According to a recent Bloomberg report, Spotify is gearing up for a significant overhaul of its subscription plans and pricing structure. Among the changes, there will be price increases in select key markets, along with the introduction of a new plan devoid of audiobooks.
The reported adjustments indicate a rise of approximately $1 per month for individual subscriptions and up to $2 per month for family and duo plans in markets such as the UK, Australia, Pakistan, and two undisclosed locations. In the United States, which stands as its primary market, insiders suggest a forthcoming price adjustment “later this year.”
Reportedly, the increased pricing is intended to offset the expenses associated with offering audiobooks, a service recently introduced by Spotify. Subscribers are granted up to 15 hours of monthly audiobook consumption. However, the company must compensate audiobook publishers for all of this listening time, despite it being perceived as ‘free’ for users. Thus far, Spotify has only generated revenue from audiobook listeners surpassing the aforementioned limit.
For that reason, the new Spotify paid tier will remove audiobooks but will keep the music and audiobooks. This tier will have the same pricing as the current premium tier, but it will require users to pay extra to get audiobooks. To sum it up, Spotify introduced audiobooks to its premium plan, raised the price, and then introduced a new tier without audiobooks.
Additional subscription plans are coming too, including a “supremium” subscription that will bring the highly demanded lossless audio for music, which it’s calling high-fidelity audio, “among other features” that aren’t detailed. This tier has appeared in leaks for several years and it may finally be ready to launch soon.
In the previous year, Spotify implemented its inaugural price hike since the inception of its premium tier. This adjustment yielded no adverse consequences; instead, the platform witnessed unprecedented growth, with its user base expanding by 113 million, marking the most substantial growth in its history.
By the conclusion of 2023, Spotify boasted a total user count of 602 million, with 236 million among them being paying subscribers. Encouraged by the resounding success of the prior year’s price adjustment, the company’s leadership now feels confident to replicate this strategy once more.
