Duo with a significant other I don't live with?

[silksf]

I'd like to introduce my partner to spotify but duo is for those who have moved in together only. Is there any reason for this? i.e. Are there any other options for having multiple accounts for a family that aren't under one roof?

If not, how do I gift her a years sub or something? 

[Maxim · Accepted solution]

Hey @silksf,

Thanks for coming to the Community.

While I can't share any exact reasons for this policy, it's mainly to prevent abuse.

Right now, there are unfortunately no plans like Duo/Family for people who don't live at the same address. They would have to subscribe to Premium individually.

Depending on the country/region you're in, you might be able to purchase a Gift Card for the person in a store near you or online (e.g. PayPal, Amazon).

Hope this helps 🙂

[silksf]

The abuse being... more people pay £5 extra for duo to share with their friends/partners rather than not doing that? 

I didn't want to buy a physical card, rather give her a birthday present of a playlist which included a subscription I'd paid for (which would be easy with duo). What an honestly shocking revelation that this isn't possible. Can you say lost revenue potential?

[Vasil]

Hey @silksf,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

One thing you could try is creating a collaborative playlist. You can fill it with songs and then add your partner as a collaborator.
If you wish to get her a subscription as well, this will have to be an Individual subscription though. 
As @Maxim has stated, the Duo and Family plans require you to live under the same roof for the verification process to work 🙂

Hope  this helps!

[alphie1998]

what if I live with them half the time? I stay somewhere else when I am away during the week while I work. it just would be easier if we had one though

[DaddyThickShake]

It's confusing that you say "to prevent abuse" - what would be an example of how someone could abuse an account if the two people involved lived separately vs. together? I'd like my best friend to have premium access and I'd be happy to upgrade to a duo account to make that happen, but I cannot afford paying for two premium individual accounts. The only abuse I can imagine would be if subscribers shared their login information with others - and I'm sure the Spotify system is programmed to recognize if there are too many logins going on simultaneously from too many locations. The system would be able to detect this whether the two people in a duo account lived together or not (like there being three sign ins/locations overlapping). It just seems to be a lose/lose policy. I'm sure many people would enjoy a duo account with a friend, a partner they don't live with, a parent or other family member, etc. And it's a loss for potential Spotify revenue because I'm sure very few people are willing to pay for two individual subscriptions. I strongly recommend Spotify reconsider doing away with the "must live together" requirement (and I'd suggest the same for the Family plan). 

Respectfully,

Gary Jaffe aka DaddyThickShake

[Malonge12]

My son and I share the same taste in music and we had Spotify Duo when we lived together approx 3 yrs ago and we enjoyed it. However he moved 2 hrs away due to a divorce and I hated to cancel my subscription back then over this very reason. Now that he’s older and driving i wanted to give him Spotify so he didn’t have to spend his part-time money on it. Came here hoping to come back to Spotify with this issue non-existent. Oh well. It’s odd that an entity as large as Spotify has such drastic measures over something that the public views as trivial. The “abuse” part is highly questionable in my opinion. I’m not aware of even how an “abuse” can even happen when it comes to music.  Is it simply a matter of it costs less to send one signal instead of 2 or more signals to the devices? Seems like you could charge a fee and allow people the freedom to add who they want wherever they want. A lot of online sources do that. Call it “Duo-Distant Family Plan” or (my fav) the “Duo-Love-ya-but-I-can’t-live-with-ya-so-here’s-some-music Family Plan”. Don’t worry the public will figure out what to really call it …   like they do everything else. 
We hate Apple Music but they’ve been getting us by since 2022. Wonder what other ones are available that have family plans that don’t care where each person lives? 

Geoff Malone