what you need to know
- Spotify is interested in increasing its “base” price by $1 and its duo plan price by $2 in certain markets around the world, according to a report.
- Spotify is also said to be launching a new basic tier that includes music and podcasts, but not audiobooks.
- Spotify’s “supremium” tier is still under development, a brief mention suggests.
A new report suggests Spotify is preparing to raise prices on its streaming service and create new premium plans.
A report from Bloomberg says Spotify is interested in increasing the price of its “Basic” plan by $1 and its two-person service by $2 in certain markets around the world. Consumers in the UK, Australia and Pakistan will see these price increases by the end of April, sources said.
The United States is also getting in on the price hike wave, although it’s said to be happening “later this year.”
The report adds that Spotify is also considering adding more subscription plans for consumers to increase revenue. The company is preparing a new “Basic” tier that would include music and podcasts but drop audiobooks, people familiar with the matter said. The plan may cost $11, which is the cost of the premium plan for a single user.
Spotify is working on more “new pricing options” but did not elaborate further.
Spotify’s “supremium” plans were briefly mentioned, and it looks like that tier is still in development. Users who subscribe to the service will get HiFi audio at a higher price.
Bloomberg says Spotify’s rationale for the alleged impending price increase is to “cover the cost of audiobooks.” The audio service launches audiobooks for premium users in November 2023. The feature includes more than 200,000 titles, and users can listen to them for “free” for 15 hours each month. If you exceed the initial cap, you’ll need to spend an additional $12.99 to get an additional 10 hours of listening time.
Spotify only gets revenue from users who exceed their initial allotted listening time each month, sources said. The service then added an “Access” tier, which is cheaper for bookworms.
We’ve been waiting for Spotify’s “supreme” plans for a while now, with the latest leaks coming in October 2023. It is said that users will not only receive HiFi (high fidelity) audio, but also “Your Sound Capsule”, “Highlights,” and 24-bit lossless audio will also be added.