Spotify CEO Daniel EK Confirms to Increase Plan Prices in 2023

Spotify CEO Daniel EK has confirmed that Spotify will be going to raise its subscription prices at some time in 2023 in the USA. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Spotify’s CEO said that subscription prices had been raised in various international territories over the last year, and it’s time to have revised plans for the USA.

Daniel EK’s comments came after Spotify posted its third-quarter earnings, reporting an increase in active users and paid subscribers as well as a better-than-expected climb in revenues. For price increases, the CEO confirmed that they are in conversations about recent developments with our label partners, and they have confirmed their assurances to be part of these changes.

Danial EK has not given any indication of how much the Spotify subscription will cost once the revised subscription plans are implemented, but it will be near to those of its competitors. Currently, the basic subscription plan of Spotify is 9.99$ per month, which gives access to music lovers a massive collection of millions of songs and podcasts.

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Spotify primarily competes with Apple and Amazon in music streaming in the United States. Apple Music has raised its basic plan price from 9.99$ to 10.99$ per month, while the family plan raised it from 14.99$ to 16.99$ per month. Apple became the first company to raise the price from 9.99$ and revealed a price hike due to an increase in licensing cost. Amazon Music also raised the price for Prime members from 8$ to 9$ per month.

 Among the three music streaming giants, Spotify owns the biggest pool of monthly active users. Spotify operates an ad-supported version of its music and podcast services; premium subscriptions still account for most of its revenue. The company reported 456 million active users and 195 million paid subscribers. Revenue reached $3.03 billion, a 21% increase from 2021, out of which $2.55 billion was generated from subscriptions.

Over the last three months, Spotify introduced a new feature that allows subscribers in some regions to purchase audiobooks from a collection of 300,000 audiobooks, a move that is intended to better compete with Amazon Audible and Apple Books services. Daniel EK complained that Apple is forcing Spotify to sell audiobooks through an in-app payment feature that is hampering Spotify’s growth.

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Apple Spokesman didn’t deny that Spotify was required to use in-app purchases for audiobooks, affirming to Wall Street Journal that the application was allowed to sell books when it came in compliance with Apple policy regarding the purchase of Apps outside of the Apple Store. 

Spotify has focused less on growing its users over the past few years, but Paul Vogel, the company’s financial chief executive, said, “While it is too early to provide any guidance concerning 2023, we do expect to improve profitability rates as compared to 2022, as we can grow revenue, certain lap investments and deploy capital efficiently.”