International Courant
Spotify is ready to hike the worth of its music streaming subscription within the U.S. to $10.99 monthly for a person plan — up one greenback — a transfer that will be a very long time in coming and comply with related will increase by opponents, based on a Wall Avenue Journal report.
It’s not clear when Spotify’s U.S. value improve would go into impact. The Journal story, citing nameless sources, mentioned the worth hike for United States prospects is anticipated to be introduced subsequent week, adopted by related will increase in “dozens of markets globally within the coming months.”
Spotify has not modified the $9.99-per-month value of the ad-free Premium plan within the U.S. because it launched in 2011.
A Spotify rep declined to remark. The corporate is scheduled to report second-quarter 2023 earnings subsequent Tuesday, July 25, earlier than the market opens.
Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO, has mentioned the corporate is contemplating a value improve within the U.S., following value will increase by rivals like Apple Music. “When our opponents are elevating their costs, that’s actually good for us,” he mentioned on the corporate’s third-quarter 2022 earnings name in October, noting that the corporate has raised costs greater than 40 occasions in markets around the globe.
Ek mentioned that elevating the subscription value within the U.S., the world’s largest music market by far, “is without doubt one of the issues we wish to do and it’s one thing we are going to [discuss] with our label companions. I be ok with this upcoming 12 months, and what it means about pricing for our service,” he mentioned, with out offering additional particulars.
Final fall, Apple Music raised its subscription value to $10.99 monthly for people, with the household plan leaping two {dollars} to $16.99/month, amongst different plan will increase. Amazon Music Limitless additionally raised its month-to-month value to $10.99 (for non-Prime members), and this week YouTube elevated the worth of the YouTube Music Premium plan to $10.99/month (whereas additionally elevating the payment for YouTube Premium by $2, to $13.99/month).
Within the first three months of 2023, Spotify gained 5 million Premium subscribers — beating its expectations — to face at 210 million. General, together with free, ad-supported accounts, it tallied 515 million complete customers worldwide. Income for Q1 fell wanting Spotify’s steering, which the corporate blamed on headwinds in its promoting enterprise.