After a price hike in July 2023—and ahead of the Supremium tier announcement—Spotify is once again raising prices in the US. According to a blog post, US customers will receive an email over the next month to inform them they’ll pay more for what they currently get.
The email reads:
Thank you for being a Premium subscriber: Starting on your billing date in July, your subscription price will change from $10.99/month to $11.99/month.
We’re increasing the price of Premium Individual so that we can continue to invest in and innovate on our product offerings and features, and bring you the best experience.”
Spotify says that his change was necessary to help users continue to discover and enjoy music, podcasts, and audiobooks, as the company needs to keep investing and innovating on its products, even though it sometimes means “occasionally updating” the prices.
Interestingly, this price increase comes a few days after the company announced it was shutting down its Car Thing hardware product. While users were angry with this unilateral decision, Spotify raising prices a week later won’t help change their feelings about the music streaming service.
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Bloomberg first reported this possible price increase in April. However, the publication expected Spotify to announce a few changes, including a more affordable tier without audiobooks. As it seems, the music streaming service opted not to offer several options but kept paying users on a more expensive tier, whether they use everything or not.
That said, Spotify still needs to announce its “supremium” plan, which will include high-fidelity audio, audiobooks, and other features.
While an Apple Music subscription doesn’t include audiobooks as a perk, it does include Dolby Atmos songs, Hi-Fi quality, and Apple Music Classical service at no additional cost—and at a more affordable price.
As service prices increase, it’s unclear how long it will take US customers to start looking for other options, especially when they can have an Apple One subscription, which offers many more perks for less.