VPNs for Spotify

Spotify expands their music library via a very complicated licensing scheme, which in turn prevents them from operating in certain markets. This means that you will experience difficulties accessing your Spotify account in certain locations including Africa (with the exception of South Africa), China, India, Pakistan, and Russia, among others. Check the full list of countries where Spotify is available.

You need to consider a number of factors when selecting a VPN for Spotify. Those features include bandwidth and internet speed, server locations, uptime, encryption options, log policy, and others. These are all factors we take into account when reviewing Spotify VPNs.

According to reports by CNBC, Spotify is planning to file for IPO now that it has close to 160 million active monthly users and 71 million paying subscribers (see below).

Source: Statista

It is possible that the company may be forced to adopt a simpler licensing policy if Spotify is to attract investors in order to go public.

Spotify operates under two classes of licenses: Sound Recording License agreements and Musical Composition License Agreements. Sound Recording License agreements pertain to the rights to a particular recording, while Musical Composition License Agreements govern relationships with the people who own the rights to the song.

Spotify also deals with three leading record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment Group, and Warner Music Group. Sony Music is an investor in Spotify with stock holdings of over 5%.

Relationships between independent labels and Spotify are governed by a deal with Music and Entertainment Rights Licensing Independent Network (Merlin) that covers the rights over digital recordings.

As we said before, this is a very complex licensing structure, so Spotify must make sure it complies with legislation in various jurisdictions and must secure perfect contractual and copyright relationships with a great variety of entities and individuals. This forces them to track the IP addresses of their free and paid users, mainly to ensure compliance with any local copyright laws.

Therefore, you should not be surprised if Spotify is detecting your physical location and IP address and prevents you from accessing your account. You can continue streaming your favorite music on Spotify by using one of the above-listed VPN services to mask your current server IP address.

VPN services are doing just that – they provide you with a different IP address to connect to online services and websites. However, you can use a VPN for more than just connecting to Spotify from around the world.

Other uses for a Spotify VPN

Contrary to popular belief, a virtual private network application is not only a tool to encrypt traffic or protect online privacy at home. You may need a VPN service in a variety of scenarios whether traveling abroad or at home or in the office.

For instance, system administrators at many companies block online streaming and content sites. While Spotify for its part is not a company that would install malicious code on company servers, your employer may be against streaming audio for reasons such as productivity, bandwidth usage, etc. In most cases, a VPN from our list of recommendations will make it possible to access Spotify

Anyone with basic technical skills can block an IP address, a range of IP addresses, or a specific URL using the settings of a corporate server. If it is not openly violating a company policy, you can certainly use a VPN to avoid such restrictions.

Using free VPNs for Spotify

You can use a free VPN server for accessing your Spotify account abroad or at work, but you have to bear in mind that free VPN use usually still comes at a price. Obviously, a free service assumes you won’t purchase a plan. What else can they sell to finance their operations? The answer is your private data and browsing history. A recent example with a popular VPN provider such as Hotspot Shield makes the case for free VPNs leaking user data even worse.

Researchers have found that an overwhelming number of free VPN services – and there are a lot of them – do not provide any service at all. Some of them may even promote themselves as tools to access an online service that is accessible for free and without any international restrictions.

Other VPN providers will offer you free VPN service, but it will come with certain restrictions. As we mentioned, you need unlimited bandwidth and the fastest speed possible to stream audio and video, especially if you do so on multiple devices simultaneously. This scenario is most likely in your home. Even the best free VPN cannot offer these kinds of appropriate speeds or bandwidths.

You can avoid all the hassle and insecurity of free VPNs by simply opting for a plan with a trusted VPN provider. Checking our list of top VPNs for Spotify reveals that you can get VPN service for as low as below $4 a month with a biannual plan, while the annual plans are averaging $5 to $6 a month.

Instead of risking it with a free VPN, we highly recommend you consider a paid VPN subscription that offers all the expected functionality and works well with Spotify. You’ll only really be able to get out the most of Spotify’s music streaming service with a paid VPN.

Spotify at a glance

Spotify can offer you a lot to warrant a VPN subscription that allows you to access the service anytime and from anywhere while using multiple devices. A few important facts about Spotify as of  January 1, 2018:

• Subscribers: 71 million
• Active users: 159 million
• Revenue paid to holders of rights: $9.8 billion (as at Dec 31, 2017)
• Number of songs: Over 35 million
• Number of playlists: Over 2 billion
• Available in: 65 countries

The company is valued at some $19 billion but has yet to make a profit after being founded by Daniel Ek in 2006. Since then, Spotify had acquired 12 other companies and completed two funding rounds, according to their CrunchBase profile.

They have two pricing tiers: a free plan and a paid plan. The only feature outside music streaming that a free plan has to offer is the shuffle play feature. The paid plan provides this functionality and also ad-free experience, unlimited skips, offline mode, a “play any track” function, and better audio quality.

Spotify’s monthly premium plans vary by country. For example, Spotify Premium costs CAD 9.99 a month in Canada, GBP 9.99 in the United Kingdom, $9.99 in the United States,  AUD 11.99 in Australia, and SVC 5.99 in El Salvador. Spotify also offers a family plan for US users at $14.99.

Conclusion

Spotify is not rushing with their expansion and is yet to enter the market in a good number of countries worldwide. They serve 65 markets internationally, so you have a good chance of visiting a country where Spotify is not currently available.

In order to access streaming music, you will need a VPN for Spotify in close to 130 countries and territories around the globe. With these figures in mind, check our list of the top VPNs for Spotify.