Music streaming service Spotify is the go-to platform for many modern listeners. With its seemingly infinite provision of music, podcasts and spoken word available to stream or download – all tied up in one slick, user-friendly interface – it’s not hard to see why users flock to it.
However, a new report from Bloomberg hints that the Stockholm-based company is about to see a trial price hike in its native Scandinavia. While Bloomberg assures that this won’t necessarily translate into a price increase elsewhere, it isn’t a stretch to suppose that other countries in which the company operates – including the UK – could eventually follow suit.
The rumoured price increase will reportedly apply to Spotify’s Family plan, which lets up to six people use the platform at once. In the UK, this currently costs £14.99/mth – ostensibly quite steep, but reasonable when you consider that six people use the service for their commutes, walks to school, exercise routines, social gatherings… you get the picture.
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Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports that Spotify will increase the price of the Family plans in Scandinavia by a not-so-negligible 13%. If the same hike were applied in the UK, it would see the Family package set customers back £17.50/mth.
While we’d ordinarily be the first to sing Spotify’s praises – it beat Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube Music in our battle to the death – if the price increase does come to fruition, it’d be unwelcome news. A sub-£15 price point is just so much more palatable than the projected £17.50, edging dangerously towards the £20 mark.
The decision comes at a time when other household-name subscription services are raising their prices. US Netflix’s subscription fees saw their biggest ever increase back in March, with plans raised between 13% and 18%. And it’s a similar story in the UK; fees have already been risen for new subscribers, with a price hike for current subscribers set to take effect later this month on 29 August.
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But streaming is a competitive market, and with lots of platforms offering generous free trial periods, we wouldn’t be surprised if a price bump pushed some subscribers to look elsewhere for their streaming needs. Apple Music offers a free three-month trial period in which you can get acquainted with the service, while Amazon Music is included in the price of Amazon Prime, a service which many people already subscribe to.
Nothing has yet been confirmed by Spotify, so don’t go deserting the platform just yet. That would be hasty. Instead, you can check out some of Spotify’s main competitors – their merits and demerits – in our full-length comparison here .
We’ll be updating this page as, when and if we hear more news regarding a potential price hike from Spotify, so stay tuned.
