{"id":202954,"date":"2024-06-03T12:49:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T11:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=202954"},"modified":"2024-06-03T13:26:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T12:26:37","slug":"spotify-hikes-prices-for-premium-subscribers-in-the-us-again12345","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/spotify-hikes-prices-for-premium-subscribers-in-the-us-again12345\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotify hikes prices for Premium subscribers in the US… again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music streaming giant Spotify is raising the prices for its Premium subscription tiers in the United States.<\/p>\n

Spotify said in a blog post on Monday (June 3, 2024) that it is updating its pricing in the market so that it “can continue to invest in and innovate on our product features”.<\/p>\n

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In the US, for new users, the subscription price for Spotify\u2019s flagship individual Premium tier is going up by $1 per month \u2013 to $11.99<\/strong> (see below).<\/p>\n

Premium Duo will now cost $16.99 <\/strong>per month (up from $14.99). Premium Family now costs $19.99 per month\u00a0<\/strong> (up from $16.99), while Spotify Premium Student still costs $5.99 per month.<\/p>\n

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According to Spotify, over the next month, existing US-based subscribers will receive an email (see below) about the update, explaining that the new subscription price will come into effect on their billing date in July.<\/p>\n

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The move marks Spotify’s second price rise in the world’s largest recorded music market over the past year.<\/p>\n

The company announced in July 2023 that the price of its flagship individual subscription tier would be increasing for the first time in the US, from $9.99<\/strong> per month to $10.99, as of Monday, July 24, 2023, following widespread calls to do so from multiple music industry leaders.<\/p>\n

In addition to the US, in July last year, Spotify increased its Premium pricing in around 50 other markets globally, such as Canada, as well as several markets across Europe, including the UK and France, plus markets in Asia, South America, and Australasia.<\/p>\n

Spotify\u2019s price hike last year came after most other global music streaming services, including\u00a0Apple Music<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Amazon Music<\/strong><\/a>, and YouTube Music, had increased the prices of\u00a0their subscription plans.<\/p>\n

Most recently, in April 2024, Spotify also increased the prices of its flagship Premium subscription plan in the UK, to \u00a311.99<\/strong>, up from \u00a310.99, and in Australia,<\/a> to AUD $13.99, up from AUD $12.99.<\/p>\n

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Spotify’s latest price increases will be welcomed by record companies, as well as investors, amid SPOT’s ongoing profitability drive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Q1 (the three months to end of March), Spotify posted<\/a> an operating income of\u00a0\u20ac168 million ($182.41m),<\/strong> which it noted in its investor presentation in April was \u201ca new quarterly high\u201d and reflected \u201clower personnel and related costs and marketing spend\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spotify\u00a0slashed<\/a>\u00a0around\u00a017%<\/strong>\u00a0of its global workforce in December, the streaming company\u2019s third round of job cuts last year.<\/p>\n

The company saw its global Premium Subscriber base grow to 239 million paying users in Q1, up\u00a014% YoY<\/b>, and up by\u00a03 million<\/b>\u00a0net subscribers on the\u00a0236 million<\/b>\u00a0that SPOT counted at the end of the prior quarter (Q4 2023). (see below).<\/p>\n

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Spotify’s latest price hike in the US arrives amid the streaming service’s battle with music publishers in the market over SPOT\u2019s decision to reclassify its Premium<\/strong>\u00a0tiers as \u2018bundles<\/strong>\u2019 by combining music and audiobooks.<\/p>\n

The move has resulted in Spotify\u00a0paying a lower mechanical royalty rate in the US to publishers and songwriters<\/a>\u00a0than standalone music subscription services.<\/p>\n

On May 16, the US-based Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) sued<\/a>\u00a0Spotify\u00a0for allegedly underpaying royalties to songwriters and publishers as a result of it reclassifying its Premium services as bundles.<\/p>\n

In October, Spotify started offering 15 hours worth of audiobooks<\/a> with its Premium plans for free, in other words, \u2018bundling\u2019 access to audiobooks with its Premium services. Spotify then launched<\/a> a $9.99 per month standalone audiobook tier in March in the US.<\/p>\n

On Spotify’s Q1 earnings call on April 23, Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek<\/a>\u00a0confirmed<\/a> that a new \u2018music-only\u2019 subscription tier is coming to the platform. The cost and launch date of that \u2018music-only\u2019 tier have not yet been confirmed yet.<\/p>\n

On Spotify’s landing page about its price updates<\/a>, the company writes: “As we continue to grow our platform, we are updating our Premium prices so that we can keep innovating in changing market conditions. These updates will help us continue delivering value to fans.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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