Spotify Confirms UK Price Increase — Individual Now Costs £12.99

Photo Credit: Christopher Bill

Spotify has once again upped its pricing in the UK, where Individual officially costs £12.99 per month – £2 more than the equivalent offerings of Apple Music, YouTube Music, and (for Prime members) Amazon Music.

The Stockholm-based streaming platform emailed customers about the change, which promptly elicited criticism on social media. (“Now I’m wondering if it’s worth cancelling Spotify and getting YouTube,” one critic wrote on Reddit. “Update: Cancelled my Spotify.”)

That’s presumably due in part to Spotify’s relatively newfound embrace of subscription-charge boosts, some of which arrived across the pond in April 2024.

Apparently, any resulting churn hasn’t compelled the DSP to slam the price-increase brakes – nor have the above-mentioned gaps between it and rivals such as Apple Music. Unsurprisingly, the latter is looking to convert livid listeners’ complaints into subs, including by giving new Individual customers three-month trials.

Time will, of course, tell whether the increases and the stiff competition fuel subscribership slips at Spotify, which is reportedly plotting UK Duo and Family pricing pivots to boot but has yet to reveal the details.

At least a bit of churn is unavoidable, and it’ll also be interesting to see how many subscribers transition to the enhanced ad-supported tier on the same service, where all their playlists and preferences are saved.

With Spotify having targeted advert-revenue improvements for a while now, this distinct possibility is undoubtedly front of mind for higher-ups.

However, all sorts of buildouts – involving AI features, a dedicated ad exchange, an in-house “Creative Lab” marketing agency, and more – have thus far failed to bring about the desired results. In other words, racking up ad-supported users is one thing; effectively monetizing them is another.

In the bigger picture, it’s worth bearing in mind the ads success of video giants like Netflix and Peacock – both of which, in a contrast to Spotify, take a fee for the appropriate tier. Furthermore, decidedly well-placed industry execs have already called on Spotify to begin charging free users in established markets.

But any such move is probably a ways off – as is, to a lesser extent, the next wave of U.S. price bumps, evidence including slowing paid-user growth suggests. Nevertheless, between the aggressive addition of features and the forthcoming gen AI expansion, there are plenty of unknowns here; as highlighted, even longstanding free restrictions aren’t set in stone.