Spotify is testing a feature that stops its free, ad-supported tier from playing certain new releases for the first three days after upload.
The trial is running in selected regions, with users naming Bangladesh and India and posting the restriction to Reddit.
Listeners there read it as another nudge to convert free users into paying subscribers, in keeping with the service's tiered-access approach.
Spotify has been approached for comment.
Apple Music goes the other way
Apple Music has used its latest update to hand users more control rather than less.
It added two toggles in iOS 27 settings that let people add songs to playlists, or mark them as favourites, without those tracks landing in their main library.
The change splits playlists from the catch-all library, the single store that has long gathered owned tracks, playlist additions and listening history in one place.
That mix has been a common complaint, with seasonal or short-lived playlists cluttering a shuffled library.
Two services, then, pulling in opposite directions: one tightening what free users can reach, the other loosening how paying ones organise what they already have.
