- 'Managed' accounts let parents create a Spotify experience for their child
- Once reserved for Premium Family accounts, it is now rolling out to all
- Managed accounts are music-only with no messages, but do get Wrapped
Fed up with waiting for your Wrapped roundup only to find KPop Demon Hunters is claiming the top spot again — and it most certainly would not be down to you?
Great news: Spotify is expanding its Managed account service (which the big green streaming machine launched around two years ago, within its paid-for Family subscriptions) to the Free, ad-supported service.
This gives young listeners a chance to have their own personalized Spotify experience (including their own Wrapped summary), but within what Spotify calls a "focused, music-only experience".
With Managed accounts (which must be set up by an adult 'Account manager', usually a parent or guardian), young listeners can create their own playlists and receive tailored recommendations for new music. Yes, our favorite Daylist feature, plus a Wrapped summary at the end of each year, are both onboard.
The company tells me that while 90% of parents using Spotify agree that listening to music on the platform is a good use of their children's time (versus only a third of parents when asked the same question about gaming), parents don't really want their Wrapped playlists influenced by their nine-year-old.
Spotify also reports that more than 70% of kids now listen to music every week, but that children asking their parents to play a favorite track (often a lot) can cause family friction — especially when children might be fighting for airtime with a sibling, or just completely ignoring what mom might want to listen to in the car.
Managed accounts on Spotify: what you need to know (and why they're Golden)
As the image above shows, the process for creating a Managed account is straightforward using the 'Add account' tab. As any parent in the UK knows, plans are well underway for a social media ban for under-16s, so this can only be seen as a wise and welcome move from Spotify.
The basics are this: as well as Spotify's filters for explicit lyrics or content, parents and guardians can manually filter out content, and manage playback for specific artists or tracks.
Video and Canvas looping visuals are also always off by default for managed accounts. During its initial rollout, Spotify says 60% of parents chose to keep video content switched off, which is why in this wider rollout — it is coming to 17 markets globally today — it's off by default.
Additionally, the default features of Managed accounts mean that they are automatically set to private and are unsearchable, with no profile photos (just avatars), and young listeners will not have access to messages.
Spotify tells me that Managed accounts are typically for children aged 7-12, who are not yet ready for a full account but who want to establish their identity and explore a love of music themselves, via their own managed account.
Again, Managed accounts are music only right now, i.e., no podcasts, video or audiobooks. But Spotify says the experience will evolve as the company continues to work closely with parents as well as Spotify's team of six external partners, including the Spotify Safety Advisory Council.
Does your child need their own phone? No, there’s a device switching option, which locks the account holder’s content with a PIN, so the holder of the Managed account can start to stream away with both the default and added controls and filters deployed.
And when your children grow up (it happens so fast!), what then? Once a child reaches the minimum age for their respective market, they can put in a 'request’ to the main account holder to be upgraded to a full account. Once the owner of a Managed account turns 18, that young person can change their own account to a regular one — so no playlist gets left behind.
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