Spotify announces price hikes less than a year after its last ones.

Spotify is officially raising its Premium subscription rates in the US come July, following reports of the move in April. The platform is increasing its Individual plan from $11 to $12 monthly and its Duo plan from $15 to $17 monthly — the same jump as last year’s $1 and $2 price hikes, respectively. However, its Family plan is going up by a whopping $3, increasing from $17 to $20 monthly. The only subscribers getting a break are students, who will continue to pay $6 monthly.

Spotify announced the price hikes less than a year after its previous one last July. Before that, Spotify hadn’t raised its fees since launching a decade and a half ago. I guess it was too optimistic to hope the next increase would also take that long, especially with Spotify’s continued focus (and money dump) on audiobooks.

Premium subscribers should receive an email from Spotify in the next month detailing the price hike and providing a link to cancel their plan if they would prefer to do so. Users currently on a trial period for Spotify will get one month at $11 after it ends before being moved up to a $12 monthly fee.

  • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
    31·
    6 months ago

    There are literally two albums that I love that I can’t find on Bandcamp or piracy, but they are literally the only thing keeping my Spotify subscription alive right now.

    I think I’m just going to have to stream them into my DAW and do a poor man’s rip, then cancel this shit ass.

    • MorrisonMotel6@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      6 months ago

      Seriously? Like, finding and buying those two CDs used would be cheaper than maintaining a Spotify subscription.

      • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
        6·
        6 months ago

        No kidding. Consider the possibility that this was the first avenue I pursued and was nevertheless stymied in my efforts.

        One of the bands only sells vinyl outside of Spotify (I have the record on Vinyl, but the process of digitizing it is similar to recording straight from Spotify but harder), and the other band is based in Mexico and doesn’t have a digital marketplace. In both cases I’ve literally emailed the bands offering to overpay for raw digital files but haven’t heard back yet. I am seriously considering flying to Guadalajara to catch them live and pick up a CD there. They don’t really tour in the US north of Texas.

        But I’ll keep my eye out for CDs.

        • MorrisonMotel6@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          That does seem like a pickle. There is a band that is (well, WAS) LOCAL to me and I still couldn’t get digital files. I was bitching about on reddit a while back, and I got a DM from someone who sent me an email with the files. They’re in 320mp3, but better than what I had before.

          Good luck with that, and have fun in Guadalajara if you go!

          • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            Well you just hooked me up with the album I’d all but given up on, so thank you tremendously. Since I at least have the other album on Vinyl, I think I am going to pull the trigger and cancel my Spotify now. Now I don’t exactly need to go to Guadalajara, though I hope to see Porter live one day.

            Thanks again for your help!

            • MorrisonMotel6@lemm.eeEnglish
              3·
              6 months ago

              I hope you go to the show anyway.

              I regret not going to shows of artists that just can’t be seen anymore

              • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
                2·
                6 months ago

                I know I will eventually. I also just really want to support them, and will buy a copy of all of their albums whenever I am able to. I don’t even speak spanish but their music just lights me up.

      • flappy@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        Has there been a new maintainer for deemix? Can you use it again without paying for a Deezer subscription?

        • gccalvin@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          5 months ago

          No, development is still stalled. You need to pay if you want the really high bit rate flac downloads. I pay and can use Deezer as a backup to Jellyfin in the event there’s a song I don’t have and I’m driving. I was looking at music fab, but it’s expensive, the Spotify downloader has worse quality, and doesn’t grab the cover art, which is probably a deal breaker for me.

    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      shirt-dev/zspotify will do fine actually downloading the audio.

      Edit: The original repository got nuked and this seems to be a fork. Proceed at your own discretion (I used the original repo and a dummy account)

    • ඞmir@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      Check if they’re on Tidal, Deezer or Qobuz, then your problem is solved

      • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Thanks! I wrote off Tidal as an also-ran like a decade ago and haven’t heard of the others so these were not on my radar at all. I will check them out. I didn’t even know Tidal was still a thing!

        • ඞmir@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          The reason is that you can find lossless rippers for all of them, so you could archive the files and use them anywhere

      • modifier@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        They are on the internet, but only streaming on the Big Bads. If you can find me a hookup I will be forever grateful.

        The first Album, and the toughest case is an album by a band called Porter from Guadalajara. I have all of their albums except for my very favorite, Las Batallas.

        The second album really should be on Bandcamp, and probably will eventually, since the band has a page there. It’s the most recent and self-titled release from an awesome little band called Mo Lowda and The Humble.

        All else aside, I highly recommend these bands to anyone who likes good rock music. Both albums are no-skip for me but two standout tracks for each: for Las Batallas you have got to check out “Himno Eterno” and “Hombre Maquina”. For Mo Lowda, “O.O.Y.O” and “Dog At The Pound”

        The irony of these being the two I haven’t been able to add to my Plex library is that these are probably the two most prominently featured albums on Spotify Wrapped last year.

      • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Going overseas makes so many albums disappear due to “muh licensing” and “technology and convience stinks” (*cough* japan)

        So many musics are not available beyond catching limited sales and/or physical only.
        Newer stuff isnt as bad but the <2010s are often pretty hard to find.