LONDON: Spotify Technology on Monday raised prices for its premium plans across several countries, as the music-streaming company looks to boost profitability in an uncertain economy.
The move will result in a $1 price increase for Spotify’s US plans, with the premium single now starting at $10.99, duo at $14.99, family at $16.99 and the student plan at $5.99.
Spotify announced that 33 countries, specifically most of which are in the North America and European area, will be affected by the increase.
The Swedish streaming platform confirmed that users in countries in the Middle Eastern and North Africa region are not be affected changes to their subscription plans at this stage.
Spotify has moved in recent months to boost margins with hundreds of layoffs and a restructuring of the podcast unit, which it had built up with billions of dollars in investment.
The price increases come at a time when streaming services, both audio and video, are under rising investor pressure to boost profitability after years of prioritizing user growth.
Rivals services from Apple and Amazon.com and Tidal have all increased prices this year, while YouTube also hiked prices last week on its monthly and annual premium plans in the US for the first time since the subscription service was launched in 2018.
Spotify, which had indicated in April that it would raise prices in 2023, had also raised prices in 46 countries last year.
The Sweden-based company reported on Tuesday second-quarter results that comfortably beat expectations for both monthly active users and subscribers, and forecast the number of listeners each month would reach 572 million next quarter.
With Reuters
