No, Spotify didn't remove shuffle from all albums per Adele's request

Over the weekend, Spotify altered its default shuffle option from all album pages following the release of Adele’s much-anticipated new LP, 30. “This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry!” the superstar singer tweeted. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.” “Anything for you,” Spotify’s Twitter account replied. Cute brand management, Spotify.

Anyway. Come Monday, and one could be forgiven for thinking Spotify caved to Adele demand that it remove the feature from all albums, depending on which news outlets you got your information. In truth, the change is a bit more benign than even the original source tweets would have you believe.

Only for the Premium listeners, of course — First off, the change really only affects Premium users (surprise surprise), so all you plebians not paying your monthly Spotify tithes will still suffer the shuffle. Secondly, it remains easy to enable shuffling album tracks by going to the “Now Playing View” and selecting the shuffle icon. So yeah, less a “take shuffle button off all album pages” as the BBC says, and more a “Premium users get a slightly more streamlined method to play album tracks in order.

Other much-desired updates — The shuffle default, um, shuffle wasn’t the only update Spotify rolled out last week. Over a year and a half after testing it out, the streaming company now offers synchronized, real-time lyrics to all users, both Premium and freemium alike. With its eyes on the future, Spotify also recently acquired the audiobook distributor Findaway, pointing towards continued expansion into the podcast and literary markets.