Is Spotify Family A Great Deal Or Catching Up?

Spotify’s big announcement to kick off the week means the online music service should be more family- and wallet-friendly.

But the "family plan" rolled out Monday is already being billed a long time coming and effectively playing catch-up.

Spotify Family provides the premium subscription for the standard $10 a month for the first user and then half price for up to four additional users.

Basically, a family of five can get signed up for $30 instead of $50.

The premium subscription — for those of you who've been languishing with the free version of Spotify — lets you listen to your playlists without limit and without ads. (Video via Spotify)

If the plan sounds familiar, that's because it is. Rdio unveiled its family plan in June of last year with five-member households costing $33 per month. (Video via Rdio)

The long-term value of a Spotify subscription versus the competition? It probably depends on how much music you want versus how much noise you want on the screen.

TechCrunch points out Apple uses iTunes to sell you its products, Google Music takes you into its world of ads and Amazon offers free music as part of its $99-a-year Prime membership it hopes you'll use to keep shopping.

TECHCRUNCH'S STEVE O'HEAR: "In other words, all three of Spotify's deep-pocketed competitors could drive down the price of music streaming further because they make money elsewhere."

Spotify says it will roll out Spotify Family globally in coming weeks.

This video includes images from Getty Images.