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.
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.
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