Spotify Takes Listening With Friends to Another Level with Jam

[MateusM]

Spotify is introducing a more fun, intuitive, and collaborative social listening experience with Jam. Whether you’re together or apart, joining a Jam with your loved ones is now simpler than ever by tapping phones, scanning a QR code, or sharing a link. Premium users can start or join a Jam, and anyone on Spotify - Free and Premium users - can join and add songs to the Jam.

With Jam, we're now taking a step forward with our social features by offering you a unique, new experience to listen together with friends.

Here's how to listen together, in real-time, using Jam

• Premium listeners everywhere can start a Jam right away on any non-private playlist or track, through the three-dot menu or from the speaker icon.
  
  
• You can join a Jam by tapping phones together if you're logged in on Spotify and your Bluetooth is turned on.

• Get personalized music suggestions bringing together you and your friends’ music tastes and add those crowd-pleasing songs to the Jam.

• Everyone in the Jam can play, pause, skip, change the volume, and add songs. 

• As the host you can turn off “Guest controls” so only you can change the volume and what’s playing. When all “Guest controls” are turned off, guests can only queue.
  

• Anyone invited can add songs to the queue and see who added which song.
  
  
• Joining via share link allows you to select the output device (Premium-only) and listen remotely.

How to use Spotify Jam?

• Ready for a party? Start a Jam straight in your playlist by accessing its menu in the three-dot, or on the speaker icon (Premium-only).

• Don't miss out on the fun  - Whether you are a Free or Premium user, you can join a Jam with your friends using a link, QR Code, playing on the same speaker, or tapping phones. 

• Have no idea which song to add to the queue? Get fresh music suggestions bringing together the music taste of everyone in the Jam.

FAQ 

How to start a Jam?

Premium users can start a Jam by accessing the playlist context menu, device picker, or connecting to a speaker. Users on the same WiFi will receive an invite to join your Jam once you open the Spotify app. You can disable this in the Device Picker. 

Which type of speakers are compatible? 
Any Bluetooth, AirPlay, or WiFi speakers such as Sonos, Bose, Google, or Amazon.

Can Free users start and share a Jam?

In order to start and share a Jam, an active Premium subscription is required.

Can I start a Jam in any playlist? 

Yes, however, you can start a Jam only on public playlists such as RapCaviar, Hot Country, Today's Top Hits, or your own playlists.

How to join a Jam?

Free & Premium users can join a Jam in person by playing on the same speaker as their friends, link, QR Code, or tapping phones (enable Bluetooth Permissions in App settings and turn Bluetooth on for this to work). Premium users can also join a Jam remotely by link.

I have an active Premium subscription and joined a Jam remotely, can I use my own device to listen to music?

Yes. If you join via link, you will get the option to either join on the host device or your own device.

How does this affect Group Sessions and Remote Group Sessions?

Jam combines the group session experiences you might have used in the Spotify app. You can use Jam to listen together, no matter if you are listening together or apart.

Which platforms is Spotify Jam supported?

Spotify Jam is available on iOS & Android.
 

To use Spotify Jam, what is the minimum version of Spotify required?

Spotify version 8.8.68+ 



Jam is now available globally for both Free and Premium users around the world. We hope that you enjoy this new immersive and enjoyable experience of listening together. 

Feedback

Do you have questions? Please, comment here. We are all ears for your feedback in this thread!

[Okiedokiedorkie]

Give us the option to fully DISABLE jams. I don’t want to start a jam because I connected to a Bluetooth speaker. I don’t want to start a jam in my CAR. 

I will NEVER use the feature, so give us an option to turn it off completely. 

In Apple CarPlay, it blocks a portion of the queue screen, EVEN WHEN I HAVE NOT STARTED A JAM. I like to be able to see the queue for a quick glance over to see what’s next and decide whether or not to skip ahead using the controls on my steering wheel. The user interface for the jams feature is not well designed. 

Not everyone wants this feature, so developers need to keep that in mind too. Just do a quick google search or dive into Reddit. There are multiple posts complaining about the feature. By all means, keep it, but the developers need to also allow people to fully disable and remove it from view when we DON’T want it.

I survived years without Spotify before, and I can do it again if features I won’t use keep being forced on consumers without an option to disable. 

[Okiedokiedorkie]

It’s absolutely horrid in CarPlay. If you enjoy it, great, but it’s being forced on everyone, even those of us that do NOT want it. 

[Okiedokiedorkie]

Give us the option to fully DISABLE jams. I don’t want to start a jam because I connected to a Bluetooth speaker. I don’t want to start a jam in my CAR. 

I will NEVER use the feature, so give us an option to turn it off completely. And while SOME people want jams (including in CarPlay), NOT everyone does. The fact that Spotify has added the feature without the ability to disable it, isn’t okay. Fantastic, someone else loves it. One person is NOT EVERYONE.

In Apple CarPlay, it blocks a portion of the queue screen, EVEN WHEN I HAVE NOT STARTED A JAM. I like to be able to see the queue for a quick glance over to see what’s next and decide whether or not to skip ahead using the controls on my steering wheel. The user interface for the jams feature is not well designed. 

Not everyone wants this feature, so developers need to keep that in mind too. Just do a quick google search or dive into Reddit. There are multiple posts complaining about the feature. By all means, keep it, but the developers need to also allow people to fully disable and remove it from view when we DON’T want it.

I survived years without Spotify before, and I can do it again if features I won’t use keep being forced on consumers without an option to disable.