Spotify to raise prices for customers again

SPOTIFY is planning to increase the price of its streaming subscriptions for the second time in a year as the music industry seeks to recoup greater royalties from the technology company.

The Swedish music streaming company will increase the cost of its main subscription plans by as much as $2 (£1.58) per month in five markets, including the UK, later this month. Price rises in the US could follow later in the year. Its main premium plan, which includes music, podcasts and 15 hours of audiobooks, currently costs £10.99 per month in the UK and is poised to go up, Bloomberg reported.

Spotify will also introduce a slightly cheaper basic tier, excluding audiobooks, priced around the cost of its current premium subscription, and is exploring another, more expensive, tier with higher quality audio.

The streaming business, which is listed in New York and has more than 200m paying subscribers, has been attempting to stem years of making losses. Spotify grew rapidly by offering a free streaming service – supported by advertising – alongside a premium plan with no advertising that cost £9.99 per month. The company refused to increase that subscription price until last summer, when it upped its main plan by£1 in most of its major markets.

Music industry bosses had long called on Spotify to improve payouts to labels and artists, who only get a tiny fraction of a penny per stream, including by pushing through price rises for consumers. Spotify paid out £7bn to artists and record labels in 2023.

Shares in Spotify climbed 7pc on the news. Spotify declined to comment.