Imagine this. You are the one playing music using Spotify at a party. Someone asks you to play a song of their choice. But then comes another one and then another one. So Spotify released a new feature named Jam to solve this party problem. Now friends and family at the party can join a Spotify jamming session and add their favorite songs to the queue. Here’s how to use Spotify Jam.
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What Is Jam on Spotify
Jam on Spotify lets you create a real-time listening session for your friends and family. This is a great way for participants to contribute to a shared queue and listen and discover music together. Simply connect your mobile to a Bluetooth speaker to play the music. Then start a jamming session on Spotify and invite your friends.
Now anyone in the Jam can skip songs, pause the music, and add new songs to the queue. You can also see who added the song. Let’s get started on how to start a Jam on Spotify.
Tip: If you are new to Spotify, read this guide to understand what different icons and symbols mean in Spotify.
How to Start a Jam on Spotify
To start a Jam, you should have a premium account on Spotify. However, anyone can join a Jam session regardless of their Spotify account type. Here’s how to start a Jam.
1. Open the Spotify app on your mobile. Tap on the connect icon and select Start a Jam.
2. Alternatively, you can also start a session by tapping on the kebab menu of a playlist and selecting Start a Jam from the options.
Tip: If you are facing an issue of Spotify not working with Alexa, you can try a few troubleshooting tricks that can help.
What Hosts Controls in a Jam
The one who started the Jam is the host and can not transfer this title to someone else. Here’s what only a host can do in a Spotify Jam.
1. A host can remove a participant from the Jam.
2. Only a host can end the Spotify Jam session.
3. The host of a Jam can choose whether guests can control the volume or not. Shared volume is only supported on Chromecast and Amazon Cast and not on Bluetooth devices and Apple Airplay.
4. The host decides if the participants can remove a song, play or pause a song, change a song, move songs in the queue, repeat a song, and shuffle the queue. Participants are notified when the controls are changed by the host. Just tapping on the toggle will enable or disable the controls for participants.
How to Invite Friends to Your Spotify Jam
Now that you have started a Jam, it’s time to invite your friends so all of you can listen and jam together. There are 3 ways to invite participants to join a Jam.
1. Invite Using a Link
You can share a link for the Jam and participants can join the session with just a tap on the link. Here’s how to share a Sporify Jam link.
1. Tap on Invite, present at the top.
2. Tap on the Share link button and select how you want to send the link. Once the other person opens the link, Spotify will open with an option to join the Jam.
2. Invite Using QR Code
Once you tap on Invite as shown in the previous method, a QR code will be generated. Then, your friend has to scan the code from their mobile’s camera app. Once scanned, Spotify will launch automatically and an option to join the Jam will appear. Tapping on the Join button will let your friend join the Jam.
3. Invite by Tapping Phones
This is the coolest way to invite and join a Jam session. Simply bring your phones together and watch the magic happen. As long as your friend is logged in to Spotify and Bluetooth on both phones is turned on, a confirmation will pop up to Join the session.
Tip: Anyone from the session can use all three methods to invite others to join a Jam.
Note: Make sure Bluetooth on both phones is turned on to make this feature work.
How to Remove Participants From a Jam
Anyone in the group can add others to a Spotify Jam but only the host can remove participants from the session. Here’s how to remove a participant from Jam.
1. Tap on the profile icon of participants.
2. First tap on the kebab menu next to the name of the participant you want to remove and then on Remove from Jam.
3. You can also tap on Remove all participants to get rid of all the participants in the Jam at once.
How to Add Songs to a Jam
The host and the participant can both add songs to the queue. To add a song to the queue in a Spotify Jam, follow the same process as you usually do. Tap on the kebab menu of a song and select Add to queue.
The song will get added to the queue with the profile icon from which the song is added.
Another way to add a song to the queue is by tapping on the Add songs button.
Here you will get recommended songs based on the tastes of the group and swiping left on the screen will list songs that you have liked. To add a song from here, tap on the add to queue icon.
How to Remove Songs From a Jam
So there’s a song in the queue that you think won’t match the vibe you have going on or someone from the group has added a song that is seriously boring. In these scenarios, you may want to remove that song from the queue.
1. Tap on the circle icon before the name of the song that you want to remove.
2. Tap on Remove.
Note: A Participant can only remove a song if the Host has enabled the permission for it.
How to End or Leave a Jam
As mentioned earlier, only a host can end a Jam. A participant can only leave a Jam and if the host decides to end the Jam, it will end for all participants automatically.
1. To end a Jam, first tap on the End button and then on the End Jam button in the confirmation message.
Note: If you are the only one in the Jam, the session will end without confirmation by tapping on the End button.
2. Tap on the Leave button to leave the jamming session.
FAQs
1. What will happen if the host or a participant changes the external audio device?
If a participant changes the audio device, they will be automatically disconnected from the Jam. However, if the host changes the audio device, the Jam session will end.
2. How many participants can join a Jam?
As of now, up to 32 participants can join a Jam session.
3. Can we start a Jam without internet?
No, Jam requires an internet connection to work.
4. Can I play explicit songs in a Jam even if it is turned off in my account?
No, you can not play or add explicit songs to the queue. However, other participants in the group can add and play explicit songs even if you have disabled it.
5. Why I am not able to remove a song from the queue in a Jam?
The host might have disabled the permission for participants to remove a song. Ask your host to enable the permission.
6. Why I am not able to skip tracks in a Jam?
The host might have disabled the permission for participants to skip a song. Ask your host to enable the permission.
Spot the Jam
Spotify Jam is a neat feature and works well. A good way to listen to music with your friends. It can also be used as a music recommendation service. Famous artists can use it to invite their super fans to listen to their tracks with them in real-time maybe? Whether or not that happens, it’s a welcome addition.
By the way, we have a collection of some small tricks and tips to make your Spotify experience much better.
