Rumor: free variant Spotify gets more free music choice

According to rumors, non-paying users of Spotify will have more options to choose songs themselves in playlists. Now users in the free version are still dependent on the shuffle function, but this has to change.

The Verge reports this on the basis of multiple sources that have knowledge of the subject, but are not specified further. The new functionality would be called Jump, and it should give users of the free version of Spotify “on demand” more features. This includes more freedom to select songs in playlists.

With Jump, Spotify users without a paid subscription probably won’t get full freedom to select music. However, it is not clear from the information from The Verge how Spotify would like to shape this. Now Spotify users who don’t pay have to rely on the shuffle function.

Spotify will probably have to take the wishes of the record companies into account when introducing the new functionality. They are usually not willing to give non-paying users more freedom. The music streaming service hopes to launch Jump sometime in the next week, but this still depends on negotiations with the record companies, according to The Verge. Spotify declined to comment on The Verge’s coverage.