Spotify has a new plan for US subscribers that retains you on the outdated $11 month-to-month pricing — so long as you don’t thoughts ditching audiobooks. The brand new Primary tier consists of the music and podcast content material you get from Premium however with out 15 hours of audiobook entry, a lately added characteristic we suspect many subscribers don’t care about anyway. Spotify mentioned earlier this month it will hike Premium costs to $12 per thirty days, starting in July.
The Primary plan echoes one it rolled out within the UK final month. That one prices £11 per thirty days in comparison with £12 for Premium with audiobook content material.
Some have suspected Spotify’s audiobook push has nefarious motives. Earlier this month, the Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation requested the Federal Commerce Fee to research the transfer, going so far as calling the corporate’s audiobook integration “a scheme to extend earnings by deceiving customers and dishonest the music royalty system.” The NMPA criticism claims Spotify can pay about $150 million much less in music royalties over the following yr due to its audiobook fusion. Spotify instructed Engadget it did nothing flawed and rejected the accusations.
Spotify has been penny-pinching in different areas. It was reported final yr that the corporate deliberate to overtake its royalty mannequin. One alleged a part of that plan was to demonetize tracks incomes lower than 5 cents per thirty days, pushing out some indie artists with out established audiences.
Spotify additionally laid off round 9,000 workers late final yr, citing “the hole between our monetary objective state and our present operational prices.”
You possibly can swap to the audiobook-free tier (which is now reside) by navigating to your account page, then “Handle your plan” and “Change plan” and choosing Primary. In case you’re a brand new subscriber, you’ll be able to select the Primary possibility when signing up.
Replace, June 21, 2024, 2:36 PM ET: This story has been up to date to notice that the flexibility to enroll in the Primary plan is now reside.
