Spotify raises prices internationally

Spotify is becoming pricier in several countries. The company behind the music streaming service wants to inform its customers about this by email, according to a statement. It is currently unclear where exactly Spotify intends to increase prices. Spotify only mentions “several markets,” including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

According to Reuters, the new prices will apply from September. In the European markets affected, the monthly costs for Spotify's standard subscription will rise from 11 to 12 euros per month. This is shown in a sample email published by Spotify. It is not yet clear whether prices will also rise for other subscriptions.

Procedure in Germany open

So far, there is no indication that Germany and Austria are also impacted by the price increases. The previous prices for the Premium subscription can still be found on the respective information pages for Spotify's subscription options. Spotify did not immediately respond to inquiries from heise online.

In Germany, the procedure shown in the example email would be illegal anyway: to increase prices for current subscriptions, the explicit consent of users is required. Clauses in the terms and conditions that were intended to grant Spotify unilateral price increases were declared invalid by the Berlin Court of Appeal in 2023.

Spotify last increased its German subscription prices in fall 2023. The monthly costs for a single subscription rose from 10 to 11 euros per month. Spotify has only just introduced its new audiobook offer in Germany: With the additional option "Audiobooks+," users can listen to an extra 15 hours per month. Together with the twelve hours included as standard, this results in 27 hours of listening time per month. The additional option for audiobooks costs 9 euros per month, which together with the current subscription price adds up to a total of 20 euros.

(dahe)