With several million users using illegal systems to get around ads, the music streaming service is forced to take action
The biggest difference between the paid version of Spotify and the free version lies in advertising. Totally absent in the first version, free Spotify instead "repays" the listening by users thanks to advertisements that pop up every two or three music tracks played.
Using some extensions or specially modified versions of the Spotify client, some millions of users (two, according to the latest data released by the same Swedish company) manage to block ads, thus managing to listen to music on Spotify without interruptions. These are real ad-blocks for Spotify that, in fact, turn the free version of the music streaming service into something very similar to the paid version (if not exactly identical).
How Spotify wants to block those who use ad-blocks
Given the large number of users who make use of this tactic (about 2% of Spotify's free user base), the Swedish company has decided to use the hard fist to stop the phenomenon. Spotify has long employed automated systems that can identify users who use ad-blocks and similar technologies to circumvent Spotify's free ad breaks. The stated goal is to identify those users who break the service's terms of use and bring them back on the "straight and narrow".
With the new terms of use, which will go into effect March 1, 2019, Spotify will send scam users an email asking them to stop using systems to circumvent ads. Should the warning go unheeded and users continue to use ad-blocks for Spotify, their accounts will be banned forever. In short, if you don't listen to ads and have a free Spotify account, you risk being banned from the service forever.