If you’re sharing your Spotify account with… well, anyone, you’ll know that it has a talent for throwing up some odd suggestions based on what the other person listens to. That tendency increases if the person you’re sharing that account with is still primary-school age. You don’t have to live in fear of an unexpected animated Disney medley in the middle of your thrash-metal-Thursday outing any more, though — Spotify Kids is here to help.
Fewer earworms
Spotify Kids launched in Ireland yesterday. The kid-centric (the clue’s in the name) service features 6,000 curated songs aimed at youngsters. Younger kids — the age groups that find movie soundtracks on repeat endlessly entertaining — will find themselves well-served in that lines, while there also an option to set up the app for ‘older’ younger kids. Then, instead of movie earworms and singalong entries, Spotify Kids will offer up the likes of Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and other pop artists. You know, safe music.
Spotify Kids can only be accessed through a Spotify Premium Family subscription… which isn’t ideal for South African listeners hoping to keep their playlists kid-free. And that’s because Premium Family has yet to launch in SA. In other countries, the service costs $14.99/€14.99 — or about R250pm. Those who set up the Kids version on the plan will sacrifice one of the six account options Premium Family provides to do so. That may be a small price to pay for freedom from the tyranny of seeing yet another Frozen track turn up unannounced.
We’ve reached out to Spotify SA to see when (or if) Spotify Kids will be available in South Africa. We’ll have an update once we know more.
UPDATE: At the moment there are no plans for Spotify Kids to be launched in SA, though the possibility hasn’t been thrown out altogether. Spotify Kids is a beta at present and its availability may extend to new regions in future. We’ll keep you posted.
Source: The Verge