Spotify expands free tier — biggest upgrade since 2018

Date: September 15–16, 2025

Spotify has announced a major update to its free tier — the first notable overhaul of its free offering since 2018. According to reporting, the changes aim to give non‑paying listeners more control and a modernized free experience while keeping certain limits in place to incentivize Premium subscriptions.

Key changes for free users

• Search and play specific songs on demand (no longer strictly shuffle-only in many cases)
• Create and customize playlists, including adding custom artwork
• Play songs shared via direct links
• Access to podcasts through the app

Limits remain: free users still face restrictions such as a limited number of skips and partial on-demand listening compared with Premium subscribers.

“Though this update provides more control to listeners on free, there is still a limit to on-demand skips. Only Spotify Premium users have complete control to play and skip music without restrictions.” — Spotify spokesperson

Why it matters

Spotify’s move is intended to modernize the free user experience, increase engagement, and help convert more listeners to paid plans. For many long-time free users, the ability to search and play specific songs is a significant quality-of-life improvement.

Sources: What Hi‑Fi (detailed coverage) — Read more

Originally reported via other outlets; this post consolidates reporting and removes direct RSS links.