Spotify Will Join Apple And YouTube To Play Subscription Prices

JAKARTA - Spotify seems to be following in the footsteps of Apple Music and YouTube to increase subscription prices in the United States (US).

"Most of it's for US-based price hikes, it's one of the things we want to do, and this is a conversation we're going to have with regard to this latest development with our label partners," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a earnings call last week.

At the same time, Spotify reports its third-quarter revenue is experiencing an increase in active users and paid subscribers, as well as a better-than-expected revenue increase.

Since its launch in 2011, the music streaming service with the green logo has cost IDR 155 thousand for its individual premium subscriptions.

Meanwhile, Apple's competitors also first increased the subscription price of its Music from IDR 155 thousand to IDR 171 thousand due to rising music licensing costs.

Likewise with YouTube announcing starting November, its Premium family plans will soar from Rp280 thousand to Rp358 thousand in the US and Canada, and from Rp325 thousand to Rp361 thousand in the UK.

Ek added that when Spotify's competitors raised their prices, it was good for the company and he claimed to have raised the price of his services in more than 46 markets around the world before.

Spotify subscribers can reportedly experience a subscription price increase in 2023 but it's not clear how much this increase will take and whether the company will also plan to increase prices globally.

Launching METRO, Monday, October 31, price increases occurred during a period of rapid inflation around the world forcing businesses to increase prices.

Even so, it remains to be seen whether users will be willing to pay when prices have increased, especially as Spotify does not offer music in Spatial Audio format or high resolution.

Users are also only provided with streaming using lossy compression, even for the paid Premium subscription rate, while other services are screened in lossless CD quality.

To compete effectively with other services, Spotify needs to add high-resolution audio and other features.

It is claimed that the streaming giant is working on the Platinum level at a price of IDR 467 thousand per month with access to the HiFi feature and various other features.