Spotify is rolling out a new way to verify family subscriptions. Now, members of the plan must confirm that they live at the same address as the account owner. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

To do this, the family subscription owner must open a QR code in the account settings. The other member needs to scan it with their phone's camera. Both people must be in the same place.

The code changes every few seconds. Therefore, it cannot be saved as a screenshot and sent to another person.

Spotify has already started requesting re-verification of the address from some users, according to reports. Most often, notifications are received by those whose location differs from that of other subscription members.

According to the service's support documentation, users have seven days after receiving the notification to confirm their address. If they fail to do so, Spotify will switch them to a free ad-supported tier.

In addition, for a year they will not be able to join another family or duo plan. However, they can still sign up for an individual paid subscription.

Some Reddit users are discussing ways to bypass the new check. They claim that multiple devices and video calls can be used to scan the QR code remotely. However, it is unknown how reliably this method works.

Some users are unhappy with the new rules. They note that family subscriptions are often used by relatives and friends who live separately. This allows them to share costs and save on music. Other subscribers say they are ready to switch to Apple Music or other services if Spotify starts mass-restricting access.

The company has already tried to combat subscription sharing. In 2018, Spotify conducted an experiment with geolocation verification, and in 2019 it updated its rules to provide for periodic location confirmation.

Users were also outraged then. They feared that they would have to disclose their location data in order to access music.

Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote that starting October 24, the music of the great Kazakh composer Akhmet Zhubanov will become available on all major streaming platforms. This is the first modern official recording of his works for violin and piano.