Spotify has been running to keep its music streaming service attractive over the rising competition. Besides the constant inclusion of features to make its service more interesting, the company has been rumored to launch a “super-premium” tier for its subscribers. As the title suggests, that plan would cost more than a conventional subscription and would introduce higher-quality streaming for those paying more. The rumors started last year and gained further strength in April this year. Now, the company’s CEO confirmed that such a plan is coming soon.
Daniel Ek Confirms the Arrival of a Deluxe Spotify Plan at $17-18
The Premium Spotify subscription has been officially confirmed during the company’s latest earnings call. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the company plans on offering such a plan, which is right now still in the “early days”. Here is how Daniel Ek describes this plan:
“It’s probably around a $17 or $18 price point, but sort of a deluxe version of Spotify that has all of the benefits that this normal Spotify version has, but a lot more control, and a lot higher quality across the board.”
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We don’t know yet which kind of controls and features Spotify will include for those paying more. However, it certainly will justify the deal. It’s an interesting move, after all, Spotify is going the opposite way of offering a premium plan rather than a cheaper new one. Perhaps, this is explained by the fact that Spotify is not facing much constraint with the current price of its standard plan.
Spotify hit 246 million paying subscribers in the second quarter of this year (April to June). It is up to 12% compared to the Q2 of 2023. The company added 7 million paying subscribers compared to the year-ago quarter. It was 1 million above guidance and resulted in Spotify shares going up to 14% in pre-market trading earlier today. In total, Spotify has about 626 million active users, which is 14% more than in the year-ago quarter.
The Ad-supported Free Plan Will Continue in Emerging Markets
According to Daniel Ek, Spotify will continue to use the ad-supported free plans in developing markets. He states that the “engagement looks different in these markets, as do the channels to acquire them and conversion to pay can be a bit slower”. Spotify plans to increase its marketing efforts in those places and add more perks to the free offering.
