- Spotify is rolling out video controls for users around the world
- It will roll out first to family plan administrators before expanding to other levels this month.
- It allows users to maintain an audio-first experience and users are already enjoying it.
Do Spotify’s visuals interfere with your music listening experience? Fortunately, the company is launching new video controls and users already like what they see.
The music streaming giant announced in its newsroom yesterday (April 9) that it has begun the global rollout of video controls, allowing you to customize your in-app experience so that it remains an audio experience. Spotify video controls will first be available to family plan administrators, who can now enable and disable video content for all members. Previously, account administrators could only do this for accounts managed by the Family Plan for users under 13 years of age.
Spotify also revealed that Premium and Basic subscribers on Individual, Duo, Family or Student plans, as well as free users, will have control over the video content that appears in their Spotify account, which will roll out globally this month. I’m enrolled in the Premium Individual plan and video controls aren’t available to me yet, so there’s still some time before the broader rollout. That said, if you have the family plan and want to change your video settings, it’s very easy to do.
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Simply head to Settings in the Spotify app on mobile, desktop, web, or TV and search for “Content & Display.” From there, you’ll see options that allow you to disable video components, including music videos and Canvas. There’s also an “All Other Videos” option, which includes video podcasts, vertical scrolling videos, and videos from creators and authors.
Spotify’s visuals can be quite tedious, especially if you want to switch from streaming audio to watching music videos, then the transitions between the two can be quite strange, 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 fan who thinks this.
Putting the audio experience at the forefront
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 works better, the playlist mixes are better, and when you stream with a YouTube Premium subscription, it’s like MTV never left. Additionally, YouTube is my preferred platform for music video content simply because it has been a part of my life for much longer than Spotify.
Although Spotify’s new video controls are available to Family Plan admins for the moment, this update has caught the attention of other Premium subscribers for all the right reasons, who have shared their excitement about the broader rollout on Reddit: “This is great,” one user shared.
In the same comment, the user also resorts to something he had never thought about until now. When it comes to watching music videos on the Spotify app, you need to tap the “Switch to Video” button every time a new song plays because it switches back to audio. At the moment, there’s 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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