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Spotify is looking to shift the s on its free tier to Spotify with the new restrictions
Spotify is applying new restrictions on s who listen to music on the streaming service's free plan in India. The company has started to place limits on how s on the free plan can play tracks, including the ability to choose the order in which songs are played on the streaming platform. The move is part of the Swedish company's attempt to turn its large base in the company that is currently on the ad-ed free tier to paying subscribers.
As part of a recent update (Spotify subscription.
In addition to the limitations placed on the track order, Spotify will also prevent s from "scrubbing" tracks. This means that once a song has started to play, s won't be able to go back to a specific part of the track — or tap the back button to go to the start of the track. They will also need a subscription to play a song on repeat.
These new restrictions appear to have rolled out to s widely over the week, with s complaining about the change on X (formerly known as Twitter) and commenting on the company's Instagram posts. Gadgets 360 was able to confirm that the limitations have been enabled on Spotify for Android after updating to the latest version.
As per the Music Ally report, India is in Spotify's list of top 5 countries — with regard to monthly active s. While the percentage of Indian s who pay for a subscription is reportedly higher than other regions, the country is not one of the most profitable regions for Spotify.
In India, s can purchase automatically renewing Spotify plans starting at Rs. 119, or opt for prepaid plans instead that start at Rs. 129. The former is slightly more cost effective on a monthly basis, while the annual prepaid subscription offers a considerable discount — at Rs. 1,189 — compared to the free plan, which would cost Rs. 1,428. Spotify also offers smaller plans that start at Rs. 7 per day, called Spotify Mini — this plan limits the benefits of the subscription to the mobile apps.
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