Spotify giving away free Google Home Minis again, students eligible (US only)

Update, December 11, 2019 (10:51 AM ET): The offer below related to getting a free Google Home Mini from Spotify is active again. The instructions below still apply, so simply follow the ones pertaining to your situation and you’ll be all set.

Notably, those of you with student accounts are now eligible for the promotion. Any mention below of students not being eligible should be ignored. Unfortunately, those of you who signed up for Spotify through a third party — such as Apple, for example — are still not eligible for the free Google Home Mini. You would need to sign up for a new Spotify Premium account through Spotify directly to get your free Mini.

Read on for instructions on how to get your new smart speaker for free!

Original article, October 22, 2019 (01:23 PM ET): Last year, Spotify made it incredibly easy for pretty much anyone in the United States to get a free Google Home Mini. As it turns out, Spotify might be making it a little annual tradition, because there is a new promotion happening that offers the same free merchandise.

However, this time around, Spotify is limiting things much more than it did last year. As such, if you want a free Google Home Mini, you’ll need to follow along closely so you can be sure you don’t miss any steps!

First off, let’s get the caveats and restrictions out of the way. This promotion is only open to US residents, so you folks overseas are out of luck. The promotion also is only open to people who have never received a Google promotional code from Spotify in the past. In other words, if you took part in this promotion last year, you can’t do it again this year (at least not with the same account information). Finally, this promotion doesn’t apply to those on the Spotify Premium Student plan. Sorry, students.

Related: Best music streaming apps for Android

Other than that, it’s wide open. If you are currently a paid Spotify subscriber you can get a free Google Home Mini. If you have never signed up for Spotify Premium or are a former subscriber, you also can get one, and you can get one even if you’ve never used Spotify before.

Instructions are below for your particular situation. Keep in mind that this promotion is active until November 15, 2019. Once you get your promo code, you must grab your Home Mini before December 31, 2019.

Free Google Home Mini for current subscribers

If you are currently a Spotify Premium or Spotify Premium Family subscriber, you are eligible for a free Google Home Mini. If you are a Premium Student subscriber, unfortunately, you are not eligible. Additionally, if you are not the primary account holder for the Premium Family subscription, you are also not eligible.

However, if you are on the Student plan or a subsidiary on a Family plan, you can always sign up for a new Premium Individual account and get your free Home Mini. You can then cancel your new account after you get your promo code and go back to using your original account. See the instructions in the next section of this article for more on this.

If you meet those above criteria, here’s what you do:

1. Head to www.Spotify.com and log in using your Premium Individual or Premium Family account credentials.
2. Once you are logged in, click one of the links below:
   1. Click here for Premium Individual
   2. Click here for Premium Family
3. You should see a page confirming your interest in getting the free Home Mini.
4. Keep an eye on your email. You will eventually get a code to use on the Google Store for your free Google Home Mini.
5. Once you receive the code, head to the Google Store and add a Google Home Mini to your cart. It must be the Google Home Mini, not the Google Nest Mini launched in 2019.
6. Check out as normal and enter your code in the promo box at checkout. You should see a zero balance.

If you don’t see the code in your inbox immediately, give it some time. If you don’t see it in 48 hours, you should contact Spotify to find out what’s up.

If you have any issues with the Google Store, don’t bother going to Spotify: that is Google’s problem. Once Spotify sends you the code, it has fulfilled its end of the deal.

Free Google Home Mini for new subscribers

If you have never used Spotify before or are currently just using the free tier, you can get a free Google Home Mini. You can also get a free Home Mini if you were previously a paid subscriber but are now just a free subscriber.

All you need to do to get your free gift is to sign up for a Premium account, either the Premium Individual (at $9.99 per month) or the Premium Family (at $14.99 per month). Either way, you don’t need to stay on the plans and are not locking into a contract. Once you get your promo code for a free Google Home Mini, you can cancel your subscription at any time. Obviously, the “free” Home Mini will cost you at least $10 in that situation, but that’s still a great deal!

Here’s what you do:

1. Head to www.Spotify.com and log in using your free tier account. If you’ve never used Spotify before, skip this step.
2. Click one of the links below depending on which program you are interested in:
   1. Click here for Premium Individual ($9.99 per month)
   2. Click here for Premium Family ($14.99 per month)
3. Click the “Get Premium” button and follow the steps to set up your account. You will need to give your credit card info for the first month’s charge.
4. Once you’ve paid for your first month, keep an eye on your email. You will eventually get a code to use on the Google Store for your free Google Home Mini.
5. Once you receive the code, head to the Google Store and add a Google Home Mini to your cart. It must be the Google Home Mini, not the Google Nest Mini launched in 2019.
6. Check out as normal and enter your code in the promo box at checkout. You should see a zero balance.
7. If you no longer want to be a part of Spotify after you get your free gift, cancel your subscription at any time after you complete these steps.

If you don’t see the code in your inbox immediately, give it some time. If you don’t see it in 48 hours, you should contact Spotify to find out what’s up.

If you have any issues with the Google Store, don’t bother going to Spotify: that is Google’s problem. Once Spotify sends you the code, it has fulfilled its end of the deal.