Spotify has announced that it will be axing the ‘Open’ service that it has been running for some time now, instead replacing it with 6 months of unlimited music streaming for new users.
From now on, if you sign up to a new Spotify account, you’ll be given 6 months of ad-supported yet unlimited music listening. Before now, new users would receive a Spotify Open account which limited them to 10 hours of listening per month.
Though you will have to endure a sponsored advert after every 10 songs you play, this new deal is a much better offering than Spotify Open, and will encourage more users to use the service and potentially add a paid subscription once the trial ends.
After the free 6 months your listening will be restricted to 10 hours streaming per month with a limit of 5 listens per track. There is always the option to then subscribe to Spotify Unlimited for £5 per month, which gives you unlimited listening with absolutely zero adverts. We’re big advocates of Spotify Unlimited and Premium here at The Gadget Helpline, and wholeheartedly recommend it!
If you’ve signed up to a Spotify Open account within the last 6 months, Spotify says you’ll notice your 10 hour listening limit disappear. Once your account is 6 months old in total, the restrictions will come back into place again. If you’ve had an account for over 6 months already, unfortunately your restrictions will remain in place. No changes have been made to the paid Spotify models of Premium and Unlimited.
The news comes after Spotify announced it would be offering a free 6 month trial to all new users in America. Spotify launched stateside back in July and has since seen an impressive number of customers sign up to the paid options, but the company hopes that the free trial will bump the total number of users up a notch.
Spotify also announced that its music streaming service will be deeply integrated into Facebook, enabling users to show what they’re listening to via Facebook and share music and recommendations with others using the Social Network.
Will a 6 month trial without restrictions encourage you to sign up to Spotify? Let us know if this news has swayed your decision using the comments below.