Spotify is launching a new basic subscription plan in the United States, just a few weeks after the platform implemented its second price increase in less than a year.
The tier brings back the old price of $10.99 per month and you’ll receive the same benefits as the Premium plan, except 15 hours of audiobook listening per month. That benefit isn’t available on Basic, but access to music or podcasts isn’t limited.
What’s interesting is that this option is only available to “eligible” customers. according to the announcement. You can’t sign up for the service by going to Spotify’s subscription plan web page since it isn’t there. All you see are the Premium subscriptions.
A company representative told us that you can see the options if you’re already a current subscriber and “signed into your account on desktop” and on Android phones. It essentially serves as a downgrade for users who don’t want the benefit of the audiobook.
iPhone owners will have a slightly more difficult time. Due to App Store policy, the same representative told us that iOS users cannot change their Premium subscription to Basic. They will have to do it in a desktop browser or a mobile browser.
Basic family subscription
9To5Googlediscovered in their reporting that “there is also a new ‘Basic Family’ subscription,” which costs $16.99. This second level offers almost the same benefits as a Premium Family subscription. You get access to Spotify Kids, parents can ‘manage content marked as explicit’ and you can cancel at any time. There are a few differences.
Users do not get a maximum of six Premium or Kids accounts, as they are all considered Basic. And just like with the basic individual subscription, families don’t have the listening hours for audiobooks. The same representative from earlier confirmed that the Basic Family Plan exists as an option. Otherwise, everything else remains the same as with the other Spotify Premium plans, and we won’t see any changes or a third price increase.
Global expansion
Earlier this month, a Spotify Basic Individual option briefly appeared in Britain before being withdrawn. Spotify has followed suit, as the company representative informed us that the option is available in the UK and Australia. They also offer a Basic Duo subscription to complement the Premium version, but they didn’t give us a price tag for other additions.
No word on anything regarding the long-awaited HiFi level, although we suspect more news will emerge soon. On June 11, a leak from Bloomberg surfaced online, showing what the platform could do with the HiFi layer. It may be released as an add-on to Spotify Premium and does not exist as a standalone service.
We asked if the company could give us any updates on the upcoming service, but they didn’t tell us much, saying they “don’t have anything to share at this time.”
Check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best music streaming services for 2024.