Spotify to suspend accounts of users with ad blockers
Ad blocking is the bane of many online companies and services that rely on advertisements for generating revenue. Spotify is no exception. According to Techspot, the company has now updated its Terms of Service, stating that “circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating and distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service” can result in “immediate termination or suspension of your Spotify account.”
The music streaming platform offers both a premium ad-free service, which costs $9.99 a month, and a free one with advertisements. Last year, however, Spotify discovered that over 2 million free users were accessing the free version through third-party ad-blocking apps. It is likely that the current harsher stance on ad blocking was influenced by this discovery.
Previously, owners would be sent emails and warned that if they continued using the apps, their account might be terminated. They could also regain access if they returned to using the official app or upgraded to Premium. That will no longer be the case. Users' accounts will be permanently deleted without warning.
These harsh measures will be put in place despite the fact that 90% of Spotify's revenue is generated by Premium subscriptions. However, it is also understandable that new free users would be easier to convert to paying ones if there is no way to circumvent advertisements.
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The updated terms of service do not go into effect until March 1, 2019. If you continue using the music streaming service after that date, Spotify will presume you have accepted them.
What do you think about this change in Spotify's Terms of Service? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Techspot
good to know didn't even know about it but lucky for me i pay for it anyhow
I imagine that quite a few companies will be looking to see how the audience reacts to this. If it works I expect that more sites will start implementing similar terms.
Some people use cracked-moded Android APKs of Spotify to achieve an ads free experience without paying anything for streaming content for free. The company has been aware of the issue, but this is for the first time it has resorted to take such harsh steps. And personally never before have I seen a company undertaking such actions against its users.
Perhaps people will resort to other excellent alternatives like Fildo (not available - banned on Google play store, is a non intrusive ads supported app to stream and download music for free).
Thank you Maam for the article.