Today, Spotify shared some news on its blog that everyone already knew was coming: It’s partnering with Uber to bring users’ Spotify playlists to their Uber rides. While Uber foreshadowed that a new partnership would be announced on Monday, TechCrunch confirmed over the weekend that the “first-of-its-kind” matchup in question was with Spotify.
In Spotify’s blog post, the music streaming service team shares Uber’s video that demonstrates how the partnership will work for Uber customers and Spotify Premium users. Basically, when you hail an Uber, if the driver you’re matched with is “music enabled,” your Spotify playlists will appear in the Uber app, alongside Uber’s pre-made playlists, and the Spotify music catalog. Customers can control their music wirelessly through the app as they wait for and ride with Uber.
Watch the video below to get a better idea of how it works:
The service is set to launch on Friday, Nov. 21, in Uber’s 10 U.S. cities, and will continue to roll out globally over the coming months.
While this matchup brings together two forces we’re all likely very familiar with using – music streaming and ride-sharing – and seems like a good idea at first, this luxury of having our customized Spotify playlists soundtracking our Uber rides could spell bad news for Uber drivers, particularly uberX drivers who depend on top ratings in order to stay on the road.
It’s become clear that Uber is very strict with its driver ratings policy. Basically, if a driver sinks to even a 4-star out of 5 rating, he or she could be either warned or deactivated as a driver. But there are more problems with the system: users are not required to provide any context with their ratings, and they may not understand what a poor rating – basically anything but a 5 – could do to a driver’s career.
This means that a rider who’s annoyed the driver wasn’t “music enabled” could give him or her a low rating, even if the ride was otherwise fine. While, with Uber’s new partnership, drivers aren’t forced to take on the role of both chauffeur and DJ, the threat of a low rating is still hanging over their heads. Plus, it’s handing control of the music over to the rider, including the volume, which the driver will likely want to maintain at a high level to please the customer, even though they’re the ones driving.
But beyond the potentially displeased and petty Uber riders with the power of a 1-star rating, this move by Uber suggests that the drivers still aren’t at the top of the service’s priority list. In September, Uber announced it would be cutting its uberX rates by 20 percent, which is, of course, great news for the rider. But at the same time, the share it took from uberX drivers increased, going from 10 percent to 25 percent for drivers activated after Sept. 2. So while you’re getting away with a cheaper ride, uberX drivers are getting paid less per ride.
Even though Uber is taking a higher percentage from its drivers’ earnings than ever before, its latest partnership suggests that it’s not going to focus on keeping the drivers happy anytime soon. On the blog “Uber People,” one driver called it a “slap in the face.”
It makes you reconsider the whole deal with Spotify. Is it really necessary?
Screengrab via Uber/YouTube
