Spotify Raises U.S. Subscription Prices Again: Here’s What You Need to Know
Brook.X
Spotify, the world's largest music streaming platform by user base, has recently announced another round of price hikes for its subscription plans in the U.S., less than a year after the previous increase. While the hikes are not drastic, they affect all plans except the student plan. Notably, the family plan sees the highest increase, jumping from $16.99 to $19.99 per month.
Here are the updated prices for Spotify's U.S. subscription plans:
- Spotify Premium Individual: Increased from $10.99/month to $11.99/month
- Spotify Premium Duo: Increased from $14.99/month to $16.99/month
- Spotify Premium Family: Increased from $16.99/month to $19.99/month
- Spotify Premium Student: Remains at $5.99/month
In an email to subscribers, Spotify explained, "We are raising our subscription prices so that we can continue to invest in and innovate our products and features, delivering the best experience for you."
Although this rationale is frequently cited during price hikes, it has become somewhat repetitive. It's worth noting that various streaming platforms, including Netflix, YouTube Premium, Google One, and Apple One, have also been rapidly adjusting their prices in recent years, and this trend is likely to continue.
However, users have found ways to cope with these price increases. Besides the traditional method of password sharing, cross-region subscriptions and sharing family plans have become popular. While family plans are intended for household members, users can form virtual families with others from different locations to share the cost, reducing the individual financial burden.
So far, no platform has aggressively cracked down on these virtual family arrangements, so this workaround remains viable for now. Whether it will continue to be tolerated in the future remains uncertain.
