Spotify has long held a leading position in the global music streaming market, but compared with its competitors, it has always lacked one important feature-music videos. This gap has been seen as a weakness for Spotify in the past few years, especially since YouTube Music and Apple Music have already made music videos standard. However, this situation began to change last year. Spotify first launched the music video function in some international markets and officially launched it in the United States at the end of last year, symbolizing a major expansion of the platform’s content format.
Spotify finally lets users turn off all video content on the platform
For many users, the addition of music videos is indeed an anticipated update, but Spotify’s approach also brings another problem: it does not provide the option to “turn off music videos” like other services. In other words, as long as the function is online, users will see video content in the playback interface and cannot choose whether to deactivate it. This is not an ideal design for users who prefer a pure music experience or want to save mobile data.
Now, Spotify is finally adjusting to this need. according to Reported by The Verge，Spotify announcedNew video control options will be launched globally, allowing all users to freely turn off all types of video content on the platform. This update will be available through the Content & Display page in Settings and will provide a more granular way to differentiate between different types of visual elements.
The new controls include two main switches: one dedicated to enabling or disabling music videos, and another that manages “all other videos,” such as creators’ short-form video content (in a TikTok-like format) and video podcasts. In addition, users can also find the option to close Canvas on the same page. Canvas is a short looping animation that Spotify adds to the playback screen. Although it is visually attractive, it is often criticized for distracting attention or increasing data usage. This decoupled design allows users to freely combine their preferences, such as turning off just the music video but keeping other video content, or completely disabling all visual elements.
It’s worth noting that Spotify used to only allow administrators of family plans to set content visibility for accounts for children under 13 years old. This update extends the same controls to all family plan members, allowing administrators to more fully manage the visual content of their family account. Since this feature is closely related to content security and usage preferences, Spotify also announced that it will be open to both paid and free users without restrictions based on subscription levels.
Spotify said that when users adjust their video preferences in settings, the changes will be applied to all platforms simultaneously, including mobile, TV, desktop applications and web versions. While the update has begun to be rolled out gradually, Spotify cautions that it may take days or even weeks for it to be fully effective globally. The official launch schedule for each region has not yet been officially announced, so the specific opening date for the United States or other markets cannot be confirmed.
Although the update gives users more freedom to manage visual content, Spotify admits that some visual elements will still appear on the platform. Officials pointed out in a blog post that users may still see video ads or Canvas-like visual effects in some audio ads. How this content is presented will still be affected by your subscription plan, with free users typically seeing more ads and therefore visual elements likely appearing more frequently.
Overall, Spotify’s update represents an important step forward in the platform’s visual content management. It not only responds to long-standing user needs, but also allows users to more flexibly control their listening experience. This feature is undoubtedly a practical and welcome change for users who prefer music-only playback, want to save data, or want to avoid visual distractions. Next, users around the world only need to wait for the update to be gradually pushed out, and they can enjoy freer and more personalized visual settings in their Spotify accounts.
Source: KOCPC Chinese