Spotify once again decided not to raise prices on its U.S. subscription plan, despite recent hikes at Apple Music and YouTube Premium.
via: Uproxx
Yesterday (April 25), in a conference call discussing Spotify’s first quarter earnings (as Billboard notes), Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said, “I think we are ready to raise prices, I think we have the ability to do that, but it really comes down to those negotiations [with major music industry stakeholders].”
Ek also noted, “We did raise prices in 46 different locations and markets last year, and even in those markets, we were still out performing. I feel really good about our ability to raise prices over time — that we have that ability — and we have lots of data now that backs that up. We may have been marginally helped by being a lower-cost provider, but it isn’t a primary part of our strategy and it’s not something that we’re thinking about. Instead, we’re working with our label partners to work […] to figure out what’s the best opportunity to do that. And that’s a more complex trade. When the timing’s right, we will raise it.”
This comes after Spotify had about $3.3 billion in total revenue during the first quarter of 2023. That’s a 14-percent increase over 2022, but as Billboard notes, it’s “slightly lower than the company expected as macroeconomic fears crimped Spotify’s advertising business by around $20 million.”
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