Spotify Launches Feature That Gives Your Friends Control Over Your Playlist

Spotify has launched the beta version of its newest feature called Group Sessions, which will only work for Premium users, The Verge reports. 

Group Sessions allows a “host” to present a scannable code to as many “guests” with a Premium account, giving all users control over the ability to play, pause, skip, and select or add a specific song to the collective playlist. Any changes made to the group’s queue will be updated on everyone’s devices. The number of guests authorized on Group Sessions could change as the platform will “continue to evolve the experience over time based on user feedback.”  

This is a twist on the Collaborative playlist feature which lets someone share their own collection of songs with friends while also granting them the freedom to add, delete, and reorder the tracks.

The timing of the launch of Group Sessions suggests that Spotify could be trying to appeal to those who are stuck listening to music together during quarantine. However, this feature completely ignores the unspoken rule established by ride-sharing apps where the aux cord was available. Remember when we used to rely on things like Uber? 

The person who had ultimate control over the aux cord was bestowed the power to pick the songs that the other passengers would be forced to listen to. But of course, with great power comes great responsibility. The reception towards your selections could lead to praise or ridicule, and you simply lived with the results. Group Sessions eliminates that level of pressure, but creates a new set of problems now that all these guests have a hand in what songs get played.