I remember the "Please drink a verification can" joke that was floating around a few years back. Didn't think we'd be here so soon.
Can you just use an old headphone with an audio slider and mute the ad that way?
Either way, Spotify is now on my list of nope services.
I pay for Spotify, I get no ads. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Furthermore Spotify has a handy family subscription (not sure if valid in all countries), which covers several persons living under the same roof.
Disclaimer: I'm extremely happy with Spotify.
And how long do you think this will last before they decide insert ads into paid subscriptions? Cable TV did it. "Full-price" games are doing it. TVs are doing it. It would be extremely naive to assume that spotify won't do it at some point.
Besides, my admittedly poorly-expressed objection is not to the ads themself but to the way people are being forced to listen to them by the company. There is no way in hell I'm supporting companies that engage in crap like this.
It already happened so many times for so many media formats that it /will/ happen with Spotify. Unfortunately for both of us, downvoting some random post online won't change this outcome.
Cheers!