Spotify is shaking up its premium offering and introducing new tiers called Premium Lite, Premium Standard and Premium Platinum in five markets including India, Indonesia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Before this change, in markets like India, Spotify offered Premium Standard, Duo (for two people), and Family plans for six people, with features like ad-free listening, offline support, and premium audio. The new Premium tiers will offer these features in different configurations, based on the plan.
For example, the Premium Lite plan priced at ₹139 per month ($1.57) will have ad-free listening and 160kbps audio quality. The Premium Standard plan, priced at ₹199 per month ($2.25), has offline support and 320kbps audio quality. The costlier Premium Platinum plan at ₹299 ($3.37) per month will give users access to the newly launched Lossless tier, along with two other slots that can share the bill.
The Platinum plan also gives users access to Spotify’s AI DJ feature that provides feedback while songs are playing and lets you make requests. And it offers access to the AI-powered audio platform’s playlist maker.
In September, Spotify announced integration with artificial intelligence software such as rekordbox, Seratoand djayto import user libraries to create sets and mixes. The Platinum level will allow users to access this integration as well.
In particular, these features have been present in other markets such as North America and Europe for some time. However, the five countries where Spotify is launching these new premium tiers are getting access to some of these features for the first time.
Multiple reports in recent years have hinted that the company has introduced a “super premium” plan with access to the lossless tier. While right now, this plan only exists for select markets, the company could expand it globally to all markets, placing lossless in the highest tier. (Currently, all Premium users in more than 50 countries can experience tracks in 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC quality.)
The company said that if users have an existing account, their subscription will be carried over. However, new subscribers will not be able to pay for the old Duo or Family plan and will have to choose one of the new plans.
For new subscribers in India, Spotify is increasing subscription prices while reducing some of the benefits that users had on the previous Premium plan. The standard individual plan currently costs ₹139 ($1.57) per month, which is the price of the new Lite plan. The Family plan costs ₹229 ($2.58) per month including six members. Account sharing is only possible with the new Platinum plan which costs ₹299 ($3.37) and allows up to three users. Users who may not care about lossless streaming or AI features will have no choice.
The company has made changes to its pricing plans in other markets as well. Over the past two years, it has raised its US pricing from $9.99 to $11.99 per month in two $1 jumps.
