While other streaming services have gotten more expensive in recent months, Spotify has left its prices alone, even offering noteworthy perks and deals for subscribers, such as free Hulu. But as the industry leader in more than a few countries around the world, Spotify has some leverage, and according to a recent report from Bloomberg, it plans to take advantage of that leverage by testing a higher price for one of its plans in Scandanavia.
People familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg that Spotify’s family plan will jump up in price by 13% during the testing period. Although the company declined to comment on the story, Bloomberg’s source says that the price hike may not be permanent and may never see the light of day outside of Scandanavia.
Spotify has a large user base, but as the family plan grows in popularity, its average revenue per user has begun to drop. Therefore, raising the price of the family plan could boost revenue and offset the decline.
Not only would Spotify benefit, but higher prices would also help to placate music companies that have complained about shrinking revenue per user. As the biggest music streaming service in many parts of the world, the companies argue that Spotify should be using its position of power to make more money.
As Bloomberg notes, while Spotify has more paying customers than any other music streamers, the companies that run the services it competes with, such as Apple, Amazon, and Google, all have other major sources of revenue. For Spotify, there is no other revenue stream, which means higher prices may be inevitable.
