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Spotify expands its music video test and excludes the US from the beta again

Spotify expands its music video test and excludes the US from the beta again

Spotify’s music video beta is now expanding to new markets after launching in Match for Premium subscribers, and unfortunately the US is once again left out of all the fun. When the music video beta was first launched, it was available as a test in 11 markets, not including the US.

Now access to the beta is expanding (apparently excluding the US again), and Spotify is also introducing some improvements along the way.

85 new regions now have access to the music video beta. These markets join the original 11 and Egypt, and now the total number of supported countries has increased to 97. Oddly enough, in the blog post announcing the news, Spotify didn’t elaborate on which countries are included in the new 85 markets, and it appears that the United States is unfortunately not one of them.

A Spotify spokesperson told The Verge that US Spotify users will experience the new beta feature “in the future,” and as expected, they didn’t give us an exact date or timeframe for it. However, since the feature is still in beta, you may not have to be so disappointed as beta features sometimes lead to unstable experiences and bugs.

The feature is limited to Premium subscribers. Once you have it, you can switch between audio and video on iOS, Android, desktop and TVs. Spotify also highlighted some improvements over the beta. For example, switching between audio and video has become more seamless, with the video continuing from where you left off (until this version, the video would start over from the beginning regardless of where you were in the song when you switched).

Additionally, video ads appear next to title names, making it easier to see which titles contain videos. When you switch your phone to landscape mode, it will now automatically go full screen so you can enjoy the video. Currently, the catalog of videos available on the music streaming platform is limited but will certainly grow over time.

Personally, I think Spotify should hurry up and include the US in their testing, although I wouldn’t be too disappointed with the exclusion at this point since it’s a beta test.

I think being able to switch from audio to a music video is a super cool feature and I think Spotify should work hard on making it available to more people and release the non-beta version too – I’m pretty excited about it.


Izzy, a tech enthusiast and an important part of the PhoneArena team, specializes in delivering the latest mobile tech news and finding the best tech deals. Her interests span cybersecurity, phone design innovations, and camera features. Outside of her professional life, Izzy, a literature master’s graduate, enjoys reading, painting and learning languages. She is also committed to personal growth and believes in the power of experience and gratitude. Whether she’s walking her Chihuahua or singing her heart out, Izzy embraces life with passion and curiosity.