Spotify Now Scans Housemates In Person to Police Shared Music Plans

Spotify is checking where family and duo plan members actually live by requiring an in-person QR code scan on the plan manager's device. The policy appears in Spotify's support documentation, which confirms the change after Reddit users posted screenshots of the prompt.

Members who do not complete the address-verification scan within seven days lose premium access and land on the free tier. They are also barred from joining another duo or family plan for 12 months.

The enforcement follows an existing rule that everyone on a family plan shares an address. Spotify has historically left that condition loosely checked, and Goldman Sachs analysts estimated in an October 15 report titled "Music in the Air: 10 Years On" that "a meaningful share of family plan users are not actual household members, but rather friends sharing a plan to reduce costs."

The same Goldman Sachs report, made available by HITS Daily Double, stated: "We see additional monetization upside from tightening household verification on multi-user plans. Most family plans require members to reside at the same address, but enforcement has been minimal in practice."

Verification requests can reach households that already follow the rule. A college student living in a dorm or a spouse working on the road would need to scan the code in person within the seven-day window to stay on the plan.

Spotify's documentation outlines the seven-day deadline and the 12-month restriction on joining other shared plans.