At the end of last month, it was announced that Spotify as well as other streaming platforms will increase their monthly prices. For Spotify, that means their premium plan will increase from $9.99 to $10.99. As it seems like only a one dollar increase, the percentage users will spend per year will significantly increase . The increase is also the first in twelve years as their last increase happened in 2011. According to NBC News, “the market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched. So that we keep innovating, we are changing our premium prices across a number of markets around the world.” Bloomberg News also reported that the streaming service is “planning a new super-premium tier expected to include hi-fi audio.”
YouTube announced just days earlier that their premium plan would increase to $13.99 a month, a whole two dollar increase. Their Premium Music service will also increase to $10.99 a month at a one dollar monthly increase. As Apple and Amazon have also increased their monthly prices in the past year, it has definitely left a dent in the streaming industry. As Spotify has more that 500 million subscribers, only half of them are paying for the premium plan. The ratio of free to paid subscribers is starting to fall quickly as prices increase. With Spotify alone, their stock also fell by a whole five percent.
Given the increase in prices does not seem detrimental to one’s bank account, depending on the increase, it would make paid subscribers pay up to twenty four dollars more a year. A huge increase only to pay to listen to music or watch TV or videos without ads. As a tiny price increase can be good in some ways, it will be interesting to see the real impact they have on one’s yearly spending.
