Spotify announced Monday it will increase the price of its premium service by $1 to $10.99.
The music streaming giant said existing premium plan subscribers would be notified via email of when the increase would kick in, and be given a one-month grace period before it becomes effective unless they cancel before the grace period ends.
It represents the first price increase for the company since 2011.
“The market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched,” Spotify said in a release. “So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets* around the world.”
In addition to being advertisement-free, Spotify Premium gives users an unlimited number of individual songs to play at will.
Last month, Bloomberg News reported Spotify was planning a new super-premium tier that would include hi-fi audio.
Spotify’s announcement comes a few days after YouTube announced it would be increasing the price of its individual YouTube Premium plan by $2 to $13.99 per month and of its YouTube Premium Music service by $1 to $10.99 per month. Apple and Amazon have also increased the price of their music subscription services in the past year.
In April, Spotify reported hosting more than 500 million users. However, fewer than half of those represented paid subscribers, with one tech news outlet noting that Spotify’s ratio of paid-to-free subscribers has been “in free fall.”
Following Monday morning’s announcement, Spotify’s stock fell as much as 5%. The company is expected to report earnings Tuesday.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
