Spotify has officially upped the price of its premium music-streaming subscription in the United States to $10.99 per month, as predicted – the first such price increase since the service began in the country in 2011.
The move comes after months of pressure from the music business and musicians, as well as each of its competitors raising costs to a similar extent. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that such a move was impending.
The business made the revelation in a blog post Monday morning, in strangely contrite language that underscores CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek’s lengthy opposition to increasing pricing.
“The market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched,” it reads. “So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets* around the world. These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.
“Starting today, existing subscribers in these markets will receive an email explaining what this means for their account. In the US, the new prices are:
| Premium | Price |
| Single | $10.99 |
| Duo | $14.99 |
| Family | $16.99 |
| Student | $5.99 |
Spotify — which, per its last earnings report, is the world’s largest paid music-streaming service with around 210 million subscribers — is also increasing its Premium prices in around 50 other markets, including Canada, much of Europe, and markets in Asia, South America, and Australasia. It says Premium subscribers will be “given a one-month grace period before the new price becomes effective unless they cancel before the grace period ends.”
The business made the announcement in a blog post Monday morning, using strangely remorseful language that underscores CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek’s lengthy opposition to raising pricing.
Ek has previously suggested that the company is considering raising rates in the United States in reaction to competitors such as Apple Music raising prices. “When our competitors raise their prices, that is really good for us,” he said at the company’s third-quarter 2022 earnings conference in October, noting that the company has raised prices more than 40 times in markets throughout the world up to that point.
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Apple Music hiked its subscription fee for individuals to $10.99 per month last autumn, with the family plan increasing by two dollars to $16.99/month, among other changes. Amazon Music Unlimited boosted its monthly rate for non-Prime members to $10.99, and YouTube raised the price of its YouTube Music Premium plan to $10.99/month this week (while also upping the fee for YouTube Premium by $2, to $13.99/month).
Spotify increased its Premium subscriber base by 5 million in the first three months of 2023, above expectations, bringing the total to 210 million. It has 515 million total users globally, including free, ad-supported accounts. Spotify’s revenue for the first quarter fell short of its projection, which the firm blamed on challenges in its advertising business.