Spotify now makes some Family plan members prove in person that they live together
Some Spotify Family members must now scan a QR code on the plan manager's phone, in the same place, within seven days. Those who fail drop to the free tier and cannot join another Family or Duo plan for a year.
Spotify has started asking some members of its Premium Family plans to prove that they live with the person who pays. Its support pages now describe a QR-code check: the plan manager opens a code in the mobile app, the member scans it with their own phone, and both have to be in the same place. The code changes every few seconds, so it cannot be photographed and sent on. Members have seven days after the notification.
Missing the check has a cost. A member who fails or runs out of time loses access to the plan, moves to Spotify’s free tier and cannot join another Family or Duo plan for 12 months. Music Business Worldwide reported the change after users posted the prompts on Reddit, and Ars Technica and heise followed on 23 October. heise reports that Spotify calls it a routine improvement to close loopholes.
The rule itself is old. Spotify’s terms have long required Family members to share an address, and members are asked for it when they join. What is new is enforcement in person. Ars Technica quotes a Goldman Sachs report of 15 October estimating that a meaningful share of family-plan users are friends rather than household members. The same test also catches families who live apart for part of the year, such as a student at university.
Spotify is a European company: founded in Stockholm, still controlled by its founders, and European users contract with Spotify AB. This site now lists music streaming, with Apple Music as the incumbent and two European services against it, Spotify and the French hi-res service Qobuz. Qobuz’s Family plan costs EUR 24.99 a month in France, against EUR 21.24 for Spotify’s and EUR 19.99 for Apple’s.
Deezer, the other large French service, is not listed. Its 2025 registration document says that its largest shareholder, Access Industries of New York, could be considered to control the company under French law, depending on attendance at shareholder meetings.