Spotify is asking some Premium Family members to prove they live with their plan manager by scanning a QR code in person.
Members who fail the check, or who don’t complete it within seven days of being notified, will be barred from joining a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months, according to a Spotify support page outlining the process.
Spotify does not appear to have publicly announced the change beyond its support documentation.
In recent days, Family plan members have reported receiving the verification prompts according to a thread on the Reddit community r/truespotify.
Goldman Sachs said in its annual Music in the Air report, published on October 15, that music streaming services could capture more value from multi-user plans “by tightening the definition/eligibility of the family plan, without meaningfully impacting demand.”
Citing Netflix‘s crackdown on password-sharing, the bank wrote that music streaming services had “room to implement periodic address/location verification” on multi-user plans.
The report, whose lead author is Stephen Laszczyk, read: “We see additional monetization upside from tightening household verification on multi-user plans.
“Most family plans require members to reside at the same address, but enforcement has been minimal in practice. We estimate a meaningful share of family plan users are not actual household members, but rather friends sharing a plan to reduce costs.
“Given Netflix‘s efforts to crack down on password-sharing in video streaming, we believe music DSPs have comparable room to implement periodic address/location verification to convert non-household ‘family’ users into either individual subscribers or legitimately-composed family plans.”
Under Spotify‘s process, the plan manager opens a QR code in the Spotify app, which the plan member then scans with their own phone camera.
“Both the manager and member need to be in the same place to complete the scan,” the Spotify support page says.
The check can only be completed in Spotify‘s mobile app, and the page advises scanning the code “in person, as it changes every few seconds.”
If a member misses the seven-day window or can’t complete verification, Spotify‘s support page states: “They can’t join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months.”
The support page adds that such members can choose a different plan via Spotify‘s Premium page.
The QR code check sits alongside Spotify‘s existing address verification, which asks Family plan members to provide their full address when they join, when the plan manager changes address, or if the company can’t confirm their address.
Under those existing rules, a member who fails address verification “loses access to the plan and switches to the free version” of Spotify.
Those rules carry the same 12-month bar on joining any other Family or Duo plan, but add that such members “can join the same Family or Duo plan again” – a provision not repeated in the QR code section of Spotify‘s page. Nor does the QR code section say whether members who fail lose access to the plan they’re on.
In its address verification section, Spotify‘s page also says: “We don’t track your location. We only check your address to verify.”
Spotify‘s equivalent support page for its two-person Duo plan did not mention QR code verification when checked by MBW on October 21.
Several Reddit users posting about the prompts said they share a Family plan with relatives who live elsewhere.
“I have shared my Spotify Family Plan with my actual family for about 7 years now,” wrote one Reddit user.
“For the last 6 of them, I’ve lived nowhere close to them. Last night I got this message,” the user added.
Another user wrote: “In the same boat, I’ve got two brothers on mine that don’t even live in the same state as me.”
“Self sabotage by Spotify,” wrote a third Reddit user. “If I have to do this more than once for my kids that live at home I’m shutting it down.”
Some users in the r/truespotify thread said they had already found a way around the check by showing the plan manager’s QR code to members in other locations over a video call.
“My sister got that message two days ago. I video called her son and shared my screen pointing at my tablet with the changing QR code,” wrote one user.
“She was able to scan the code with her phone from her son’s screen. We only needed 4 devices for this ;)”
Spotify‘s US subscription terms for its Family and Duo plans already state that “the Primary Account Holder and any Sub-Account Holder must be family members residing at the same address.”
The same terms say that Spotify “may from time to time ask for re-verification of your home address in order to confirm that you are still meeting the eligibility criteria.” They also allow Family and Duo members to leave their plan and join another one “a maximum of once in every twelve month period.”
In 2018, Spotify tested a GPS-based location check for Family plan subscribers in four markets, including the US and Germany, according to Billboard. Spotify ended that test within a day of it being reported, amid user pushback over privacy.
Netflix‘s password-sharing crackdown reached the US in May 2023.
The company added 5.9 million subscribers in Q2 that year, against analyst expectations of 2.1 million, MBW reported at the time.
In Q2 2018, Spotify‘s Premium ARPU fell 12% YoY to €4.89, a decline the company attributed “principally to growth of the Family Plan and movements in foreign exchange rates.” Foreign exchange accounted for €0.30 of the €0.64 decline, and Family Plan growth for €0.21.
In the US, Spotify‘s Family plan costs USD $21.99 a month for up to six accounts, following a price increase announced in January.
Premium Individual costs $12.99 a month in the market, meaning six Individual subscriptions would cost $77.94.
Every account on a Family plan counts toward Spotify‘s reported Premium Subscriber total.
“Our Premium Subscribers include all registered accounts in our Family Plan and Duo Plan,” Spotify says in its Q2 2026 filing with the SEC.
The same SEC filing says Family and Duo plans “accounted for a significant portion of gross additions in Premium Subscribers” during the period.
According to the filing, Spotify‘s subscription music royalties are generally based on the greater of a percentage of revenue and a per-user amount.
Spotify adds that it has “negotiated lower per user amounts” for lower-priced plans, including its Family, Duo, and Student plans.
Spotify reached 300 million Premium Subscribers in Q2 2026 and reported Premium ARPU of €4.89 for the quarter, up 7% YoY – the same level it posted in Q2 2018.
Price increases added €0.49 to Premium ARPU in the quarter, while changes in “product and market mix” reduced it by €0.14 and currency movements by €0.02, according to the filing.
Spotify is due to publish its Q3 2026 results on Thursday (October 22).
In August, the company guided that its Premium Subscriber base would reach 305 million by the end of Q3.Music Business Worldwide
