The specter of Spotify price rises reared its head again after chief executive Daniel Ek said he'd like to raise prices sometime in 2023, during Spotify's recent first-quarter earnings call.
Our colleagues at Tech Radar say that talks of a price hike shouldn’t come as a shock as Ek had already hinted that a US price increase was on the cards at the Spotify October 2022 earnings call.
“But it’s the first time the Spotify head has spoken plainly of plans to make the price hike happen, with music industry stakeholders being the only remaining barrier to a more expensive Spotify,” Tech Radar clarifies.
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The good news is that there's always time to review your options and see if there are other streaming services with better deals or if now's the time to cancel and rid yourself of yet another recurring subscription fee.
How much does a Spotify subscription cost?
Spotify is a music favorite with its easy-to-use app, playlist-sharing features and its price with it being the cheaper option compared to other music streaming giants like Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Tidal.
Until the price rises, Spotify was charging $9.99 per month for its individual plan. This now rises to $10.99. Premium Duo memberships are $14.99, it's $16.99 for Premium Family and $5.99 for Premium Student
It might seem surprising that Spotify has waited this long to hike its prices, unlike its competitors, but it does have some limitations compared to them. For example, Spotify uses lossy compression for streaming which reduces audio quality, its competitors use lossless CD-quality streaming, and their albums are in high-res and spatial audio (better quality audio) formats.
Some might even see an issue in Spotify’s "suggested" feature that suggests music and videos based on what you already listen to, which moves away from Spotify’s mission to let users build their own music library. But many users might be in favor of this as it does the hard work for you...
Music streaming alternatives
If you’ve had Spotify for years, it’s likely that you’re attached to it and find it difficult to leave, because all your music is there and Spotify "knows" what you like.
Moving to a different music subscription can seem like hard work, having to start over with your playlists and artist favorites, but you could be better off when it comes to price. Here are some streaming alternatives.
Apple Music
Price: $4.99 (Voice Plan) / $10.99 (Standard Subscription) monthly
Apple Music’s music library is similar to Spotify’s and it also has Apple Radio channels. If you have an iPhone or any other iOS product, such as an iPad or Apple TV, the Apple Music app is very easy to use. The streaming giant is known for its great audio quality as it uses Dolby Atmos music.
The Apple Voice plan is designed for use with Siri and allows you to access more than 100 million songs with your voice-activated device. The standard plan gets you the full catalog in lossless audio, plus the chance to download music to your device and the option to listen online or off. And as a bonus, Apple’s new Classical app is also free for subscribers to the standard plan.
Amazon Music Unlimited
Price: $10.99 per month
Similar to Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited comes with a great range of music, and you can listen with lossless, high-res, and spatial Audio. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can bag Amazon Music Unlimited for $8.99 per month, saving you $2 per month and $24 over a year.
Tidal
Price:
$9.99 per month for lossless HiFi tier
$19.99 per month for high-res HiFi Plus tier
As Tidal was one of the first music streamers to offer High-Res audio, it is a go-to for audiophiles due to its quality and hi-fi products like integrated amplifiers and receivers. But it isn’t compatible with all devices. Tidal has announced that it is going to support the lossless audio format, FLAC, so even more people will be able to access its high-quality audio.
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