Tag: Spotify Premium

Spotify Premium for Students: Now with Hulu and SHOWTIME

August 29, 2018

With back to school season upon us, students are stocking up on all they need to thrive at school. Though they may have busy schedules and tight budgets, they still want to keep up with their favorite shows and music. That’s why today, we’re announcing an upgraded Spotify Premium for Students plan, and giving students unrivaled access to world-class content for one low price.

Our current Spotify Premium for Students plan offers unlimited and on-demand access to all of our music and podcasts for $4.99, as well as a subscription to Hulu’s streaming library of current and fan-favorite TV and movie hits. Today we’re adding SHOWTIME to the plan, to let students enjoy even more award-winning, top-rated programming – all at the same low price and with the simplicity of one single bill. How’s that for an A+?

With the addition to the Spotify Premium for Students plan, students will have unlimited access to thousands of hours of SHOWTIME’s premium entertainment content. The shows run the gamut from original TV series – including Emmy® nominated Shameless, seven-season strong Homeland, Sacha Baron-Cohen’s Who Is America, Lena Waithe’s much anticipated The Chi, the upcoming comedy series Kidding starring Jim Carrey, and the semi-autobiographical SMILF, as well as Billions, Ray Donovan, The Affair, and Twin Peaks.

SHOWTIME’s library also includes blockbuster movies such as Girl on the Train and Baby Driver, in addition to live telecasts, music, comedy and political shows and documentaries, and sports programming, including SHOWTIME Championship Boxing. Spotify Premium for Students subscribers with SHOWTIME will also have access to the live telecast of the network’s East and West Coast feeds, as well as commercial-free access to all their shows, whether they’re watching on-demand or downloading for later.

Student Premium subscribers can of course already enjoy Hulu’s library of acclaimed Original Series, includes Emmy® and Golden Globe Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale, The Looming Tower, Marvel’s Runaways and Castle Rock; as well as current-season television like This is Us and Rick & Morty, hit movies and exclusive library series, including Family Guy, Lost, ER and more.

Spotify Premium has just changed the content game for students. By joining forces with SHOWTIME and continuing our relationship with Hulu, Spotify Premium is now able to give students a complete world of music and video content, shows and film. This latest offer for U.S. students—both the millions already on Spotify Premium and those who are new—really is huge. Never before have students had this level of streaming entertainment options, at this unprecedented value, all in one package.

Alex Norström, Chief Premium Officer, Spotify

In order to sign up, students should go to spotify.com/student. The updated plan—which includes Spotify Premium, Hulu, and SHOWTIME—is still only $4.99 per month. You don’t have to be a math major to see how that one adds up.

Existing Spotify Premium for Students subscribers should upgrade their plan to include both Hulu and SHOWTIME at no additional cost. And because we know students have plenty of other things they want to spend their money on—textbooks, for example 😉 —we’re offering the service to new subscribers for just $0.99 for the first three months.

Like all good students, you probably have some questions about the nitty gritty. Now’s the time to study up.

1. Can I get this offer if I am not already a Spotify Premium for Students subscriber?

Absolutely. You can easily sign up for the Spotify Premium for Students Plan at spotify.com/student.

2. If I already have the Spotify Premium for Students with Hulu plan, how do I get Showtime?

You’ll have immediate access to SHOWTIME as a pre-existing Spotify Premium for Student user. Simply upgrade your account and activate SHOWTIME at www.spotify.com/student.

3. How do I know if I’m eligible?

All U.S. college students enrolled at Title IV accredited institutions are eligible to participate.

4. If I have SHOWTIME or Hulu already, can I pair them?

You will not be able to pair an existing SHOWTIME or Hulu account and your Spotify Premium for Students plan. To access SHOWTIME or Hulu through the Spotify Premium plan, cancel your current SHOWTIME or Hulu subscription and then sign up for Spotify Premium for Students.

5. Do I get one login/username for all three apps?

You will need to set up three separate accounts, one for each service.

6. What devices can I use?

No matter how, where, or when you stream, Spotify, SHOWTIME, and Hulu are available on their respective apps across all your devices—TV, tablet, phone, and computer.

Excited to go back to school? We are too.

How Your Daily Mix “Just Gets You”

May 18, 2018

Your music-listening experience should be exactly that—yours. We’ve come up with a bunch of ways to help you get the most out of your jam sessions (think Discover Weekly and enhanced playlists), so you’re fed the music you love, plus the occasional new tune.

Another cool tool is the Daily Mix, a feature both premium and free users can enjoy on the mobile and desktop experience. After you’ve been listening to your favorite hits on Spotify for some time, (in the new app for free users, it can be the very day you download,) the platform will serve up to six personalized playlists based on your favorite songs and related music you might enjoy. And these playlists update daily, so the head-bopping never stops.

We sat down with the minds behind Spotify’s Daily Mix playlists to learn a little more about how they work and how listeners can best use the feature.

Q: What is the Daily Mix? Where can users find it in their apps?

The Daily Mix is a set of up to six pre-mixed playlists inspired by our users’ favorite music. It can be found in “Your Library” on desktop or premium mobile, the radio tab on premium mobile, or on the home screen for users of the new free app experience.

Q: How did the Daily Mix come to be?

Daily Mix was designed to provide familiar, comfortable music within each of the user’s top listening modes. It’s designed to be the shortest path to a good musical experience. It reflects how the user actually listens, rather than matching their favorite music against predefined genres. We use clustering technology to identify distinct subgroupings within our users’ listening patterns, and then build recommendations around those, mixing in appropriate new suggestions along with the known favorites.

Q: How does the Daily Mix use listener preferences to deliver the mix? (AKA how does the playlist work from a tech standpoint?)

We consider inputs including listening history and active feedback, and look for groupings of a user’s most commonly listened to artists to create the Daily Mix. Once we’ve identified clusters of music, we extend each with recommendations using our understanding of the user’s favorite music, and then pick a balance of music they’ve played before and new content to fill out the playlist.

Q: There are multiple Daily Mix playlists served up each day. How is each one different, and how diverse can they get?

A: Each one is based on a different listening mode or grouping we identify in the user’s listening and feedback. There can be up to six, and they can be as widely diverse as the user’s history suggests. Someone who listens to a lot of different kinds of music will have more mixes than someone who primarily focuses on one style.

Q: Does the order of the Daily Mixes matter?

A: They’re ordered roughly based on how much of the user’s listening inspired each one.

Q: How is the Daily Mix different from the Discover Weekly playlist?

A: They’re intended to fulfill very different needs. Daily Mix emphasizes familiar and even favorite music with only a small amount of discovery. Even the discovery we do introduce should be less adventurous than Discover Weekly. The Daily Mix is also unbounded—for Premium users, it will load more songs as needed to keep the music going without stopping, while Discover Weekly always has 30 tracks.

Q: Can free users enjoy the Daily Mix playlist?

A: Yes! It’s available to all users who we know enough about to generate one. On the new experience for free users, it’s considered to be one of their 15 Spotify-curated playlists, so they are able to play any song on-demand.

Q: If users don’t like what is showing up in their Daily Mix, how can they adjust it?

A: The like/dislike icons allow users to steer the mix. “Disliking” will exclude the song or artist from all mixes from that point forward. Continuing to stream and listening to new music is the best way to get an entirely new mix.

Spotify and Hulu Expand Partnership

April 11, 2018

Spotify and Hulu Expand Partnership To Give Music and TV Fans All Of Their Favorites in One Premium Bundle for $12.99 Per Month

New Mass Market Subscription Plan – Spotify Premium, Now with Hulu – Launches Today

Music and TV are better together, and streaming your favorite music and TV shows just got a whole lot easier. Following last year’s successful launch of the Spotify Premium for Students, now with Hulu bundle, the brands are expanding their original partnership, this time to offer entertainment fans nationwide an affordable, all you can stream bundle of their own. The new subscription plan, Spotify Premium, now with Hulu, brings the two popular services together and allows subscribers to enjoy a world of ad-free music on Spotify Premium, as well as the more than 75,000 current and classic hit television shows and movies on Hulu’s ad-supported service – all through a single $12.99-a-month subscription plan. Beginning today, existing Spotify Premium subscribers not only have early access to the $12.99-a-month bundle, eligible subscribers can also take advantage of a 99-cent promotional offer to try the Hulu Limited Commercials plan for three months as an introduction to the bundle. Spotify Premium, now with Hulu will be available to everyone this summer.

Two Subscriptions, One Bill, One Low Price

Just like the college student bundle, the new subscription plan combines Hulu’s Limited Commercials streaming library – with more than twice the number of episodes available than any of the other streaming services – and Spotify’s popular Premium subscription plan, both on the same bill, and all in one convenient package. In addition to Hulu’s popular original series like The Handmaid’s Tale, The Looming Tower and Marvel’s Runaways, the new bundle gives Spotify subscribers access to Hulu’s enormous offering of thousands of hit TV series and movies, including The Good Doctor, this season’s #1 new drama; Roseanne, this season’s #1 new series; fan-favorite This is Us; Emmy® Award-winning comedy Atlanta; popular hits like Family Guy, The Voice and Power, and entire series runs of beloved shows like Lost, ER, Seinfeld, Full House, Family Matters and more.

“Based on the outstanding performance of the Spotify and Hulu student package, it’s clear that consumers love to combine their music and television experiences together,” said Tim Connolly, SVP, Head of Distribution and Partnerships at Hulu. “Hulu and Spotify are brands that are defining how fans connect with entertainment in the future, and we are excited to expand our partnership to bring this combined package to all existing and new Spotify Premium subscribers.”

“Our student launch with Hulu was incredibly well received and we are excited to extend our reach by bringing Hulu to more of our Premium members in the US,” said Alex Norstrom, Chief Premium Business Officer at Spotify. “Hulu’s TV content is highly acclaimed, and with this exclusive Spotify offer we are bundling two top media platforms for an unbeatable price. This is just one example of how we can add value to our premium members day after day.”

How to Watch, Listen and Stream

Existing Spotify Premium subscribers can take advantage of a special introductory offer by upgrading their existing Premium plan to Spotify Premium, now with Hulu. The offer grants an initial three-month Hulu subscription for the exclusive price of 99 cents before charging a monthly price of $12.99 for the bundle. Subscribers will gain access to Hulu’s growing on-demand library of award-winning original series.

Spotify and Hulu anticipate opening up the new bundle offer to those without a Spotify Premium account this summer.

Click here to learn more about the bundle, eligibility requirements and to sign-up.