Has anyone else heard about Spotify rolling out these new age verification checks for UK users? I just saw the news and honestly I’m pretty annoyed about it. Apparently they’re making people verify their age now, which seems like a big hassle.
I’ve been paying for Spotify Premium for years and now they want me to jump through more hoops just to enjoy music. From what I’ve read online, the whole process seems pretty complicated.
A lot of people in the comments are already mentioning going back to torrenting and other ways to access music for free. I haven’t resorted to that in about a decade, but I can start to see why they’re upset.
Does anyone know what this age check actually involves? Is it just for certain kinds of content or for everything? And are other streaming services adopting similar policies? I’m thinking about switching to Apple Music or another service instead of dealing with this situation.
The age verification comes from the UK’s new Online Safety Act. I did it last week - took maybe 5 minutes with photo ID or credit card verification. Not nearly as complicated as the media claims. What bugs me is this sets a precedent. YouTube’s already doing similar checks for some content, and I bet other platforms will copy them to avoid regulatory headaches. The government’s clearly pushing for tighter age controls everywhere online. As for torrenting, it’s nothing like it was 10 years ago. Most sites are monitored, ISPs throttle P2P traffic, and you’re more likely to hit malware or copyright strikes than find decent music. Premium streaming’s still better value when you consider convenience and sound quality.
I switched to Apple Music after hitting the same verification BS on another platform last year. Way smoother transition than I expected - their family sharing beats Spotify’s, and the student discount doesn’t make you reverify every year. Music library’s about the same, though I do miss Spotify’s Discover Weekly. What sealed it for me was Apple Music hasn’t gone crazy with age verification yet, probably since iOS already has solid parental controls. Pro tip: use something like Soundiiz to export your playlists first. I lost years of curated music when I switched platforms before and didn’t back them up.
Been through this when they rolled it out for other services. Yeah, it’s annoying at first, but I used my license and was done in under three minutes. Really comes down to whether you want to throw away years of algorithm training and playlists over a quick verification. My Spotify knows my taste better than I do - rebuilding that somewhere else would take months. Torrents sound tempting when you’re pissed off, but these discovery algorithms actually work better than manually hunting for music like we used to. If you’re set on switching, at least try the verification first. Might save you the whole migration mess.
Honestly, torrenting feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Yeah, age verification sucks, but you’ll lose all your playlists and discovery features, plus risk malware. That’s way more hassle than a 5-minute verification. Try complaining to Spotify support first before ditching the service completely.
I get the frustration. These verification steps totally kill the user experience.
But instead of going back to torrenting or hopping between services (which’ll probably pull the same crap eventually), just automate around it.
I’ve built workflows that handle all my subscription stuff automatically. When a service adds verification steps or changes how things work, my automation adapts and keeps running.
You can set up monitoring for policy changes, auto-test alternative services, and switch payment flows between platforms based on which gives you the least headaches.
No more manually filling out age verification forms or hunting for new services every time companies change things. Set it once, let automation handle the annoying stuff.
Latenode makes building these workflows dead simple. Check it out: https://latenode.com
Same here - verification issues are everywhere now, not just Spotify. Every platform’s adding these annoying hoops to jump through.
I built a monitoring system that handles all my streaming accounts automatically. When verification stuff changes, it walks me through each step. No more getting blindsided.
I also track pricing, features, and policy changes across Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc. When one service gets too annoying, I’ve already got alternatives mapped out with my preferences.
Playlist migration? Automated that too. Won’t lose years of curated music switching platforms anymore.
Skip the torrenting and manual subscription juggling - just automate it all. Latenode handles this service management perfectly: https://latenode.com