Spotify’s kid-friendly app that curates music and stories for children launches in the US
- The app is expanding to the US and Canada after being rolled out in the UK
- Spotify says the app is still in the beta phase, however
- Spotify Kids has music curated for kids by human experts
A kid-friendly Spotify app is coming to the US after an expansion to the UK earlier this year.
The new standalone app, which is also being rolled out in Canada and France, curates songs and stories that are verified to be suitable for kids.
While the company is clear the app is still in beta stages, the move marks an incremental step towards worldwide availability since the service was rolled out exclusively in Ireland last October.
The app will be available on iPhone and Android but only for people with a Spotify Premium Family subscription
Among the differences between Spotify’s kids app and its regular music-streaming service are the data collection practices.
Unlike Spotify’s standard app, the kids version will now curate songs and other content based on prior listening data which makes it compliant with rules regulating data collection practices.
The experience is also ad-free and costs $14.99 per month. Each additional profile added to the account will cost the same amount with up to six profiles allowed.
What makes Spotify’s kids app particularly unique, however, is the fact that its content is curated not by algorithm like other kids-centric services offered by major streaming platforms like YouTube, but by real people.
Specifically, experts who have worked with Disney, Discovery Kids and Nickelodeon are involved in the curation process.
The app will feature a mixture of songs from TV shows, movies, nursery rhymes, lullabies and top ‘clean content’ music hits.
It will include singalongs, soundtracks and stories that children can explore, according to Spotify, which has worked with Disney, Nickelodeon and Cbeebies to source content for the service.
The company has also said that it hopes to expand the app over time, including potentially bringing it to smart speakers made by Amazon and Google if they can create a way to do so safely and secure children’s privacy.
