Is there one person in your house who has asserted authoritarian rule over the communal Bluetooth speaker?
Well a Spotify Premium feature, currently in-testing, could soon break those vice-like grips over the tunes that has many people reaching for the noise-cancelling headphones.
Spotify Group Sessions will enable two or more Spotify Premium users to share playback control. This could be a good way for listeners under the same roof (or the same Wi-Fi network) to add songs to the playback queue, or simply skip songs they absolutely cannot abide by. Any changes will be reflected on the devices in real-time.
Spotify says the feature will be managed from the Spotify Connect button within the app, which enables users to choose which connected speaker(s) they’re sharing the music to. For Group Sessions, one user could send out an invite to others to join, via a scannable code.
Related: How to sync Spotify Playlists with friends
Of course, there’s risk of this feature being abused, much to the annoyance of other members of the household, but hopefully it’ll lead to a more democratic soundtrack to live. Spotify hasn’t announced when it plans to roll out the feature to all users of the service just yet, but told The Verge it will “continue to evolve the experience over time based on user feedback.”
The feature is a nice new perk for Spotify’s paying customers, who’ve seen their advantages eaten away at down the years as Spotify seeks to engage users of its Free plan and head off the threat of Apple Music.
Spotify already offers the ability to build collaborative playlists, while the Family Mix feature brings together a playlist featuring music from all members of the Premium family plan.
Do you think Group Sessions will start or stop more fights over who has control over the tunes? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
