After months of community concerns, Spotify plans to further alienate consumers. Following the cancellation of Car Thing, years of emphasizing podcasts and audiobooks, and introducing unpopular features, Spotify is now asking listeners for more money, just a year after the first price increase.
We recently discussed the potential end of Spotify's dominance in the market, despite being one of the best apps on iPhone and best apps for Android. However, a recent email shared by The Verge states that Spotify is taking it one step further by demanding more of your hard-earned money.
An individual Spotify Premium subscription will now be $11.99 a month, up from $10.99 last year. The Duo plan is increasing from $14.99 to $16.99, and the Family subscription tier is seeing the biggest jump, now costing $19.99 a month, up from $16.99 last year.
Spotify first increased prices less than a year ago, in July 2023. While the current price increases are limited to US subscribers, international listeners are also facing hikes, as announced last month. UK customers will now need to spend £11.99 per month for an individual subscription or £19.99 for a Family subscription.
For comparison, a YouTube Premium Family subscription is also £19.99. However, it includes access to YouTube Music, as well as ad-free videos on YouTube, and the ability to download videos for offline viewing.
As more users continue with services that increase prices yearly, company executives feel emboldened to ask for more money from customers. Spotify likely feels the financial strain after investing heavily in audiobooks and podcasts, including a $250 million deal to renew Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Despite the podcast's widespread availability, the deal appears to be a waste of money, with users now bearing the cost. It's an attempt to become the best podcast apps, but Spotify is ceremoniously linked to music, not podcasts.
While services like Apple Music offer lossless streaming and Dolby features as part of the standard subscription, Spotify has yet to release its Hi-Fi streaming option, Supremium. However, this will reportedly be a higher tier, further increasing the monthly subscription cost.
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