It is the go-to music streaming app for millions of people around the world.
But by the end of this month, Spotify is set to hike its prices by up to $1-$2per month in the UK and US, according to a new Bloomberg report.
If true, this will be the second time Spotify has increased its prices in less than a year.
While the news is yet to be confirmed by Spotify, several users are already reacting with fury on social media.
On X (formerly Twitter, one user wrote: ‘They really want me to cancel and switch to the free tier, don’t they?’
It is the default music streaming app for millions of people around the world. But by the end of this month, Spotify is set to hike its prices by up to $1-$2 (£0.79-£1.58) per month in the UK and US, according to a new Bloomberg report
Spotify has continued to add new users and paid subscribers every year, even when it first increased prices in July 2023
Bloomberg reports that Spotify is planning to increase the cost of its premium, duo, and, family subscriptions by the end of April.
Individual subscriptions are set to increase by $1 to $11.99 while duo and family plans will rise by $2 to $16.99 and $18.99 respectively.
It remains unclear what the prices will be in the UK.
This follows Spotify’s first ever price increase in July 2023 when the company raised the monthly charge for an individual account from $9.99 to $10.99.
According to Bloomberg, the latest price increase comes as the company seeks to raise money to cover the costs of offering free audiobooks to premium subscribers.
Since late last year, Spotify has offered all premium subscribers 15 hours of free audiobooks per month.
Since Spotify only takes extra fees from those who exceed this limit, Spotify needs to increase costs to cover the price of these audiobooks.
However, Spotify is also reportedly preparing to release a new ‘basic tier subscription’ offering music and podcasts without audiobooks for $11 – the current price of an individual subscription.
While the news is yet to be confirmed by Spotify, several users are already reacting with fury on social media
Some commenters have said that they will not pay any more for the same service if Spotify continues to increase prices
Some commenters on X said that they had already cancelled their subscription, with one adding: ‘Free is good for me’
However, many UK and US subscribers are already complaining that the new prices will be too high to justify paying for.
On X, one Spotify subscriber wrote: ‘If the increase is more than a dollar I will no longer be paying for that app’.
‘Reminds me that I need to cancel my sub’, wrote one commenter.
Another wrote that they had ‘already cancelled sub [subscription], free is good for me.’
A number of commenters also wrote that they would now be turning to other methods to get their music including CDs and digital piracy.
One commenter wrote: ‘Yeah I’m not gonna just keep paying more for this if I’m not getting more in return. Time to start pirating again.’
Meanwhile another added: ‘Buying CDs are starting to look more attractive’.
‘Reminds me that I need to cancel my sub’, wrote one commenter
Spotify users took to social media saying they would be looking for their music elsewhere, including through digital piracy
On X, one Spotify user said that buying CDs might be a better option than paying for Spotify
Despite an outpouring of frustration online, Spotify looks likely to continue its growth.
Spotify has managed to add new monthly users and paid subscribers every year since it was founded in 2015.
Even between 2022 and 2023, during the time prices were last increased, Spotify added 113 million new users.
By the end of 2023, Spotify had 612 million monthly users – 236 million of which were paid subscribers.
However, it is worth noting that the growth in free users continues to outstrip the number of new paying customers.
This year Spotify has also attempted to branch out of music streaming in order to attract more users.
In March Spotify went head-to-head with YouTube as it launched a music-video streaming service for premium subscribers.
Spotify declined to comment on the reported price rise but confirmed that premium subscribers will be notified via email before any changes are made to their account pricing.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
