Although the video streaming scene is a populated affair with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and a slew of other options available, it’s a whole different space if we’re talking about music streaming. Spotify is the most popular music streaming service with over 280 million monthly users with the largest library of content, applaudable recommendations, and different features to keep its end-users all to itself.
The service not only offers listening to music for free but you can purchase premium plans to get an ad-free listening experience coupled with offline playback. Spotify has recently added yet another subscription plan called Spotify Duo, as an alternative to Spotify Premium and Premium Family plans.
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What is Spotify Duo and who’s it for
Spotify Duo is the music streaming service’s newest subscription that offers two Spotify Premium accounts under a single plan, including all the features of a regular Premium plan like ad-free, offline listening, and on-demand playback. The subscription is intended for two people living under the same roof; it could be a couple, two siblings, or even roommates living in the same address.
Spotify will first verify that both users live at the same address and once it does, users can use their Spotify accounts anywhere they want on any device, regardless of where they are at a particular time.
You do not need to share the other person’s login details as Spotify lets you sign in with their own account if they’re in a Spotify Duo plan. The subscription will also keep all the saved music, playlists and recommendations separately for both the users with the only difference being that the bill will be sent to the user who purchased Duo.
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What’s special about Spotify Duo
In addition to Spotify Premium features, Spotify Duo users will also get an automatically-generated Duo Mix playlist. Duo Mix will combine the music that you and your Duo plan partner listen to inside a single playlist so that they can discover audio they both enjoy.
Your Duo Mix playlist will be loaded with songs, genres, and artists you and your partner have played on your own and will get updated as you explore newer genres and artists.
Another good thing about Spotify Duo is that you’re essentially paying $12.99 per month, $2 more than the $9.99 per month subscription you’d pay for just one Premium account. With Duo, you will thus be saving $7.99 per month which is what you or your partner would be paying when buying another Premium plan. The $12.99 per month Duo plan is also cheaper than Spotify’s Family subscription which is intended for 6 people and costs $14.99 per month.
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How do I get Spotify Duo
Before signing up for Spotify Duo, you will need to make sure that you and your Duo partner are residing in the same location. You can then sign up for Spotify Duo by heading over to “https://www.spotify.com/us/duo/” and log in with an existing account or by creating a new one. From here, you can choose your payment method for purchasing Spotify Duo and complete the transaction.
After your payment is complete, redirect your partner to head over to the Spotify Duo Invite page, sign in to their account and enter the same address as yours when asked. To do that they can either use location services if they’re at home or let them enter the address manually.
Spotify Duo: Tips and tricks
Spotify Duo’s highlight feature is the Duo Mix playlist and here’s a bunch of tips you can follow to make the most of the latest Premium plan.
Join a Duo Mix playlist
Signing up for Spotify Duo doesn’t directly add your music to the Duo Mix. You will have to join Duo Mix to start generating a Duo Mix that compiles a list of your songs and your partner’s when they join as well. You can join Duo Mix by opening the Spotify Duo page on a browser or by tapping ‘More’ and then selecting ‘Join Duo Mix’.
If you’re new to Spotify, Duo Mix will need you to play a few songs, and only then it would suggest you relevant songs, possibly after around 2 weeks of listening.
Play Duo Mix playlist
You can play the Duo Mix playlist on your device by scrolling down to the ‘Made For You’ section and tapping on the Duo Mix playlist. You can also search for Duo Mix using the Search tab on Spotify or asking your smart speaker linked to your Spotify account to play Duo Mix.
Change moods for your Duo Mix playlist
Spotify offers two moods that you can switch between when using Duo Mix on mobile.
Switch to CHILL mood for tracks with laidback tempo and easy listening. Changing your Duo Mix mood to UPBEAT will increase the tempo of the playlist.
See which songs are yours
If your Duo Mix is showing songs from both you and your partner’s listening preferences, you can also see which of the songs that appear in the playlist is yours. Your profile picture will show up next to each song in the mix if it’s your preferences the song was generated from. Only you and your partner will be able to see this inside Duo Mix.
Remove explicit songs from Duo Mix
If you wish to keep your Duo Mix clean, you can remove explicit songs from your combined playlist. The option to remove explicit songs is only available on Spotify mobile app but the setting applies across all devices. To remove explicit songs from Duo Mix, open your Duo Mix playlist, tap on the 3-dots icon, and select ‘Remove your explicit songs’ from the options.
You should note that removing explicit songs from Duo Mix will only delete explicit songs based on your music taste. Your partner’s choice of explicit songs will still be visible on Duo Mix until they disable it on their own.
Listen to your Duo Mix offline
Since Duo Mix is dependent on frequent changes to both your and your partner’s music habits, the Duo Mix playlist cannot directly be downloaded for offline use. However, Spotify recommends that you create a new playlist in your account, add all the current Duo Mix songs to that playlist and then download that playlist to use it when you’re offline.
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