Spotify is raising subscription prices in the U.K. for the second time in 18 months, a rep for the company confirms to Variety, and is also increasing the price of its Premium plans in Switzerland. In the U.K., the price of Spotify’s monthly individual Premium plan will rise to £12.99 from £11.99; it raised that price by a pound in April 2024.
The price of the company’s Spotify’s Duo plan in the U.K. is also rising by a pound, from £16.99 to £17.99 per month, and the Family plans will rise by two pounds, from £19.99 to £21.99 per month. The discounted Student tier apparently will remain at £5.99 per month, according to Music Business Worldwide.
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“As we continue innovating and enhancing the value we deliver, we periodically update our pricing to reflect local market conditions and economic factors, ensuring our service remains unparalleled,” the company said in a notification to users.
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In Switzerland, the price of an individual subscription increases from 13.95 Swiss Francs to 15.95, or around $20 per month, with increases in other plans similar to the U.K., although the Student tier rises by a Franc.
This move may be paving the way for an inevitable price increase in the U.S., which last took place in in June 2024 when individual Premium plans went up by $1 per month to $11.99 — an arguably long-overdue increase, since streaming provides enormous value for consumers but considerably less for musicians and especially songwriters.
In a move that met with widespread criticism, last year Spotify reduced its royalty payments to musicians and songwriters by hundreds of millions of dollars per year by automatically imposing a bundling plan with its audiobooks division that few music fans would seem likely to want.
Multiple analysts, from Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan and beyond, have said that a U.S. price increase is likely by next year at the latest. J.P. Morgan has estimated that such an increase in the U.S. would increase Spotify’s annual revenue by around $493 million — nearly half a billion dollars.
It seems likely that such a move would be accompanied by an update in the company’s service, perhaps the much-discussed “Superfan” tier that would provide access to more music and other assets (presumably merch exclusives and the like).
Variety will have more on the situation as it develops.