Spotify is introducing new premium subscription tiers in five markets: India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. The new plans are called Premium Lite, Premium Standard, and Premium Platinum.
Previously in markets like India, Spotify offered Premium Standard, Duo, and Family plans. These provided features such as ad-free listening, offline support, and high-quality audio. The new tiers will offer these features in different combinations based on the selected plan.
The Premium Lite plan is priced at 139 Indian rupees per month, which is approximately one dollar and fifty-seven cents. It includes ad-free listening and audio quality of 160 kilobits per second.
The Premium Standard plan costs 199 Indian rupees per month, or about two dollars and twenty-five cents. This plan adds offline support and improves the audio quality to 320 kilobits per second.
The most expensive option is the Premium Platinum plan at 299 Indian rupees per month, or three dollars and thirty-seven cents. This tier provides access to the newly launched lossless audio quality. It also includes two additional seats for account sharing.
The Platinum plan additionally grants users access to Spotify’s AI DJ feature. This feature provides commentary while playing songs and allows for voice commands to make requests. It also offers an AI-powered playlist creation tool that users can build with prompts.
Furthermore, the Platinum tier includes integration with AI software such as rekordbox, Serato, and djay. This integration allows users to import their music libraries to create sets and mixes.
These features have been available in other regions like North America and Europe for some time. The launch in these five countries marks the first time users there will have access to them.
Reports over recent years have suggested the company was planning a super premium plan with lossless audio. While currently only available in select markets, the company may extend this lossless tier globally. At present, all Premium users in over fifty countries can experience tracks in 24-bit, 44.1 kilohertz FLAC quality.
The company has stated that existing subscribers will have their current subscriptions carried over. However, new subscribers will not be able to choose the old Duo or Family plans and must select one of the new tiers instead.
For new subscribers in India, Spotify is effectively increasing prices while reducing some benefits from the previous Premium plan. The current Standard individual plan costs 139 rupees per month, which is now the price of the new Lite plan. The old Family plan cost 229 rupees per month and included six members. Account sharing is now only possible with the new Platinum plan, which costs 299 rupees and allows for three users. This means users who are not interested in lossless streaming or AI features have no account-sharing option.
Spotify has also made changes to its pricing in other markets. Over the last two years, it has increased the price in the United States from nine dollars and ninety-nine cents to eleven dollars and ninety-nine cents per month through two separate one-dollar increases.