Spotify is raising US subscription prices again - here's how much more you'll pay

[midian182]

What just happened? Everything is more expensive these days, including media streaming services. Music fans in the US will soon be paying even more for Spotify after the service announced its third US-price hike since 2023, with Duo and Family plans hit with the biggest increases.

Spotify has announced that it is "updating" the price of its service over the next month for subscribers in the US, Estonia, and Latvia.

For Premium subscribers, Spotify is pushing the price up from the current $11.99 per month to $12.99. The company says the increase will enable it to keep "delivering a great experience," which is the excuse most streaming services like to roll out every time they become more expensive.

In addition to the Premium plans, Student plans are also going up by $1 per month, from $5.99 to $6.99. Other plans are getting bigger increases: Duo is going from $16.99 to $18.99, and Family will jump from $19.99 to $21.99.

When Spotify first launched in the US in 2011, Premium individual plans were $9.99. That price stayed in place for a very impressive 12 years. In 2023, it went to $10.99 per month. That increased to $11.99 per month in 2024, and is now set to go up by another $1 per month.

The latest change had been expected. There were reports in November that Spotify was preparing to increase subscription prices for US listeners in early 2026 after trialing similar hikes in other regions, including Australia, Switzerland, and the UK.

An extra one dollar per month isn't a lot on its own, but the US is Spotify's largest market by revenue, so even a small increase can translate into hundreds of millions of dollars extra revenue per year.

J.P. Morgan analysts have estimated that the latest increase in the US subscription price could add roughly $500 million to Spotify's annual revenue – if subscriber numbers remain similar. Some industry commentary puts the figure at a slightly lower $425 million per year – again, assuming the current subscriber base isn't significantly reduced by people quitting as a result of the higher prices.

Image credit: Eddie Pipocas

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Spotify is raising US subscription prices again – here's how much more you'll pay

 

[RudyBob]

If you pay for this "service" you deserve to be charged double

 

[toooooot]

If you pay for this "service" you deserve to be charged double

For many Americans or Europeans, 100-200 dollars spent on subscription services is more than affordable.
In addition, I see a lot of people who can afford to pay even more but switch between services to watch the good sh*t and then switch to another service.

 

[NumberNine]

Spotify has value to me because of the way I use it to share music with friends and family, and to discover new music. It doesn't replace my collection, instead it helps to grow it. I'd be a little annoyed to do without it, but I also have enough music collected to last the rest of my life.

 

[RudyBob]

I also have enough music collected to last the rest of my life.

At my age I will concur. Over the last 20 years there are maybe a half dozen songs I have liked but then again I don't go looking for new music. It's not like when I was a kid and new songs hit the AM chart every week that I looked forward to. I like youtube because I can hear what I want when I want and download the song. I look for covers of songs I like too. There are many artists on youtube that produce really good stuff.

 

[Win7user]

I, download 99% of any song, or film I want, for FREE!!

 

[bviktor]

Rest assured, I won't be paying more. In fact, I'm not paying anything. MP3 all the way baby. Bandcamp FTW.

 

[ZedRM]

I pay $0. And that will never change..

 

[jbright]

Delivering a great experience apparently means the same app, the same playlists, and slightly more money every year.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I buy music I actually like on CD. I carry a phone everywhere, it's trivial to put the music on it. Why would I pay a premium to stream the same music at a lower quality?

 

[RudyBob]

I, download 99% of any song, or film I want, for FREE!!

I think this route has no down side. I will pay a fair price for anything but I will not pay an asking price for anything either except healthcare.

 

[daffy duck]

I'll be paying $0 like I always have for ripping my own music.

 

[p51d007]

What's even fun to watch when you are bored. Go onto reddit and watch some of the spotify hacker threads. They come up with a hack, and post it, and for whatever reason DON'T think the spotify
spies are watching, and they come up with a patch in about a week, ticks them off, they come up with another hack, talk about it after release thinking they've got it, and a week later, spotify patches it again.
They are just losing themselves trying to one up Spotify.

 

[trgz]

Spotify has value to me because of the way I use it to share music with friends and family, and to discover new music. It doesn't replace my collection, instead it helps to grow it. I'd be a little annoyed to do without it, but I also have enough music collected to last the rest of my life.

But there's always been a free subscription, I've had it since before Spotify went public, and I can still log in and try out the (limited) range of music they have to offer, albeit with ads, to continue to help me discover new stuff.

 

[trgz]

I buy music I actually like on CD. I carry a phone everywhere, it's trivial to put the music on it. Why would I pay a premium to stream the same music at a lower quality?

I do the same, though I do buy CD quality downloads from Bandcamp & Qobuz and archive them. I'd really not want to buy a bigger (than 1.5TB microSD) for my portable player, given the price rises though!

 

[Jim Shoes]

So they're bumping the "Duo" plan to $18.99. That's more than Apple Music's five-person family plan which currently sells for $16.99. I originally chose Spotify because Apple Music didn't offer a two-person plan, and its Duo plan was cheaper than Apple's family plan. Apple offers a one-month free trial as well. So I'm going to try it for a month and then decide if I'm switching to Apple Music or staying with Spotify.