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Spotify has officially announced that its subscription will go up, starting next month. The price hike will come into effect in Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the UK, and at least one other market, with the US to follow later this year. While it’s the second time in less than a year for Spotify, this marks the first time markets like Sri Lanka got a price increase since its launch in 2021.
As per the company, the price of a monthly Spotify Premium Individual plan will go from LKR 529 to LKR 750, which marks a roughly 42% increase. Both the Duo and Student plans will see a similar uptick at LKR 969 and LKR 375 respectively. However, the Family option will be priced at LR 1,269, a nearly 50% difference. Spotify states that these new prices will come into effect at the end of the billing cycle in May, though new subscribers will have to sign up at the updated rates.
Rising costs and growing ambitions
The move comes amid increasing costs for Spotify, particularly as the company grows ambitions around audiobooks and generative AI. Despite being only a few months old, Spotify has already become the second-largest audiobook company behind Amazon’s Audible. Recently, Spotify expanded its audiobook offering from Australia, the UK, and the US to Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The company is also betting on generative AI for its future. With the Spotify DJ feature gaining popularity among many users, the service is now experimenting with an AI playlist that will let users create a list of tracks based on text prompts.
According to a Bloomberg report, Spotify is expected to introduce a new “basic” plan that will cover only music and podcasts at the $10.99 pricing, one of its few upcoming plans. The streaming service is also believed to be working on a “supremium” tier that will charge a higher price for high-fidelity audio. Either way, it’s unclear how any of these rumored plans will impact markets like Sri Lanka.
Interestingly, despite the price increase, Spotify is yet to open up some of its features like its AI DJ, audiobooks, and podcasts to Sri Lanka. Last year, a regional representative for the company claimed Spotify DJ is likely to become available on the island sometime in late 2023. However, no update on a feature launch has been made public as of yet.
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