How to listen to Spotify with friends

Spotify allows you to listen to music with others via group sessions and listening parties. Through slick integration with the service’s mobile app and Discord, no matter the distance, you always have the option of sharing. Let’s go over how to listen to Spotify with friends.

Read more: How to find friends on Spotify and follow them

How do Spotify group sessions work?

With Spotify group sessions, users can listen to the same music in real-time. Everyone involved can control what plays, and leave whenever they feel like it.

It’s a really neat feature, but there are some important caveats. For one thing it’s limited to eight people, which is usually more than enough, but does put a kibosh on silent raves. More importantly, it’s limited to Spotify Premium subscribers — and only those listening from an Android or iOS device.

How do you start a group session on Spotify?

To get started:

• Start playing something in the Spotify mobile app. Tap the Spotify Connect button in the lower-left, which usually looks like a speaker sitting in front of a screen. However, if you’re already listening to something on a speaker, you may see another icon in its place (like Google Cast, pictured). If you don’t want session audio to be limited to that speaker, you’ll have to switch back to phone/tablet output.
• In the following popup, find an option at the bottom titled Start a remote group session. For speaker listening, make sure Multiple people can join and control this speaker is toggled on.
• Once you’ve started a session, tap Invite friends. You’ll be given various link-sharing methods depending on your platform, or the option to copy a link you can paste anywhere.

Ending a Spotify group session

To end a Spotify group session, press the Spotify Connect button again. At the bottom, you’ll see a section marked Remote group session, including icons for active listeners. Tap End session, then Confirm.

What is a Spotify listening party?

If you’re a Discord user and a Spotify Premium subscriber, you can host desktop listening parties with the Listen Along feature. These are similar to group sessions, but hosts are in complete control, and people can talk to each other via text chat (voice chat won’t work).

There’s no limit to the number of people who can listen, but it may not work properly for secondary (non-host) listeners with Spotify Free. Discord claims that Free listeners will get an error message, but Spotify says that Premium listeners will simply hear silence while Free ones get ads.

How does a Spotify listening party work?

First, make sure you have Spotify connected to Discord and open both desktop apps. On Discord, go to any channel where you can send messages — this includes private messages. In the field where you type text, you’ll see a gray plus icon.

Switch over to the Spotify app and start playing music.

Go back to your Discord app. The gray plus icon should now have a green play circle on it.

Click this button to open up a menu. The bottom option should read Invite [insert user or channel here] to Listen to Spotify.

Select this bottom option to start a listening party with a Listen Along Invite.

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