For the second time in under a year, Spotify is raising its price for subscribers.
Starting next month, the company says subscribers in the U.S. will pay an extra $1 per month for ad-free streaming, bringing the price to $11.99 per month. That follows an announcement last July, when it hiked the price from $10.99 per month.
While two price bumps in a row are unusual, Spotify is hardly alone in its decision to raise the cost of ad-free music. Many major streaming services have increased prices in the past year as labels seek higher royalty payments and the services shift from user acquisition to earning a profit.
The price hikes are not limited to individual subscribers. Family and student plans are also going to cost $1 more per month, and the Duo plan, which lets two people split a premium plan, will increase by $2.
“We are committed to delivering the best audio content around the world, and we are always working to bring our subscribers a highly personalized experience and powerful discovery tools. This update will help us continue delivering value to fans,” the company said in a statement.
As mentioned, Spotify is just the latest music streaming service to raise prices. Pandora, earlier this year, increased the cost of its Premium monthly service from $9.99 per month to $10.99 (and hiked the price of the family option by $3 per month). Amazon, last August, bumped up the price of Amazon Music by a buck to $9.99 per month. And Apple Music, in October 2022, raised monthly prices by $1, to $10.99.
Video streaming services have also been increasing prices regularly, with YouTube TV subscribers seeing their price double from 2017 to today. Disney+ ad-free subscribers have also seen prices double since the 2019 launch.
Video services, though, are in the midst of preparing bundles, which could save subscribers of multiple services some money.
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Chris Morris
