Popular music streaming platform, Spotify has announced a change in its premium price range for subscribers in the United States by $1. according to the streaming platform, this was to help it hit profitability after years of prioritizing user growth.
Spotify has strived to build a commendable audio experience for creators and users ever since its launch in 2018. The music streaming platform has also revealed features and new opportunities for its subscribers to connect with good tunes over the years. Features like podcasts, audiobooks, AI DJs, and fan-favorite shared experiences have made the platform stand out over the years.
Boasting hundreds of millions of subscribers, the platform said emails would be dispersed to premium subscribers, informing them of the shift in the prices. Additionally, Spotify established that this change is to further provide its users with more exciting experiences than it had in the past and to deliver value to fans and artists on its platform. The new prices in the United States by Spotify are as stated below.
| Premium Single | Premium Duo | Premium Family | Premium Student |
| $10.99 | $14.99 | $16.99 | $5.99 |
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Why the price change in Spotify’s premium plans?
In recent months, Spotify has cut hundreds of jobs and restructured its podcast which it had built up with billions of dollars in investment. The price rises come at a time when investors are putting increasing pressure on streaming services, both audio and video, to generate profitability after years of prioritizing user growth.
The move to increase subscription prices in the US comes a day before the company’s second-quarter 2023 earnings on July 25.
In the company’s third-quarter report, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek disclosed that the company is considering a price increase in the U.S., following price increases by rivals like Apple Music. “When our competitors are raising their prices, that is really good for us,” he said in the third-quarter report released in October.
Spotify attracted 5 million Premium users in the first three months of 2023, above estimates, bringing the total to 210 million. It has over 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.
Should Spotify subscribers in Africa be worried?
By 2030, the Swedish audio streaming subscription service expects to have garnered one billion customers globally, and Africa is an important aspect of their expansion aspirations.
According to Spotify Premium price by country in Africa’s report, Canary Islands-$10.66, Tunisia-$4.02, and Seychelles-$4.99 subscription payment rates are the highest Spotify monthly paying countries in Africa. While Ghana-$1.7, Egypt-$2.02, and Nigeria-$2.01 have the lowest subscription rates in Africa.
Nigeria is the second country with the most musical streams after Pakistan, according to Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu.
The service is currently making inroads into the African continent with a presence in 49 countries. However, its biggest African markets include South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. These countries have become key markets for the service as it is quickly becoming Africa’s biggest success story in the music space.
Spotify is currently available in around 183 markets and prices have increased in over 46 countries. With its new recent price increase in the US, one cannot tell where next the company would focus on for price increment which also includes Africa.
Although not all African countries have access to Spotify, the African countries where it is available are claimed to have lower pricing than the $10.99 in the United States. Furthermore, because the platform has yet to officially declare a change in its premium plans for African members, a pricing adjustment could come at any time. Particularly considering that the company intends to boost prices in 2023.
“This year, we saw the largest number of Grammy nominations for Africa artists, so it’s clear that African music is growing in popularity and that there is a lot of excitement around what is coming out of the continent,” said Gyllenhammar, late last year during an exclusive interview with ITWeb.
He added that Africa has the youngest population in the world with a strong music culture. For this reason, Africa is one of the most important growth markets Spotify is targeting, together with a couple of others.
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