Spotify Launches Less Expensive “Basic” Premium Plan, Without Audiobooks

Alex Weprin
·1 min read

Just weeks after raising the prices for its premium subscription offerings, Spotify is making another change and launching a less expensive tier.

The streaming music platform on Friday launched what it is calling a “Basic” premium plan, which will include all of the streaming music benefits, without any audiobooks. The new Basic plan will cost $10.99 per month, the same as the Spotify standard plan (which it calls “Premium Individual”) used to cost.

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Earlier this month Spotify raised prices for all of its subscription plans, increasing Premium Individual plans to $11.99 per month, the duo plan rising by $2 per month to $16.99, and the family plan rising by $3 per month to $19.99. The student plan, which is offered at a discount to verified students, remained set at $5.99.

One of the reasons the company gave for the hikes was the addition of new offerings, including audiobooks, which are a corporate prerogative.

But the new music-only tier suggests that Spotify is willing to play around with its offerings to maximize subscriber revenue. For example, it is also offering users of its ad-supported tier the option to add audiobooks for $9.99 per month.

That is a product that would appeal to avid audiobook listeners who don’t particularly care about the music offering, in the same way that the new Basic plan appeals to music fans who don’t care about audiobooks.

Spotify, like other streaming services, is trying to become a profitable, sustainable business, and new offerings in both content, subscriptions and advertising are seen as key to hitting that goal.

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