How does the Spotify price hike affect you?
As expected, Spotify is the latest of the music streaming services to put its prices up. The move was telegraphed back in April, and it’s now happening worldwide.
If you’re in the UK, prices have gone up by £1 per month – so an individual Premium subscription is now £10.99 a month, a dual subscription is £14.99 per month and a family subscription is £17.99.
It’s a similar story in Australia, where the prices are going up a dollar per month to AU$12.99 for individual subscribers and two dollars for duo and family plans, taking them to AU$17.99 per month and AU$20.99 per month.
In the US, prices are up $1 for individual subscribers, students and families, taking those prices to $10.99 per month, $5.99 per month and $16.99 per month respectively. Duo subscriptions are up $2, so you’ll now pay $14.99 per month.
Spotify says it’ll be a month before the new prices take effect.
How do Spotify’s prices compare to the other best music streaming services?
Sticking with US prices for simplicity, Spotify Premium is now $10.99 per month; Apple Music is $10.99 per month; YouTube Music Premium is $10.99 per month; Tidal is $10.99 per month; and Amazon Music Unlimited is $10.99 per month. So if you’re looking to save money, switching isn’t going to make any difference.
That said, there is a difference in terms of what you get from rival streamers. Spotify’s hi-fi tier still hasn’t launched, whereas Apple Music and Tidal Hi-Fi include lossless audio in their subscriptions. So if sound quality is important and you’re listening on the best wireless headphones, you’ll notice a big difference if you move to a rival. And there are even higher quality options, such as Tidal HiFi Plus, which delivers hi-res audio.
According to Spotify, its price increase is to “help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform”. Part of that value is increased royalty payments to artists: in late 2022, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Digital Media Association (DiMA) announced a deal where songwriters would get a higher royalty rate (15.35%), to be phased in between 2023 and 2027. Signatories to the deal include Amazon, Apple, Google, Pandora and Spotify.
