Tesla makes arguably the coolest cars you can buy right now. They’re fast, electric, have autonomy features like autopilot, and are better for the environment too. Most things in the car can be controller by a big touchscreen in the middle, which also contains the in-car entertainment system with access to streaming services. How can you make your own music available on Tesla cars and these services?
Always connected
Tesla cars regularly get over-the-air software updates to improve the navigation, software and autopilot features. The cars have both wifi (for at home) and LTE connection built-in. This makes them the most connected cars currently available.
This constant connectivity means that Tesla’s have access to streaming music too! And while it’s maybe not the first thing you think about when making your music, a lot of people listen music in their cars. So making sure your music is instantly available on all Tesla cars is essential. There are a few ways to make this happen.
Upload to in-car Tesla streaming services
Luckily, Tesla did not choose to re-invent the wheel, but rather integrate existing streaming services. So if you’re already publishing your music to one of these services, your music is already available for instant playback in all Tesla cars worldwide! (if that service is available in the country)
These streaming services are integrated in Tesla cars:
- Spotify
- TuneIn
- SiriusXM
- Slacker Radio
- Tidal (new 2020)
When the car is in ‘park’ (not driving), you also have access to YouTube. A full web browser is available too which might support some browser-based music streaming serviced, though we have not tested this.
Spotify accounts
There are two ways to use Spotify in a Tesla car: you can either log in with your own Spotify account to see your playlists and favourites, or you can use the default ‘Tesla’ Spotify account included with the car. This is included by default and works just like a Spotify Premium account, with access to the full catalog of songs.
There are no default ‘Tesla’ accounts for the other streaming services. So to use Tidal, for example, you need to bring your own Tidal subscription.
Premium connectivity
When you buy a car, you receive one year of free ‘premium connectivity’. This is basically a mobile data subscription for your car (plus some extra’s like live traffic visualisation). After the year, you have two choices:
- Renew your premium connectivity subscription for €9,99/month.
- Use wifi to connect to your phone hotspot
While option 2 sounds attractive, wifi disables by default as soon as you put the car in ‘drive’ mode. You then need to enable wifi again, enable the hotspot on your phone, connect, … It’s quite a hassle. Therefore, people who don’t want to pay for premium connectivity might be more inclined to use Spotify on their phone and stream via bluetooth (which does connect automatically).
Caraoke
Besides all the regular streaming services, Tesla’s also have an unique feature no other car has: Caraoke. With Caraoke, your car is transformed into a karaoke bar. Select a genre, choose a song, and an instrumental version of that song will start to play. Lyrics are displayed on the screen complete with a follower line. Just like the real thing! Mad fun on road trips and with friends in your car.
Unfortunately, there is no way yet to get your own music on Caraoke. The songs are most likely from an existing catalog Tesla has purchased a license to. We’ll keep looking into this and will update this article when it becomes possible to submit your own songs to Caraoke.
So there you have it. You now know how to make your music available on Tesla cars, which streaming services are supported, and pricing. While we have not yet seen music marketing campaigns aimed specifically at cars with built-in streaming, there are definitely some opportunities here!