How Family Plans for Spotify, Google Play Music, and Apple Music Compared
All the major music streaming services now have family plans that allow you to share your subscription with others to save some money, but each is slightly different in how it works. Let’s see what exactly you get with each of them.
You might think that something as simple as a family plan for streaming music is self-explanatory, but it’s a little more complicated than that. The above diagram should make things easier, but let’s take a closer look at it:
- Spotify: For $ 14.99 a month, you get two premium accounts , and you can expand them to five people for an additional $ 5 a month per account (that’s $ 29.99 a month for five people). They’re also running a convoluted promo plan right now , which includes a family plan for just $ 9.99 a month for up to four family members. One person is an administrator and assigns accounts to other family members through their accounts page . Each family member has their own Spotify account and their listening habits are not shared. Technically, each member of the plan is expected to reside at the same physical address as the administrator.
- Google Play Music : For $ 14.99 a month, you and up to five family members get access to Google Play Music and YouTube Red. Each family member has their own account and their listening habits are not shared. A paid member will need to sign up for a family plan on the Google Play Music Android app , but members can use any app. They will need a Google account to use it.
- Apple Music: For $ 14.99 a month, you and up to five people can use the Apple Music plan. Everyone needs their own Apple ID to use it, but their listening habits are not shared. However, the plan works throughFamily Sharing , so you’ll also be sharing purchases on iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store. This means that everything will be tied to one credit card.
So, they are all very similar to your wallet, but there are a few quirks to consider before buying. Of all the services, Apple Music easily stands out as the most family-oriented of them all because it connects to everything in your iTunes account. Obviously, if you’re all already using the same service, this is probably the best approach, but if not, you’ll need to choose which one works best for everyone.