Andrew Heinzman
Listening parties give you and your friends the chance to share (and show off) your killer music taste. Now, Spotify is making it easy to host a real-time virtual listening party through its Group Sessions feature. Up to five friends can join a remote listening party through a shareable link and queue up music or podcasts in real-time.
Remote listening parties are an extension of the in-person Group Sessions feature that Spotify launched earlier this year. Like in-person Group Sessions, each member of a remote listening party can access playback controls for pausing, skipping, or queuing tracks.
Music or podcasts in a remote listening session stream simultaneously on each guest’s phone (or computer). But Group Sessions doesn’t have a built-in chatting feature, so it isn’t easy to use outside of group calls or video chats.
Group Sessions are only available to Premium subscribers. To start a remote listening session, pull up the Play screen (big album art) and select the Connect menu from the bottom left-hand corner of your display. Scroll down, and select “Start a group session.” You’ll see a shareable link to invite other Premium subscribers to your remote listening session.
