Spotify Considers First U.S. Price Increase for Individual Premium Plans In 2023
Inflation has been at a 40-year high for most of 2022, and so far seemingly nothing has been safe from price hikes, save for Costco hotdogs and your Spotify subscription.
Unfortunately, in the case of Spotify, the days of the individual benchmark $9.99/month plan for U.S. customers may soon be a thing of the past.
The subject of a price increase has been a topic of frequent speculation in years past, but on Tuesday's earnings call the streaming giant gave the first clear indication they are seriously considering one in 2023. Spotify's individual plans have remained $9.99/month since the company first launched them in the U.S. in 2011.
Speaking with analysts, CEO Daniel Ek said raising prices "is one of the things we would like to do and it’s something we will [discuss] with our label partners."
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Despite price increases impacting seemingly every other aspect of daily life, Spotify has been resistant to raising the price of their flagship plan in part due to intense competition in the U.S. from their trillion-dollar big tech competitors, Apple Music and Amazon Music. However, the pricing landscape for music streaming shifted earlier this week in a material way when the former raised the price of its individual plans to $10.99/month.
Ek acknowledged that Apple's increase will ultimately prove favorable for Spotify's financial outlook as well.
"When our competitors are raising their prices, that is really good for us," Ek explained, adding that he believes Spotify possesses similar pricing power.
Elsewhere in the earnings report, the Swedish company reported greater losses than expected at -€0.99 per share in the most recent quarter, which was a disappointment against analyst expectations of -€0.85 per share. Spotify's premium subscriber count worldwide increased 13% year-over-year to 195 million.
