people would stomach paying more than $20-40 a year for unlimited, well curated music and music suggestions. The current Spotify and Pandora pay models are just stupid overpriced.

      I pay it and it works for me. It makes it very easy to listen to whatever I want to without having to commit to buying the albums. If I had bought all of the albums that I have found on Spotify, I'd have spent more than the subscription fee. Plus, I've discovered whole music genres that I previously ignored. It's been great. I think of Spotify as the music version of Netflix.

    2. Re:You already pay for music... by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      And it would be all kinds of great and awesome, if they could actually be bothered to pay the artists more than an insulting pittance.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    3. Re:You already pay for music... by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you're right. But that's a problem throughout the industry isn't it?

    4. Re:You already pay for music... by jbolden · · Score: 1

      I doubt very much the artist is getting $8-14 on a $10-15 CD. Between the wholesaler and the seller the record company isn't getting nearly that much.

    5. Re:You already pay for music... by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it is.

      That's why I prefer to buy music through Bandcamp or similar deals, where more of the money goes directly to the artist.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    6. Re:You already pay for music... by aaronb1138 · · Score: 1

      I was speaking of buying CD directly from the artists, like when they do live shows, not people with a signed distributor / contract.

    7. Re:You already pay for music... by jbolden · · Score: 1

      Then in that case they are making money as the point of sale, distributor, some of the print shop money (organizing), often the artist, recording company.... The fact that they are also the artist is incidental. They are just cutting out most of the other players and doing the work themselves.

      Its not really apples to apples, those other parts still exist.

  18. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My family can save money with this. We have 3 cars with satellite radio and another music streaming account so this could help.

  19. family plan unfair ? by swell · · Score: 1

    Is it safe to assume that like restaurants, amusement parks and many other marketers, this family plan discriminates against single people? Singles typically pay ~60% of what a family of five would pay.

    Here's the math: Price for a family of five for a popular movie ~$22+ popcorn. Single person for a popular movie ~$14. Overhead cost to theater owner for five seats (popular movie) ~$5; cost for 1 seat ~$1. Profit to theater owner for family ~$17; profit for single person ~$13; profit for 5 single persons ~$65. When the movie isn't popular and the seats aren't full this equation does not apply but it's still a rip-off of single people. It's also not as profitable for the theater owner as more fairly priced tickets for single guests. Likewise most other venues.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
    1. Re:family plan unfair ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where in blazes can you see a movie with a family of 5 for $22... I don't know anywhere here in Australia where cinemas offer family tickets:
      - Single $18
      - Couple $36
      - Family of 5 (3 kids 14) : $78

      What you say does hold some water for the amusement parks etc.

    2. Re:family plan unfair ? by jbolden · · Score: 1

      Families consume less resources per person than singles. For example when I used to take my child to Disney regularly I'd spend 2 hrs sitting on a bench giving her a nap. You think I ever did something like that when I took a date or a friend to an amusement park as a single?