Hivequeue · for offices with Sonos, and the people who work from home

One jam for the whole company, wherever people sit.

Queue songs on the office Sonos, vote on what's playing straight from Slack, and fight for Top DJ. Working from home? Tune in and your own speakers follow the office's Spotify tracks. Bad picks get booed off.

Works with the Sonos you already own. Setup takes about ten minutes. Free for up to five people — see pricing.

How it works

Three steps. Sign in with the Slack you already have.

  1. 01

    Start a Hive

    Pick the speakers, give the session a name, and you get a link plus a QR code.

  2. 02

    Share the link

    Drop it in Slack. People open it, sign in with Slack or Google, and they're in. Votes and picks follow them, at a desk or at home.

  3. 03

    Everyone adds songs

    Paste a Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or Tidal link, or search. It plays on the Sonos in a fair rotation, and when the picks run out Selecta, the office's own station, keeps the music going. Remote people can follow Spotify tracks on their own devices.

Built for a shared room

A jam, not a playlist takeover.

Tune in

Working from home? Follow the office's Spotify tracks.

Anyone can already queue and vote from Slack, from anywhere. Tune in closes the loop for Spotify tracks: your own speakers follow the office within a couple of seconds, and you queue, vote and get scored like everyone else in the room.

  • Your Spotify, your device

    Link Spotify Premium once, choose a controllable device, then start following: your home Sonos, laptop or phone. Each device plays the same Spotify track from its own account.

  • Within a couple of seconds

    The office Sonos reports what is playing and where it is. Hivequeue keeps your device lined up with it. Close enough to feel like the same room, not sample-accurate sync.

  • Start, then it follows

    Tap 🎧 Tune in on any now-playing post in Slack, choose a device and start following. Start something else on your device and you drop out. Tap again to come back.

Tune in is part of Hivequeue Premium, $19 a month for the whole office. Each remote listener also needs their own Spotify Premium account, because Spotify only lets apps control playback on Premium.

How Tune in follows the officeFor Spotify tracks, the office Sonos tells Hivequeue what is playing and where it is in the track. Hivequeue tells each remote listener's own device, a home Sonos, a laptop or a phone, to play the same Spotify track from their own account, within a couple of seconds of the office.THE OFFICEOffice Sonoswhat is playing, and where it isHHivequeuekeeps everyone lined upsame tracksame spotWHEREVER YOU SIT🎧🎧Your own devicehome Sonos, laptop or phone, on your Spotify

Follow, not stream

Hivequeue never sends the office's audio anywhere. For Spotify tracks, the office Sonos reports what is playing and how far in it is. Hivequeue tells your device to play the same track from your own Spotify account, and nudges it back into line if it drifts. Other office music sources are not mirrored yet.

People who are tuned in wear a 🎧 badge, so the office knows who is in the room from a distance.

What you need

Sonos, a small computer, ten minutes.

  • Sonos speakers

    Any Sonos system signed into Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer. Nothing to change in the Sonos app.

  • A computer that stays on, on the same Wi‑Fi as the speakers

    This runs the Hivequeue app. A spare Mac mini or any office PC works; it barely notices. Download, install, sign in.

  • About ten minutes

    Create your office, sign in on that computer, start your first Hive.

How Hivequeue reaches your speakersPhones anywhere talk to Hivequeue in the cloud. The app, on a small computer in your office, connects out to Hivequeue and passes songs to the Sonos speakers on the same network.YOUR OFFICE NETWORKTHE INTERNET🐝🪩🎧Everyone's phonesat their desk, at home, anywhereHHivequeuethe websitecalls out onlynothing to open upappThe Hivequeue appa small computer that stays onSonos speakersthe ones you already own

Why is there an app in the office?

Set it up once for the office. The Hivequeue app connects the shared queue to your speakers and keeps it running when you close your browser. Keep that computer on while music plays; everyone else can join from a browser or Slack.

The website tells the app what to play and the app tells the speakers. It only ever calls out, so nothing on your network is opened up, and nobody outside can reach your speakers.

Questions

Before you set it up

Do I need to be technical to set this up?
One person sets up the office: install the Hivequeue app on a computer that stays on, then sign in and choose the speakers. Everyone else joins from their browser or Slack. The guide walks you through it.
What happens when someone plays from the Sonos app or Spotify Connect instead?
The Hive says so rather than pretending nothing is playing, the track is still posted and voted on, and the play button becomes "Resume the Hive" with a count of the songs waiting. Adding a song takes the speakers back too. A Hive plays forward, in the order songs were added, and picks up where it stopped instead of starting the morning over.
Is this secure? Does it open up our network?
No. The app in your office only ever calls out, the same way a web browser does. Nothing on your network gets opened up, and nobody outside can reach your speakers.
What stops one person from taking over the queue?
Round-robin interleaves everyone's picks automatically, hosts can cap songs per person and set a volume ceiling, and enough 👎 boos a track off the speakers.
Do we need Slack?
No — vote and queue from the app either way. Connecting Slack just means votes are a 👍 👎 tap where you're already talking, and the bot posts the scoreboard.
I work from home. Can I actually hear it?
Yes, for Spotify tracks played at the office. Tap 🎧 Tune in on any now-playing post, link Spotify once, choose a device and start following. Your speakers then follow within a couple of seconds. Tune in is part of Hivequeue Premium ($19 a month for the whole office), and each remote listener needs their own Spotify Premium account, because Spotify only lets apps control playback on Premium. Hivequeue never streams the office's audio; your device plays the same track from your own account. Apple Music, YouTube and other non-Spotify office playback still appear in the queue, but cannot be mirrored by Tune in yet.

Ready to start the Hive?

Download the app, sign in, start a Hive. The guide takes you from nothing to a song playing on the office Sonos, one step at a time.

Get started