Spotify raises price from $12.99 to $14.99

Forums › Online streaming services › Spotify raises price from $12.99 to $14.99

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#1709987 26-Jan-2017 13:08

I did what @Hammerer suggests, actually. I signed up to Spotify for the $0.99 three month offer in November. It is about to expire and the e-mail Spotify sent to me said I will have until April on the original $12.99 price but then it will rise to $14.99. Instead I just signed up with Spark and will be paying $29 a month for something I would happily have been paying $31.99 (2degrees $19 + Spotify $12.99) a month for before the price hike which would have taken the total price to $33.99.

For what it is worth, having trialled Spotify for a couple of months I had decided to switch to Spark wen my trial ended before news of the price rise was released.

Hammerer

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#1709988 26-Jan-2017 13:10

networkn:

Huh? 20,000 Songs a day is 140,000 a Week. 52 Weeks in a year means their catalogue *should* have grown by 7 million songs in a year (taking into account the odd days they don't add 20,000 songs a day).

That would increase 30 million to 37 million which would still be correct. My guess is that Spotify and Apple don't have the largest catalogue so they don't want to give a direct comparison of the exact difference. Only the competitor with the largest catalogue promotes it as a key benefit.

Personally the size of the catalogue is not an issue for me as long as it has the songs that I prefer which tends to be by genre. Deezer was pretty good even with a much smaller catalogue.

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#1709989 26-Jan-2017 13:12

networkn:
Hammerer:

networkn:

Hammerer:

Over 30 million songs - that is the same figure they were using a year ago.

20,000 new songs added each day.

I assume you have worked out this means that they are also removing 20,000 songs a day? Amazon Claim 40m and Google Music, 35m

It doesn't mean that they are removing songs. At the time Spotify first used that stat they were equivalent to or ahead of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple. Interestingly enough, the main competition with half the subscriber numbers and revenue is Apple and they have also stuck with the 30 million figure.

Huh? 20,000 Songs a day is 140,000 a Week. 52 Weeks in a year means their catalogue *should* have grown by 7 million songs in a year (taking into account the odd days they don't add 20,000 songs a day).

I wonder if anyone has pulled them on in this?

networkn

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#1709991 26-Jan-2017 13:15

Hammerer:

networkn:

Huh? 20,000 Songs a day is 140,000 a Week. 52 Weeks in a year means their catalogue *should* have grown by 7 million songs in a year (taking into account the odd days they don't add 20,000 songs a day).

That would increase 30 million to 37 million which would still be correct. My guess is that Spotify and Apple don't have the largest catalogue so they don't want to give a direct comparison of the exact difference. Only the competitor with the largest catalogue promotes it as a key benefit.

Personally the size of the catalogue is not an issue for me as long as it has the songs that I prefer which tends to be by genre. Deezer was pretty good even with a much smaller catalogue.

Sorry to sound argumentative, but if they had 37 million, they wouldn't state 30m. Marketing people NEVER under-exaggerate. It's more likely they aren't adding 20K songs a day (Exaggerated) or are removing them at a similar rate.

I get that the catalogue size isn't a particular concern to you (not is it a primary concern to me), it isn't the point I am making.

Hammerer

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#1710005 26-Jan-2017 13:54

networkn:

Hammerer:

networkn:

Huh? 20,000 Songs a day is 140,000 a Week. 52 Weeks in a year means their catalogue *should* have grown by 7 million songs in a year (taking into account the odd days they don't add 20,000 songs a day).

That would increase 30 million to 37 million which would still be correct. My guess is that Spotify and Apple don't have the largest catalogue so they don't want to give a direct comparison of the exact difference. Only the competitor with the largest catalogue promotes it as a key benefit.

Personally the size of the catalogue is not an issue for me as long as it has the songs that I prefer which tends to be by genre. Deezer was pretty good even with a much smaller catalogue.

Sorry to sound argumentative, but if they had 37 million, they wouldn't state 30m. Marketing people NEVER under-exaggerate. It's more likely they aren't adding 20K songs a day (Exaggerated) or are removing them at a similar rate.

I get that the catalogue size isn't a particular concern to you (not is it a primary concern to me), it isn't the point I am making.

Just two points on this point then that's it for me.

It would be crazy for marketing people to remove any tool from their arsenal. Just because they like to shout stuff doesn't mean that they aren't ever quiet. They don't refuse to use the ability to understate or de-emphasize stuff they don't want us to notice. It is interesting to me that the price rise email doesn't promote things like the catalogue size. Spotify have enough sense not to preach to the converted despite what many marketers would do: giving as many good reasons as possible why the price is such good value.

Historically, Spotify increased their catalogue from 20 million to 30 million. I didn't see them use any intermediate count as shown in many articles, for example:

2014 http://time.com/30081/13-streaming-music-services-compared-by-price-quality-catalog-size-and-more/

2015 http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/30/8863315/streaming-music-service-comparison-apple-music

networkn

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#1710072 26-Jan-2017 14:33

Hammerer:

Just two points on this point then that's it for me.

It would be crazy for marketing people to remove any tool from their arsenal. Just because they like to shout stuff doesn't mean that they aren't ever quiet. They don't refuse to use the ability to understate or de-emphasize stuff they don't want us to notice. It is interesting to me that the price rise email doesn't promote things like the catalogue size. Spotify have enough sense not to preach to the converted despite what many marketers would do: giving as many good reasons as possible why the price is such good value.

Historically, Spotify increased their catalogue from 20 million to 30 million. I didn't see them use any intermediate count as shown in many articles, for example:

2014 http://time.com/30081/13-streaming-music-services-compared-by-price-quality-catalog-size-and-more/

2015 http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/30/8863315/streaming-music-service-comparison-apple-music

I don't think you are getting what I am saying, but it's not worth persisting at this stage.

I note Spotify has come out and made some comment about it's "we are already paying GST claim from 2015".

I call BS, it's a convenient excuse for them to put their prices up. If it was, then they would be putting prices up 15% on all plans.

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ghettomaster

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#1710526 27-Jan-2017 10:24

Satch:

We also pay for Tidal which we use on our good stereo and speakers in our lounge.

Do you care to share what hardware are you running Tidal through in the lounge?

richms

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#1710527 27-Jan-2017 10:32

ghettomaster:

Satch:

We also pay for Tidal which we use on our good stereo and speakers in our lounge.

Do you care to share what hardware are you running Tidal through in the lounge?

They added casting from the phone app (android, unsure on ios) and it seems to play the hifi streams, but mangles the gaps up something massivly. casting a tab from a PC only does the chrome cast anythings audio so sounds bad, breaks up lots if you are using the PC and sounds a bit crap even when not stuttering. I just have a craptastic PC plugged into the home theater to play it on. Not sure the marginal improvement is worth the second sub and hassle of not having spotify connect to be able to drive it from any other device so cancelling it. Unfortunatly sub had just renewed when I made the decision.

Richard rich.ms

Satch

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#1710601 27-Jan-2017 12:00

ghettomaster:

Satch:

We also pay for Tidal which we use on our good stereo and speakers in our lounge.

Do you care to share what hardware are you running Tidal through in the lounge?

Running Tidal mainly on my HTPC through a Rotel DAC to an Anthem 2 channel amp and Dynaudio floor standing speakers. Sometimes use Chromecast but it has its issues as @richms said above.

networkn

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#1710627 27-Jan-2017 12:04

Hmm so not great news on the Amazon side of things, seems payment method vs country is going to be an issue. Can't even start a trial.

dazhann

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#1710651 27-Jan-2017 12:49

networkn:

Hmm so not great news on the Amazon side of things, seems payment method vs country is going to be an issue. Can't even start a trial.

I have a amazon prime account and I haven't been able to stream music that comes with the $99 sub, even though I have no problem with video streaming and books. I get asked to enter my details when I load music including CC and address. I use youshop address and the cc I signed up to prime with and it fails for music but didn't for the sign up to Prime. I even tried a entropay card which didn't work either.

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allstarnz

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#1710913 27-Jan-2017 23:04

ScuL:

Glad I have an overseas account :)

it costs £9.99 in the UK, so an NZ based account is still cheaper for me.

Is Deezer in NZ? If so, how much is it?

mattwnz

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#1710923 27-Jan-2017 23:29

allstarnz:

ScuL:

Glad I have an overseas account :)

it costs £9.99 in the UK, so an NZ based account is still cheaper for me.

Is Deezer in NZ? If so, how much is it?

I wonder if they will increase it with Brexit coming? I see that some things in the UK have been increased in price, with Brexit being stated as the reason.

Kyanar

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#1710924 28-Jan-2017 01:30

dazhann:

networkn:

Hmm so not great news on the Amazon side of things, seems payment method vs country is going to be an issue. Can't even start a trial.

I have a amazon prime account and I haven't been able to stream music that comes with the $99 sub, even though I have no problem with video streaming and books. I get asked to enter my details when I load music including CC and address. I use youshop address and the cc I signed up to prime with and it fails for music but didn't for the sign up to Prime. I even tried a entropay card which didn't work either.

Amazon is very picky on payment methods. You'll need one issued in a country where they have a streaming service available. That means USA, Canada, UK, Australia.

Entropay is issued in Belize, so that's not an acceptable payment method. They actually use the BIN, not just whether it's denominated in the relevant currency.

MrIrish

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#1723508 21-Feb-2017 09:48

I've had a bit of down time after completing summer school at Uni and want to start writing. My first piece was on Spotify's price increase which I think a lot of you will find interesting.

Check out the piece here

Thanks and feel free to hit me up with any feedback.

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