Spotify’s new social listening feature lets you ‘Jam’ with 32 friends

Spotify just introduced a new social listening feature that lets multiple people DJ for your group party playlists. Rolling out globally today, Spotify Jam allows up to 32 Spotify users (as reported by TechCrunch) to participate in real-time listening sessions together, add songs to the shared playlist queue, and receive recommendations that bridge the gaps between group members’ tastes in music.

The feature is available to both free and Premium Spotify account holders, but only Spotify Premium subscribers (which starts at $5.99) can start and invite others to a Jam session. Jam participants will be able to select the device they want to play the music from if they wish to listen in remotely and can see who added specific tracks.

Premium subscribers hosting a session can manage who’s in the Jam, the track order, and remove any songs from the lineup by default. Hosts can also enable guest controls that give other Jam participants the ability to remove tracks or change the song order. Spotify Premium members can try the feature out themselves by clicking the speaker icon or the three-dot menu within a playlist and selecting the “Start a Jam” option.

There are then a few routes to get others added to the Jam session. Hosts can invite others by tapping two Bluetooth-enabled devices like a phone or tablet together (provided they both support this feature), generating a QR code, or sharing a direct link. If that all sounds too difficult to handle while you’re all having a good time, there’s one more route. Spotify users who share a Wi-Fi connection will also be prompted to join an active Jam when they open the app.

There have been plenty of third-party services like JQBX and Jukestar that have piggybacked off Spotify to provide a similar collaborative listening experience, so it makes sense for Spotify to release its own native version of the feature. It also helps to justify the price increase for Premium subscriptions that the streaming giant introduced earlier this year, though it seems other upcoming features like Spotify’s long-awaited HiFi support will require a pricier subscription.

Spotify Jam is rolling out globally to all users on Tuesday, September 26th.