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TechSpotify

Spotify Ends Controversial GPS Validation for Family Plan

By
Lisa Marie Segarra
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By
Lisa Marie Segarra
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September 29, 2018, 2:33 PM ET

After asking some Premium for Family customers in the United States and Germany to verify their address via GPS, Spotify has reportedly stopped using the verification method.

Spotify’s Premium for Family plan allows up six people living at the same address to use a single premium plan for $14.99, as opposed to its single person premium plan for $9.99. The method was criticized by some Spotify users, especially for its language as a “family” plan, despite not requiring any familial relation, as long as all users live at the same address and even though not all family members live together.

The GPS validation also raised privacy and data concerns and received pushback after users were told their service could be discontinued if they did not prove their location matched with other users.

Spotify told Quartz the test ended Friday, a day after reports on it first surfaced.

The new requirement was likely an effort to boost average revenue per user, which dropped 12% for the company this quarter compared to the same point last year.

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