Spotify confirms QR code checks for Family plan sharing
Spotify co-CEO Alex Norström confirmed on this week's earnings call that the company is using QR code verification to catch Family plan users who do not live together, calling it a routine improvement rather than a crackdown.
Responding to a question about the crackdown, Norström said, according to The Verge, which cited TechCrunch: 'This is not as much a crackdown as it is actually a routine improvement of our verification methods for our Family Plan.' He said Family Plan has existed for close to 12 or 13 years in Spotify's history and makes up a significant proportion of its subscriber base.
Norström said Spotify needs to keep improving verification methods over time because people find holes around them. 'This is not something that has an end date,' he said, according to the report. 'This is not an implementation that is going to complete. This is just ongoing routine.'
Spotify says Family plans are only for people living in the same household. The company has tried to limit Family plan sharing before. The new QR code refreshes every few seconds, and anyone who misses the seven-day window to scan it is banned from joining a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months, The Verge reported. The checks have forced some users to get creative to stay on shared Premium subscriptions, the report said.