Despite the rise of multiple music streaming services in recent years, Spotify still stands as one of the biggest services. In the latest quarterly report, the company announced it has 194 million paid subscribers. That certainly is a major achievement, but the company wants even more. As per the reports, the company wants to achieve 200 million paid subscribers amount by the end of the year. However, a controversial move is set to reach the United States soon. That may impact Spotify’s plans.
Spotify may follow the tendency and raise its plans
There is a tendency for streaming companies to raise the prices of their services. We can blame the economic crisis and inflation. Apple recently announced a price hike on its services, and Apple Music is not an exception. Nowadays, raising the price of its services needs a certain level of “courage”. After all, Netflix lost multiple subscribers after continuous price hikes. Apple was the first, and now it seems that Spotify will follow suit.
During the earning calls, Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel EK discussed several topics. He was asked about the price hike and promptly replied: “When our competitors are raising their prices, that is really good for us”. He didn’t state that Spotify will raise its prices. However, he says that there are multiple rounds of discussions to come before any price increase. So far, most of the profit in Spotify comes from subscriptions, but the company has been exploring other territories. The inclusion of audiobooks on the platform is a new way to get some profit. These audiobooks are not part of the subscription and require a separate payment.
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Spotify CEO criticizes Apple
The executive also shared his thoughts on Apple and how it continues to “dictate” tendencies. To him, it would be better if Apple allowed users to have the option to choose whatever payment method is optimal for them. In fact, this limitation may bring trouble for Apple in India. Moreover, he says that Apple purposely hampers the app experience of its competitors in order to get an edge on its own platform. Regardless of that, Spotify has a lot to offer and plans to bring even more to users despite the platform. Despite the so-called Apple’s oppression, Spotify’s revenue is stable.
There are reports of a new HiFi tier for Spotify. This particular plan could bring a set of interesting features such as Audio Insights, Headphone Tuner, Library Pro, PlayList Pro, and Studio Sound. This particular tier could arrive with a price tag of $19.99.
