Apple Music, the music streaming service of choice for a wide range of Apple users, costs $10.99. For some time now, Spotify has cost the same, boasting Audio Books instead of Apple’s Hi-Res streaming — although you’ll struggle to justify the difference with Spotify’s latest price rise.
For one dollar extra per month, Spotify is now one of the most expensive music streaming platforms, beating the recently price-dropped TiDaL along the way. But where other services give you hi-res streaming, 3D Audio, and other extras, are Spotify’s Premium features worth the extra dollar now?
Same price, nothing new to show for it
Over the last year, Spotify has raised its prices in both the US and the UK, gradually bringing it up to the higher point that we see today. It was less than a year ago when the price rose to $10.99 in the US, and then April this year saw the price rise to £11.99 in the UK. Given the price before that first rise was $9.99 (or £9.99 in the UK), that’s a full 20% rise in price over what you would have been paying 11 months ago.
What do we have to show for the price rise? The first one could account for the launch of Spotify Audio Books, although that came a good few months later in November 2023. What about this latest price rise? Spotify hasn’t pumped out any major new features, upped its commission for artists, or brought out hi-res streaming, the excitement for which is gradually lessening as more users transfer their playlists over to the likes of Apple Music.
It seems it’s a price rise that doesn’t account for anything new right now, then, but new features coming in the future — “We’re increasing the price of Premium Individual so that we can continue to invest in and innovate on our product offerings and features, and bring you the best experience,” Spotify says. But why should we, the customer, foot the bill for things that we can’t use yet, on the proviso that they are ‘on the way’?
The alternatives
After all, there are loads of other options out there that now cost less than Spotify, and offer a more compelling feature set. Take Apple Music for example — it will set you back $10.99 per month, and give you a human-curated library of playlists and streaming radio stations to go with its Dolby Atmos-accredited Spatial Audio and hi-res streaming options so that you can hear your music in the best quality possible. It also comes preinstalled on the best iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads, which is always a bonus.
Perhaps you want to feel like a rebel, and you want to choose TiDaL instead. After its most recent price drop, the once JayZ-backed platform also costs $10.99, and gives by far and away some of the best streaming quality that money can buy. There’s also its own form of Dolby Atmos included in the form of 3DAudio, a standard used by Amazon Music Unlimited as well. Then there’s Qobuz, my streaming platform of choice, or Deezer, built by some very cool French maniacs, or even YouTube Music…
Apple Music gives you a human-curated library of playlists and streaming radio stations to go with its Dolby Atmos-accredited Spatial Audio.
The point at hand is that Spotify no longer has the competitive edge that it once did, thanks to its once lower price. Podcasts on-app don’t matter, because they’re available for free thanks to Apple Podcasts and other listening platforms. The Audio Book offering is limited, and services like Audible do a better job for those interested in the format. The only thing Spotify has going for it now that will mean it will keep many of its listeners is that they’ve got their entire libraries already saved on the service, and transferring it to other services is a massive pain in the behind.
Should I move over?
But it is possible, and yes, that means you should think about moving over to a different platform. Spotify and its ‘one app does everything’ approach doesn’t seem to be working at the moment, and its distinctly anti-artist practices are making it ever harder to justify sticking with the green circle over the ever-improving range of alternatives.
As to where you should go, it’s worth shopping around and working out which one would work best for you. Do you want the Apple streamer that comes installed on your brand-new iPhone 15 out of the box, or do you want the absolute best streaming quality possible? Whatever you land on, given its now ever-increasing price, Spotify will likely no longer be at the top of the list of possibilities.
