“What’s the point of premium then”: Internet divided as Spotify unlocks On-Demand Playback for free listeners

Fresh off rolling out its Lossless streaming feature for premium subscribers, Spotify revealed that it's also upgrading its service for free users. Unfortunately, not everyone is pleased.

On Monday, Sept. 16, the music streaming giant announced that free-tier listeners can now play, search, and shuffle songs they want to hear. An update from Pop Base says:

"Spotify will now allow free users to search and instantly play any track they want. Prior to this update, non-paying users would have to shuffle through songs to reach the track they wanted to hear."

However, the reactions to the announcement are mixed. Over X (formerly Twitter), web users weighed in on the app's latest upgrade.

"What’s the point of premium then," one queried.

"n what about those of us who pay premium?" another wrote.

"this was the reason i haven’t used spotify omg they ate," an X user said.

"So what am I paying for.." one asked.

"Okay this is great we love Spotify for being kind during this economy," another quipped.

"loll I’m not renewing my Spotify subscription again then," an internet user commented.

"If everyone gets the same features for free, what’s the point of paying?" one posted.

"weird i thought everyone could do that? was that on some devices only?" another chimed in.

"For people asking 'what about premium users?'. Premium users can search for any song they want with just their mind," a fan jested.

Spotify clarifies: Streaming app's latest upgrade has "daily limit"

Spotify's new features are called “Search & Play,” “Pick & Play,” and “Share & Play," wherein free users can now play and search for the track they want. The latter is potentially a feature that may allow non-paying subscribers to share songs to Stories with sound.

The app, however, clarified that the new rollout will have restrictions. The company explained that free users will receive a set amount of "on-demand time" each day. Once they reach that limit, they will only have a few skips per hour.

The streaming giant didn't reveal the time limit.

Meanwhile, Spotify just launched its Lossless streaming feature and has begun rolling out to premium subscribers this month.

According to Gustav Gyllenhammar, VP of markets and subscriptions, the upgrade aims for "quality, ease of use, and clarity" for premium listeners.

“We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood. With Lossless, our premium users will now have an even better listening experience.”

The streaming service has AI Playlists and Mix features, both of which are also exclusive to premium subscribers.

In August, the app also introduced Messages, where users can chat with their friends, in keeping with Spotify's mission to become a more social app.

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