Do you remember Napster? As someone who always preferred cherry-picking favorite songs instead of listening to entire albums, I remember the joy of creating playlists of only the tracks I loved.
Of course, back then, that joy came with a catch — it was technically piracy.
Then came iTunes.
I was happy to pay 99 cents a track, ultimately spending hundreds of dollars building a music library that still sits somewhere in Apple’s ecosystem.
But when Spotify (SPOT) launched in the U.S., my kids nudged me to switch. They argued the user experience was better — and they were right. I upgraded to Spotify Premium years ago mainly to skip ads and play any song on demand.
Now, Spotify is making some of those Premium perks available to free users.
Spotify rolls out on-demand features for free listeners
Spotify announced that users with Free accounts will soon gain access to features that previously required a Premium subscription:
- Pick & Play: Choose and play specific tracks from playlists or albums instead of shuffle-only.
- Search & Play: Search for individual songs and play them instantly.
- Share & Play: Play tracks shared through social media or messaging apps directly in-app.
These updates are rolling out globally, but it’s not a total free-for-all: Free users will be limited to a daily allotment of “on-demand time,” after which listening reverts to the traditional shuffle model. Spotify has not disclosed how much daily time is included.
Spotify by the numbers
The addition of perks for listeners with Free accounts comes at a time when Spotify’s free tier is more important than ever for its growth strategy.
According to Spotify Investor Relations:
- Monthly Active Users (MAUs): 696 million globally (as of July 2025)
- Approximately 60% on the Free tier
- 276 million paying subscribers
- Revenue 2024: About $14.8 billion USD (€13.6 billion)
- Revenue Breakdown: Premium subscriptions make up about 88% of total, ads approximately 12%.
- Global Reach: Available in 184 markets
Related: The highest-paid artists on Spotify (& how much they’ve made)
Why Spotify is upgrading its Free tier
“We’ve heard the feedback about Spotify Free… what works, what doesn’t, what it could be. So now we’re giving it a real update for the first time since 2018,” Spotify CEO Daniel Elk revealed on X.
Spotify’s decision to loosen restrictions on Free users reflects both competitive pressure and monetization goals:
- More Ad Revenue: Longer listening sessions mean more ad impressions.
- Premium Conversions: Free users who enjoy on-demand play are more likely to upgrade.
- User Retention: Keeps Spotify competitive with Apple Music AAPL, Amazon Music AMZN, and YouTube Music GOOGL.
- Data Insights: Higher engagement provides more listening data, boosting ad targeting.
What Spotify’s Free-tier upgrade means for listeners
For Free listeners, the change is simple: They can now pick a song and play it directly. That flexibility makes Spotify’s Free tier feel much closer to Premium.
For paid subscribers, the value proposition remains: ad-free listening, offline playback, and higher audio quality are still exclusive to Premium.
Related: Amazon Prime users score unexpected break
Spotify’s move shows how competitive streaming has become. With more than 600 million global users — the majority with Free accounts — the company needs to maximize ad revenue while nudging listeners toward Premium.
The global rollout of these Free-tier improvements will test whether more freedom drives stronger engagement, more ad impressions, and higher conversion rates.
As rivals like Apple Music and YouTube Music look to differentiate themselves, Spotify is betting that a more generous Free tier will keep its lead in the streaming wars.
Related: Spotify adds new messaging feature, letting users slide into DMs
