Spotify reportedly set to test higher price on its family plan

Cal Jeffrey

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Why it matters: Despite having over 108 million subscribers, Spotify is still operating in the red. Having gone public over a year ago, the music streaming service is still struggling to turn a profit. It wants to see if it can raise rates without driving away business.

Spotify is reportedly set to test a price hike in some markets. Bloomberg notes that sources close to the company said that it would increase the subscription cost of the family plan by about 13 percent. It will test that price point in Scandinavia.

The Stockholm-based company is likely trying the rate increase in the Northern European region first since it has a strong foothold there.

“The test doesn’t mean Spotify will raise prices elsewhere or do so permanently in Scandinavia,” the sources said. Much will depend on how the test goes.

Spotify has declined to comment on the matter.

A family plan currently costs $15 and allows up to five people access to the subscription. A 13-percent hike would equate to about a $2 increase.

The potential rate increase could be due to the downward trend seen when looking at revenue per listener (above). Since 2015, that ratio has dipped roughly 2 euros per user. This trend is due at least in part to the family plan gaining ground.

Additionally, the company began testing Spotify Duo back in March which it offers for €12.49 ($14), which is only one euro less than the family plan. The price hike would widen the gap between the two subscription types without jostling the current subscribers too much.

Image credit: norazaminayob / Shutterstock

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It's already expensive just to "rent" music. I will just switch services. I nearly dropped them several times because they didn't even have an explicit filter until just a little while back.

Back in the day, providers would give you permanent ownership of at least one song each month. It seems trivial to offer subscribers (or "free" listeners) to permanently purchase songs. If they offered their rental service a bit cheaper, I would buy songs at lossless quality. They could really rake it in, but I guess nobody can figure that out. SMH.
 
It's already expensive just to "rent" music. I will just switch services. I nearly dropped them several times because they didn't even have an explicit filter until just a little while back.

Back in the day, providers would give you permanent ownership of at least one song each month. It seems trivial to offer subscribers (or "free" listeners) to permanently purchase songs. If they offered their rental service a bit cheaper, I would buy songs at lossless quality. They could really rake it in, but I guess nobody can figure that out. SMH.
Go cheap and get the free version then.Or just fart about with a small music collection.
 
Why pay so much to rent?

I have always been a listener of radio stations that play music I like. Got a car with Android auto recently and have given the free version of Spotify a try. Have to say I prefer listening to the radio. I do prefer to listen to news and radio hosts in between songs.

If I ever wanted to play dedicated music I like I would be better off buying the music on CD and burning it to play on my phone. Every month I could buy one or two new cds for the same price as renting it via Spotify. A little patience and you will soon have a reasonable sized collection of music. This could be why they are not profitable?

I'm new to streaming services so is there a service which allows you to play your own cds? I'm not talking about buying online then if the service goes away you lose the collection. I mean upload my music to stream to me anywhere. This is cds I have already purchased. I am guessing no as the music studios would shut it down immediately?
 
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