- Spotify rolls out video control to users globally
- It’s rolling out to family plan administrators first before expanding to other tiers this month
- It allows users to maintain an audio-first experience, and users are already enjoying it
Are Spotify’s visuals getting in the way of your music experience? Fortunately, the company is rolling out new video controls, and users are already liking what they’re seeing.
The music streaming giant announced on its newsroom yesterday (April 9) that it has started its global rollout of video controls, allowing you to tailor your in-app experience to remain audio-first. Spotify’s video controls will first be available to family plan administrators, who can now enable and disable video content for all members. Previously, account managers could only do this for Family Plan-managed accounts for users under 13.
Spotify also revealed that Premium and Basic subscribers across Individual, Duo, Family or Student plans, as well as free users, will have control over what video content appears on their Spotify account, which will roll out globally this month. I’m on the Premium Individual plan and the video controls aren’t there for me yet, so there’s still some time before the wider rollout. That said, if you’re on the family plan and want to change your video settings, it’s very easy to do.
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Just go to Settings in the Spotify app on mobile, desktop, web or TV and find ‘Content & Display’. From there, you’ll see toggles that allow you to turn off video components, including music videos and Canvas. There’s also the ‘All Other Videos’ option, which includes video podcasts, vertically scrolling videos, and videos from creators and writers.
Spotify’s visuals can be quite boring, especially if you want to switch from audio streaming to music video viewing, the transitions between the two can be quite boring – at least that’s how I find it. So having the freedom to disable certain types of video content is something I’ll welcome with open arms, and I’m not the only music fanatic who thinks this.
Puts sound-first experience first
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Spotify’s music video ecosystem is nothing compared to what YouTube has to offer, which runs smoother, playlist mixes are better, and when you’re streaming with a YouTube Premium subscription, it’s like MTV never came back. Also, YouTube is my platform of choice for music video content simply because it’s been a part of my life much longer than Spotify has.
Although the new Spotify video controls are currently available to family plan administrators, this upgrade has caught the attention of fellow Premium subscribers for all the right reasons, who have shared their excitement about the wider rollout on Reddit: “This is amazing,” one user shared.
In the same comment, the user also draws on something I have never thought of until now. When it comes to viewing music videos in the Spotify app, you have to tap the ‘Switch to Video’ button every time a new song plays because it reverts to audio. Currently, there is no option to enable autoplay for music videos, which in retrospect would be a valuable addition to Spotify’s video controls.
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