Uber and Spotify to give passengers control over music

Integration of the two services is expected to be announced on Monday

This past summer I took my first ever trip to Austin, and I just happened to get really lucky: the day I got there was the first day that Uber had been allowed back in the city, and so they gave me 20 free rides as a promotion. Pretty sweet, right?

I'll tell you, though, that I would have taken Uber anyway. The one and only time I took a city cab, from the airport to my hotel, it was horrible. Partially that is because the driver was blasting his terrible music the entire way. I couldn't wait to get out of that car!

As if Uber was somehow reading my mind, it is about to that care of that problem forever by entering a new partnership with Spotify, according to a report out from the New York Times. 

The two services will integrate with each other, though the mechanics of that are still unknown, and will allow Uber passengers to listen to the music they want to listen to in the car. 

Here’s how it works: An Uber customer requests a car via the company’s iPhone or Android application. When the driver arrives and the passenger enters the vehicle, he or she will be able to listen to music from their own Spotify playlist inside of the Uber vehicle, these people said.

According to some screenshots obtained by TechCrunch, Uber drivers has already begun asking their drivers to update their profile information to include whether or not the vehicle has an AUX audio input, which would allow the phone to connect to the car stereo. 

And this is apparently what it will look like for the passenger, who can control what is playing:

The partnership has not been made official yet, though it is expected to be announced on Monday. Reports have been invited to join a conference call with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, along with an unnamed “special partner guest” for an announcement of a “first-of-its-kind partnership.”

That guest is now rumored to be Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.

Teaming up with Uber comes at an interesting moment for Spotify, in which it is finding itself in a disagreement with artists, specifically Taylor Swift, over royalties and payouts for songs played on the service. It's a problem that will not be going away anytime soon, but at least for on day the company will have its name in a positive headline.

Vator has reached out to Uber and Spotify for confirmation of this report. We will update this story if we learn more. 

(Image source: eandt.theiet.org)