Spotify has a new plan for US subscribers that retains you on the previous $11 month-to-month pricing — so long as you don’t thoughts ditching audiobooks. The brand new Fundamental tier contains the music and podcast content material you get from Premium however with out 15 hours of audiobook access, a just lately added characteristic we suspect many subscribers don’t care about anyway. Spotify mentioned earlier this month it will hike Premium prices to $12 per 30 days, starting in July.
The Fundamental plan echoes one it rolled out within the UK final month. That one prices £11 per 30 days in comparison with £12 for Premium with audiobook content material.
Some have suspected Spotify’s audiobook push has nefarious motives. Earlier this month, the Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the transfer, going so far as calling the corporate’s audiobook integration “a scheme to extend income by deceiving customers and dishonest the music royalty system.” The NMPA criticism claims Spotify can pay about $150 million much less in music royalties over the following yr due to its audiobook fusion. Spotify informed Engadget it did nothing improper and rejected the accusations.
Spotify has been penny-pinching in different areas. It was reported final yr that the corporate planned to overhaul its royalty model. One alleged a part of that plan was to demonetize tracks incomes lower than 5 cents per 30 days, pushing out some indie artists with out established audiences.
Spotify additionally laid off around 9,000 employees late final yr, citing “the hole between our monetary aim state and our present operational prices.”
After it’s stay (it isn’t but on the time of publication), you’ll be able to change to the audiobook-free tier by navigating to your account page, then “Handle your plan” and “Change plan” and selecting Fundamental. In case you’re a brand new subscriber, you’ll be able to select the Fundamental choice when signing up.