Both Spotify and Google Play Music have made changes to their respective streaming services this week, and its good news for domestic harmony and subscribers with an ear for mood music.
If trying to share a single Spotify account between more than person is causing household tension, the company has announced a new family plan option that will save you both money and headaches.
Spotify Family will launch globally over the next few weeks, and allows up to five separate accounts to be covered and billed on a single subscription.
While all the services will be billed together, each Family member will have access to their own account, playlists and music. You’ll be able to use multiple accounts at one time as normal, and won’t have to suffer through the whole family’s favourite music being cached on all your devices.
A Spotify Family membership provides all the features of Spotify Premium to each user. Pricing in Australia is as follows:
- Two members: $17.99 per month
- Three members: $23.99 per month
- Four members: $29.99 per month
- Five members: $35.99 per month
Each additional member sees a saving of 50% on their membership, with premium Spotify service normally costing an individual $9.99 USD per month.
Google Play Music integrates Songza
After acquiring music streaming service Songza earlier in the year, Google is finally making use of the company by integrating its curated music station features into Google Play Music.
While you’ll still be able to use Google Play as normal, you’ll now also be able to select specialised music stations that cater to your mood, whatever activities you’re engaged in, or even what time of the week it is.
For example, if you’re headed to a workout, stuck in traffic or about to get lucky, select the corresponding activity from the Google Play app and you’ll be offered several stations to give you an appropriate soundtrack.
Each new station has been put together by Google’s ‘music experts’, including musicians and DJs, music critics and ethnomusicologists (!). Stations can be downloaded and saved so you can revisit the playlist when offline, and you can customise song order and selection.
In addition to adding the Songza playlist curation, Google has also revamped the Listen Now page for its Music app. The new look is designed to make it easier for users to find new tunes and stations, and access recently played songs and artists.
The shiny new Google Play Music app is available today for iOS and Android, and you can also access the service online. Songza integration is limited to US and Canadian subscribers for now, but the updated Listen Now page will be rolled out to users in all 45 countries where Google Play is available.
Image credit: David Hale Smith at Flickr
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