Spotify now blocks your child's preferences from affecting your recommendations
What's the story
Spotify is piloting a new feature that allows parents to control their children's music preferences.
This initiative, currently being tested in Denmark, New Zealand, and Sweden, is designed for users under 13 years old.
It aims to prevent children's songs from influencing the algorithmic recommendations on a parent's Spotify profile.
The feature is only available to users subscribed to the Premium Family plan in these three countries.
Content management
Managed accounts offer enhanced control over content
The new feature introduces managed accounts that provide parents with enhanced control over the content accessible to their children.
This includes managing the playback of Canvas, videos, and explicit content within the app.
Additionally, parents can now decide whether a child can play certain artists or tracks using Spotify's new control feature.
Past efforts
Spotify's previous attempts to address child-friendly content
Prior to this initiative, Spotify had attempted to address the issue of child-friendly content in other ways.
The company launched a dedicated kids app and introduced a feature last year that allowed users to exclude specific playlists from their taste profile.
However, these measures were not sufficient in preventing children's songs from influencing the recommendations on a parent's profile.
Future expansion
Uncertainty surrounds feature's availability in US and other regions
As of now, there is no information on when this feature will be made available for the Family plan in the US, which costs $19.99 per month.
Despite this uncertainty, the introduction of managed accounts could potentially attract more subscribers to upgrade their plans and provide children with their own accounts.