Image: © ImagesRouges/Stock.adobe.com
The price has already changed on the website for new subscribers, while existing subscribers will be informed through email about the new price.
Spotify has confirmed that it is raising the price of its premium subscription in multiple countries today (24 July), including Ireland.
The price for a single Premium subscription has been raised from €9.99 a month to €10.99 a month. The increased rate applies to 53 countries in total, including the UK, the US, Thailand, Australia and various European countries.
For Ireland, the duo subscription has also gone up by €1 to €14.99 a month, while the family and student prices remain unchanged compared to June. Other countries like the US are seeing raised prices for all subscription options.
Existing customers that are set to get a raise to their monthly bill will be emailed by Spotify starting from today. These customers will also be given a one-month grace period before the new price becomes effective, unless they cancel before that grace period ends. Anyone who becomes a new customer will immediately pay the updated price.
“The market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched,” Spotify said in a statement. “So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets around the world. These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.”
The price change comes as Spotify struggles with financial difficulties, despite a growing subscriber base. By the end of 2022, the music streaming company managed to surpass the milestone of 200m paid subscribers, but its gross profit dropped due to investments in podcast content and other products.
Meanwhile, the company’s operating losses saw a significant increase, which Spotify attributed to rises in the advertising market and “higher personnel costs” due to headcount growth.
At the start of 2023, Spotify revealed plans to cut roughly 6pc of its global workforce, due to the stark difference in operational expenditure compared to revenue growth. Last month, the company said it would cut an additional 200 employees from its podcast business, as part of a wider move to “optimise” the growing division.
Spotify is also reportedly working on a ‘Supremium’ subscription tier, which is expected to offer perks such as HiFi (high fidelity) audio quality and access to a greater selection of audiobooks, along with a higher price tag.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
