Spotify to hike its Australian fees

Spotify has announced it will increase the Australian subscription cost of its premium subscription package to $13 per month.

The cost increase will take effect in September, the music streaming service announced on Tuesday.

“The price of Premium Individual changes from A$11.99/month to A$12.99/month,” the streaming giant said in a statement.

“We are increasing the price of Premium Individual so that we can continue to invest and innovate in our product offerings and features, and provide you with the best experience.

“Since you’re already a Premium subscriber, you’ll pay A$11.99/month until your September billing date, when your subscription will be upgraded to the new price.”

Spotify is the latest online service to recently raise its prices, following the likes of Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and Netflix.

The latest price increase to hit subscriptions is in the name of innovation, explains a separate statement from Spotify.

Since launching in 2008, Spotify has innovated and invested to build the best audio experience for you and your favorite artists and creators.

“In order to continue to innovate, we are changing our Premium pricing in a number of markets around the world.

“These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.”

The price of Spotify’s Duo subscription package has also increased from $15.99/month to $17.99/month.

These price hikes will affect more than 50 countries around the world, including Australia, the US, England and others.

Across the board, all major music streamers have raised their prices in Australia, with Apple leading the way in October 2022.

The price of Apple Music was increased to $12.99 per month, previously $11.99 per month.

At the same time, Apple TV also saw a $2 increase, from $7.99 a month to $9.99 a month.

Tidal, the streamer formerly owned by Jay-Z but now owned by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, delayed raising their prices until July 2023.

The change will go into effect in August and listeners will similarly pay an additional dollar per month, going from $11.99 to $12.99 per month.

For those who use streaming services to binge TV shows and movies, all the major players in that field have also increased their prices in recent months.

The biggest price increase comes from Amazon Prime, which increased their rates by 43 percent, from $6.99 to $9.99 per month.

Amazon is still the cheapest of the bunch by comparison, with Netflix being the sweetest.

The streaming giant not only increased its basic subscription tier from $15.99 to $16.99 in monthly fees, but also cracked down on password sharing.

Netflix subscribers around the world will be charged additional “add-on” fees when other people access their accounts from different IP addresses and Wi-Fi networks.

Each additional user adds $7 to the monthly price tag that has already hit those using the service in New Zealand.

Stan and Binge have both increased their prices from $14 to $16 per month, with Disney+ also adding $2 to their price tag which is currently $13.99.

Kayo Sports took it a step further by giving users an additional $2.50 per month, bringing the total price for their sports network offerings to $30.

Australians weathering the cost of living crisis have adapted to the crisis as far as their subscriptions go, new research shows.

After a total of 1.15 million subscriptions were canceled in the last quarter of 2023, the market seems to have stabilized in recent months.

In the first quarter of 2023, 1.34 million new subscriptions were taken out, mainly consisting of households taking advantage of free trials.

The same study shows that at least 6.1 million Australian households have at least one streaming subscription.

Users have recently started subswapping, a new trend where people pause their existing accounts to start a new one instead of stacking subscriptions.