A system and method for enabling access to premium content, obtained via a smartphone, to be controlled by using a vehicle as a “key” to unlock the premium content. In one implementation the user of the vehicle uses her/his smartphone to establish a wireless link with the vehicle's radio system. The vehicle's radio system supplies a unique radio identifier to the smartphone, which the smartphone forwards to a remote authorization server. The authorization server determines from an internal database if the radio identifier is permitted access to any premium content. If so the authorization server forwards a code or command to the smartphone that the smartphone uses when accessing a web-based or cloud-based content provider, which enables the user to receive premium content form the content provider.