Spotify to increase Premium subscription prices making Apple Music plans the cheaper option

Spotify is hiking rates for its monthly streaming plans in the U.S. for the second time in a year.

A year after Spotify first increased the price of Spotify Premium in the US, it’s happening again. Starting next month, US subscribers will receive an email detailing the new price increases for Premium, Duo, and Family plans. Spotify Premium will now cost $11.99 per month, up from the $10.99 announced last year. With the price hikes, Spotify’s U.S. subscription plans are now more expensive than those of rival Apple Music, which offers an individual plan for $10.99 per month and a family plan for $16.99 per month (with access for up to six people).

If you subscribe to Spotify Duo, the price will rise by $2 per month, from $14.99 to $16.99. The Family plan will also see an increase from $16.99 to $19.99 per month. This means the price of a Spotify Duo subscription has increased by 30 percent in a year, compared to the prices before last year’s hike. Similarly, the Family plan has gone up by 25 percent, and Spotify Premium by 20 percent.

“To continue investing in and innovating our product features and providing users with the best experience, we occasionally update our prices,” says Spotify in a blog post announcing the changes. “Over the next month, subscribers in the US will receive an email explaining what this update means for their subscription.”

Last month, Spotify announced price hikes for its international subscribers, meaning the increases are not limited to US users. Bloomberg reported that Spotify still plans to launch its “Supremium” plan, which will include lossless streaming and other features. Additionally, some Spotify users have noticed a Dolby Atmos logo on the app’s Now Playing screen in recent months, suggesting this could be part of the Supremium features.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, Spotify had 239 million Premium subscribers globally, an increase of 3 million during the period. In total, the audio streaming service has 615 million listeners worldwide, including both free and paid users.