Skip to main content

Uber and Spotify deal will let you choose the music for your ride

uber cuts prices 48 cities promises drivers wont lose
360b / Shutterstock
Uber and Spotify are set to announce a partnership that means you’ll be able to choose your own playlist the next time you catch a taxi ride. The deal won’t be officially confirmed until Monday but the New York Times and TechCrunch are both reporting that an agreement is on the way.

No longer will Uber riders be subjected to their driver’s radio station of choice — they’ll be able to show off their own musical taste for the duration of the journey. Spotify’s cloud-based music streaming and playlist system already allows the same tunes to be accessed from any device, and this partnership should make the whole process very simple indeed.

Recommended Videos

Screenshots obtained by TechCrunch show the new system in action: drivers are asked if their vehicle’s stereo has an AUX input, presumably to determine compatibility, and then users can control playlists from within the Uber app itself. It looks like the integration has been in the works for some time.

Both Uber and Spotify are eager to expand their base of users and push into new markets, so the partnership makes sense if it manages to attract Spotify fans to Uber and vice versa. Uber was recently integrated into the official Google Maps app while Spotify has been hitting the headlines for a spat with best-selling artist Taylor Swift over royalties.

It also gives both services another boost as they battle competitors such as Lyft and Rdio. Neither Uber nor Spotify have made any official comments yet, but a press call has been scheduled for Monday and you can expect to hear all the details of the deal then.

[Image courtesy of 360b / Shutterstock.com]

David Nield
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…
Tidal vs. Spotify: Which music streaming service has the features you need?
Tidal home page on iPhone.

If you in the midst of choosing which music streaming service is best for you, when comparing Spotify and Tidal, price is an important, but not the only, factor to consider. Spotify stands out with its flexible subscription options, offering individual, family, and student plans, each with its own unique benefits. In contrast, Tidal offers various subscription plans, too, but Tidal's calling card is that it includes premium and hi-fi options, with the hi-fi plan providing access to lossless, hi-res audio. Spotify does not offer this ... yet.

Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis and AAC audio formats for streaming, delivering audio at varying bitrates. At the same time, Tidal's hi-fi subscription offers lossless, CD-quality audio and hi-res audio files in FLAC and HiRes FLAC formats.

Read more
Does your Duolingo app icon look sick? You’re not alone
The Duolingo app icon, showing a sick-looking version of the Duolingo owl.

It's an absolute tragedy: The normally chipper Duolingo owl has fallen ill.

Just kidding. The app icon might have changed, but it doesn't mean any significant changes are coming to the app. It did stir up quite a bit of conversation on both X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, though, as users around the world noticed that the Duo owl looked like he needed a heavy dose of DayQuil.

Read more
Uber was just hit with a massive $320 million fine. Here’s why
The new carbon emissions feature on Uber's app.

Uber is staring down a 290 million euro fine (about $320 million USD) for violating data protection laws in the EU.

That's the basic story, but to understand the details behind it, you first need to know what the GDPR is. This is the General Data Protection Regulation, a policy implemented in the EU in May 2018. While we're used to playing fast and loose with consumer privacy in the U.S., the EU has a different approach — and one that, so far, has worked well.

Read more