Support NeoGAF

[Spyxos]

Spotify’s rate hike, which would reportedly raise the price of its individual “Premium Plan” to $10.99 per month, is the latest in a string of streaming services to increase pricing, following Amazon Music’s decision in January to increase its “Unlimited Individual Plan” from $9.99 to $10.99 per month, while raising its student pricing from $4.99 to $5.99 per month (Forbes reached out to Spotify for confirmation).

YouTube Music this week also increased the price of its individual music plan from $8.99 per month to $10.99, while Spotify rival Apple Music raised its prices in October by $1 for individual users and by $2 for families, to $10.99 and $16.99 per month, respectively.

Netflix also adjusted its subscription model this month, scrapping its cheapest ad-free plan for new customers in the U.S. and U.K., in a move to drive new subscribers to more expensive ad-free plans or a cheaper plan with ads, a move Netflix had previously sworn off—Netflix’s ad-free “Standard Plan” costs $15.49 per month while a “Premium Plan” with four simultaneous streams goes for $19.99 and its “Standard With Ads Plan” costs $6.99 per month.

Also this month: NBCUniversal’s Peacock raised its rates from $4.99 to $5.99 per month for its “Premium Plan” while increasing its ad-free plan from $9.99 to $11.99—the latest streaming service to do so as the so-called streaming wars heat up.

Streaming's price hikes: Spotify is set to get more expensive: reports

Spotify plans to raise the price of its advertisement-free premium streaming plan by $1 a month, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

www.forbes.com.au

 

[Party McHardy]

Just got an email my sub is going up a dollar. Figure it’s as good a time as any to take up that 6 months free Apple Music offer.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

YouTube premium is going up too. These many times over billion dollar companies need more money.

 

[BossLackey]

Well, that fucking sucks.

 

[jshackles]

Inflation is a bitch.

I got the email about Peacock. I got the two-month free trial from Xbox - just in time for my annual monthly subscription to watch the Tour de France live. Looks like next year I'll have to pay more. I would not subscribe to this monthly though.

 

[AJUMP23]

Never used premium. I don’t really use the Spotify.

 

[nightmare-slain]

£1 more a month? Not too bad!

Anyway I usually buy the £99 gift code on Amazon so i get 12 months for the price of 10 or £8.25/month over a year. I just bought another year recently because I knew it was a matter of time before a price hike came. My sub is good until December 2024. I'm tempted to get another year while it's still at £99 for a year....

But again, if I was paying monthly it's only an extra £12/year. I can't live without Spotify so they could've hiked it to £20/month and I'd still pay.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Never used premium. I don’t really use the Spotify.

I don't use premium, because I don't need to. I use Spotify primarily to listen to podcasts and it never interrupts them to play ads. And even if I listen to songs I restart the app which takes a few seconds and the ad 'problem' goes away.

 

[dorkimoe]

Its the licenses and owners of the content that are causing this. Licensing fees are just ridiculous. They end up paying x amount of dollars to have 1 show from a network and not all the shows, so they get nickel and dimed too.

 

[ahtlas7]

I just signed up for apple music family plan ~$15. So many albums in atmos! My tinnitus is in overdrive.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Buy albums.

 

[tamago84]

Well back to Apple Music student.. only did Spotify student for the $1

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

Sometimes I forget I'm paying for some streaming service until they have a price increase. Often realize I barely use it and cancel.

 

[Spyxos]

Spotify stock losses intensify after earnings miss and price hikes​

Spotify stock notched its second-consecutive day of significant declines Tuesday as investors responded sourly to the music streaming service’s price hikes in its premium plan and another quarter of staggering losses.​

• Spotify shares tumbled more than 12% to $144 by 3 p.m. ET, slipping to their lowest level since late May and building on the stock’s 4.7% loss Monday.
• Driving the losses Monday, the Swedish company announced it would raise the price for its individual Premium plan from $9.99 to $10.99, while a quarterly earnings report Tuesday morning disappointed financial expectations and further doused the stock.
• Spotify lost roughly $330 million during the second quarter, far worse than its $225 million loss during the first quarter and its $138 million loss during the second quarter of last year, while its $3.5 billion of quarterly revenue came in short of consensus analyst estimates tracked by FactSet.
• Yet, the company painted a different picture in its earnings release, as it highlighted its strongest-ever quarterly growth in monthly active users and its best-ever second quarter for paid subscriber growth, primarily attributing its losses to its efforts to “streamline operations and reduce costs.”
• Shares of Spotify are still up about 80% this year, though they are down nearly 60% from their 2021 all-time high of nearly $370.

Spotify stock losses intensify after earnings miss and price hikes

Shares of the Swedish music streaming giant tanked 11% Tuesday after reporting earnings, set for their worst day in nine months.

www.forbes.com.au

 

[Soltype]

about to cancel mine, they're missing way too much music, big stuff too.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

It's how they get you in the keep net isn't it?

Probably sitting there saying its only $/£1 I spend $/£ 4-6 a day on a shit cup of coffee or can of drink etc.

And that's the rub. Cos you only look at it being 'just a pound / dollar' you write it off. And then everything goes up a pound or a dollar and you act like its fine cos you would spend £/$50 if you were going out Friday but because your staying in this weekend, money saved.

But they're cunts for it at the end of the day.

 

[nightmare-slain]

It's how they get you in the keep net isn't it?

Probably sitting there saying its only $/£1 I spend $/£ 4-6 a day on a shit cup of coffee or can of drink etc.

And that's the rub. Cos you only look at it being 'just a pound / dollar' you write it off. And then everything goes up a pound or a dollar and you act like its fine cos you would spend £/$50 if you were going out Friday but because your staying in this weekend, money saved.

But they're cunts for it at the end of the day.

if it was £12, 15, 20/month i'd still pay for it. well, i'd give Apple Music a try again first but probably would go back to Spotify. Last time I tried Apple Music they didn't have an app on Windows so I had to use iTunes , listen to the web player which broke every 5 minutes, or use a third party app that also had a lot of issues. I do most of my listening on desktop so that was a major reason I went back to Spotify. Also i think that Spotify has far better recommendations than Apple.

If I were to ditch Spotify then Apple is really the only other service I'd use. I'm paid up to December 2024 for Spotify but if I was paying monthly I wouldn't mind an extra £1/month. If it goes up again then I will be giving Apple another try in 2025.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I'm on Apple One (share music with a relative) but have 2TB of fucking cloud that I just don't use, Apple Arcade and News that never gets touched either. Hey ho.

 

[nightmare-slain]

I'm on Apple One (share music with a relative) but have 2TB of fucking cloud that I just don't use, Apple Arcade and News that never gets touched either. Hey ho.

i was going to sign up to that too. seemed like a good deal. not sure what it's like now. i think it'd be good for just apple music and tv+

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

You can share it with up to 5 people so good if you are paying the £32 (or your equivalent) and get 5 others to pony up £10 for Apple Music alone but pay you.

The 2TB of cloud is shared between you all mind you - fine for me my relative isn't interested in cloud, just music. I'm losing out but no other way in my situation.