Your Spotify subscription might get a price increase soon. And you’re not reading an old report. According to Bloomberg, Spotify plans a second price increase to five markets by the end of April, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan, and in the US later this year.
According to Bloomberg, Spotify’s price increase will be about $1 to 2$ a month, and the reason behind it is the addition of audiobooks to premium subscriptions. The publication says that although customers have up to 15 hours of audiobook listening a month, “it has so far only collected additional revenue from listeners who exceed the limit.” Hence, the music streaming service needs to cover costs.
Still, there’s some good in this bad news. Bloomberg reports that the Swedish audio company might introduce a new basic tier with only music and podcasts. This new tier would continue to cost $11 on an individual premium plan, and users would need to pay extra for audiobooks.
Lastly, Spotify is still working on its “supremium” plan with high-fidelity audio, audiobooks, and other features. This plan, of course, will also cost a supremium price for those willing to have the latest Spotify features.
The Swedish company is trying to diversify its revenue, as it pays out about 70% of its sales in royalties to the music industry. Over the past few years, the company aggressively started investing in podcasts, which might give it some revenue for the first time, and now into audiobooks.
While an Apple Music subscription doesn’t have audiobooks as a perk, it includes Dolby Atmos songs, Hi-Fi quality, and Apple Music Classical service at no additional cost. That said, Spotify’s most important features are its algorithm and social features.
At this moment, it’s unclear how users will react once this new price increase begins. At least, Spotify users will have the chance to continue to pay the same by ditching audiobook services.
BGR will let you know once this price increase for Spotify users begins.
