• Uber and Spotify Team Up for a Better Riding Experience

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2014-11-17 07:30 PM
    8 Comments Comments


    Do you love listening to music while in the car? What if you don’t have a car and need to take a taxi service to wherever you’re going? Well it has been announced that Spotify and Uber have teamed up to make your riding experience better. Currently in its beta, Uber riders will be able to listen to music of their choice when connected to their Spotify account in the taxi service. As of right now, only specific cities and certain drivers will offer this service, as it is only being rolled out as a beta.

    In order for this service to work, users will have to sign up for a Premium account in Spotify first. Then when an Uber ride is requested and the car has this feature, at the bottom of the user’s phone will be a small bar where they will be directed to a music customization screen. Upon reaching that screen, customers will be able to assign any of their playlists from Spotify to that ride. If users do not have a playlist, they will be able to select from Uber’s list or even look for certain music. According to Uber,

    Soundtracking your Uber ride is easy:

    • Connect your Spotify account from the Uber Profile screen. You only need to do this once. (Don’t have Spotify Premium? No problem! See below for details.)
    • Request a ride as usual in the Uber app. If you get matched with a music-enabled Uber, the music bar will appear at the bottom of the Uber app.
    • Tap the music bar and choose a song from any of your Spotify playlists while you wait for your Uber to arrive.
    The service will be controlled through either of the company’s mobile app and will begin on Friday, November 21st. So far, the only places that will be offering this beta are New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Stockholm, Mexico City, Toronto, and Singapore. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.

    Source: Uber
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Uber and Spotify Team Up for a Better Riding Experience started by Akshay Masand View original post
    1. Categories:
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    4. Apple
    Comments 8 Comments
    1. Jneds's Avatar
      Jneds - 2014-11-17, 07:56 PM
      This is smart and hopefully will take off in more cities!
    1. evolution83's Avatar
      evolution83 - 2014-11-18, 02:10 AM
      I'm an Uber driver and will not allow this option in my car. Some riders like to abuse privileges given to them. The few times I've allowed people to play music, they become some raging DJ blaring music thinking my car is now a nightclub.

      Not happening.
    1. HovikGas's Avatar
      HovikGas - 2014-11-18, 02:53 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by evolution83 View Post
      I'm an Uber driver and will not allow this option in my car. Some riders like to abuse privileges given to them. The few times I've allowed people to play music, they become some raging DJ blaring music thinking my car is now a nightclub.

      Not happening.
      What city are you in?
    1. slickric's Avatar
      slickric - 2014-11-18, 02:53 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by evolution83 View Post
      I'm an Uber driver and will not allow this option in my car. Some riders like to abuse privileges given to them. The few times I've allowed people to play music, they become some raging DJ blaring music thinking my car is now a nightclub.

      Not happening.
      are they not paying for the service?
    1. jsuddu0109's Avatar
      jsuddu0109 - 2014-11-18, 06:44 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by slickric View Post
      are they not paying for the service?
      I understand his concerns. You have to draw a line somewhere. I couldn't imagine having to put up with customers like that all day.
    1. evolution83's Avatar
      evolution83 - 2014-11-19, 01:24 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by HovikGas View Post
      What city are you in?
      SF Bay area

      Quote Originally Posted by slickric View Post
      are they not paying for the service?
      drivers are independent contractors and we have complete control whether a rider will be able to use the new 'Music' service. A driver has to enable this on their phone before it will work.

      I don't mind certain folks playing their own music, but often times others want to blare it to where it's unethical and they get pissed when you return it to a normal volume.
    1. HovikGas's Avatar
      HovikGas - 2014-11-19, 02:08 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by evolution83 View Post
      SF Bay area



      drivers are independent contractors and we have complete control whether a rider will be able to use the new 'Music' service. A driver has to enable this on their phone before it will work.

      I don't mind certain folks playing their own music, but often times others want to blare it to where it's unethical and they get pissed when you return it to a normal volume.
      It's those hipsters I bet! Haha
    1. PCYoda's Avatar
      PCYoda - 2014-11-19, 06:59 PM
      I'm an Uber driver.

      Uber over the past year has cut fares drastically, making it harder and harder to have steady earnings. In Chicago, using a 5 mile 15 minute fare as an example, Uber cut fares by 23%. At the same time, they raised their share of the fare by an additional 5%, resulting in drivers making approximately 28% less in the same time and distance. When expenses are taken into account at the standard IRS rate, the result is a net earning of less than half of what earnings were before.

      Both before and after fare cuts, Uber has continued to promote that "gratuity isn't necessary or required" to riders.

      Prior to the fare cuts, Uber promoted their UberX service as "your private driver" - a quasi-limo service - and encouraged drivers to offer amenities such as cell phone charger access, aux audio cable access, water bottles, and candy, as well as to open and close doors for customers and to assist with luggage loading. While Uber is not promoting that quality of service as actively anymore (although they still advise that drivers who do get better ratings, and therefore have less risk of losing the right to drive), passengers are used to it and don't accept that, on that same example ride with four passengers, that giving a bottle of water to each passenger would reduce gross profits by 9% (and net profits by a much higher percentage).

      So you have passengers that are conditioned for a premium service, drivers that have been cut from a premium to a substandard wage, and now you're forcing drivers to offer yet another amenity for no extra payment? That's dehumanizing, not to mention potentially distracting and therefore dangerous to the driver. Yet, if a driver chooses to not allow this service when it rolls out, that driver will likely suffer from lowered ratings from their passengers, and that driver risks losing their right to drive. If you drive for extra spending cash, this may not affect you much (and there are other services, like Lyft, that are plenty busy during peak hours), but if you drive full-time, particularly if you have invested in the ridesharing economy in ways such as financing a vehicle, you're scared to death of losing your right to drive for Uber, because in most cities Uber's non-peak hour requests far exceed any of their competition.

      Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of Uber, but the way that Uber dehumanizes its partners and makes unilateral decisions that negatively affect the drivers' quality of life has got to change at some point.

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