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Revolut card for subscriptions

Revolut card for subscriptions

Dear Sportify, it's about time you remove the geolocation blocking that is affecting Revolut card owners. Banking business is changing rapidly and with players like N26, Revolut and others it is inevitable that in very short time citizens of European Economic Area will be able to use bank of their choice in any EEA country to make payments for any services independently of their country of origin.

 

I am using my Revolut card for all the online service subscriptions (Netflix, Google Play etc.) without any problems and only Spotify does not accept the Revolut card as a payment method for their membership. Infact I actually incline to think that under new EU regulations it is illegal practice as the EU rules clearly state that all offers must be accessible for consumers from other EU countries.

 

I very welcome Spotify to comment on their compliance with the new EU Regulation (EU) 2018/302 on unjustified geo-blocking and discrimination based on nationality, place of residence or place of establishment.

 

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5 Replies

Hey @Mushin2,


Thanks for coming to the Community.

 

Spotify wants to have all the world’s music and podcasts on their service, but availability can vary over time and between countries for many types of reasons depending on the permissions from rights holders.

 

Spotify looks at the country in which the payment method has been issued. This allows them to only show the music that's available in the respective country and not get into any issues with rights holders.

 

You can always use a different payment method that's been issued in the country you're in, in order to successfully upgrade to Premium. You can learn more about payment method availability here.

 

Thanks 🙂

MaximSpotify Star
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Thanks @Maxim but the problem is that I do not want to use any other payment method (though of course I am forced to use one now). I want to use Revolut card for all of my online subscriptions and I don't understand why I am not allowed to do it. I don't understand what does issuing country of my payment method has to do with my physical location and therefore the content I may be or may not be allowed to listen to?

 

I understand that Spotify is bound to copyright agreements and availability of content may be subject to different rules set by copyright material authors for different markets. However with the rise of the cloud services and online streaming it is already self-evident that your physicial location has nothing to do with your birth place, citizenship and definately not by issuing country of your payment method. Right now just as I sit here I could be Norwegian citizen living in Spain and have legally registered and operating limited liability corporation in Estonia (with never stepping my foot on Estonian soil) with my company account open in the UK bank. How can this be legally possible at the same time when Spotify refuses to allow me to pay for my Premium subscription with a card issued in different country?

Hey @Mushin2,

 

Spotify has agreements with various licence holders which have to be followed. Users need to use a payment method from the country they reside in, so Spotify knows which content they are allowed to provide.

 

Spotify would prefer if they could provide all content to all the users around the world, but unfortunately, it's complicated because laws and music rights vary per country. That's why Spotify needs to verify from where their users are.

MaximSpotify Star
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The question never was wether Spotify needs to verify from where their users are. This is a no-brainer. The question was – why does Spotify assumes that using payment method issuing country is the "correct" way to know where their user is located?

 

Netflix, for example, uses IP address based geo-location.

So does Google, Deezer and numerous other service providers.

Spotify has quite an options here – real-time IP address geo-location, IP address geo-location at the registration moment, the country listed in user settings, payment method issuing country and combinations of those.

 

Why did Spotify chose to use the one that discriminates their users and not allows them to use modern payment methods?

Hey there @Mushin2,

 

Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community! 

 

You can pay for Spotify in lots of ways. However, keep in mind that the country of your payment method must match the one in your Spotify profile, so we can verify your location. You can always check the methods available in your location by following the steps here.

 

If the option for Revolut isn't available in your country currently, we'd recommend heading here to add your feedback and +Vote

 

If you'd like more information on how the Ideas Exchange works, make sure to head here.

 

Have a nice day!

KaterinaModerator
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