Is there really a $1/month Spotify Plus streaming tier about to launch? We’re puzzled that Digital Trends thinks this is a good idea and not a huge insult to artists who are already making very little streaming revenue.
It would appear that the Godzilla of the digital music streaming world is testing a new $1 Spotify Plus tier that will not allow listeners to avoid ads but offer unlimited song skipping instead. Free Spotify users are limited to 6 skips per hour.
Spotify Plus members will also get the ability to directly access tracks from a given album, another feature that free users don’t get.
Our research has also uncovered that the new test plan might be offered to random Spotify users at different prices, perhaps as a way of seeing just how much folks are willing to pay for these new features.
All of this is happening behind the scenes while the streaming world waits for Spotify HiFi to finally launch; we still don’t have a date for that and the company is not being forthcoming with any information.
Just how low is Spotify willing to drive the price of a monthly subscription and when will the music labels actually push back and pretend that they care that artists are getting royally screwed by the platform?
The more Spotify squeezes artists, the more we want to support Tidal and Qobuz who seemingly want to pay artists more for their work.
And people wonder why physical media music sales had their best six months in years in H1 2021.
The notion that a $1 per month Spotify Plus streaming tier only enhances the democratization of music is utterly absurd at this point; especially when indie artists struggle to earn any meaningful revenue from the platform in the aftermath of a global pandemic when there were no live shows for almost 16 months.
Vantechmag
August 8, 2021 at 8:08 pm
I may think wrong, but if the artists actually are payed (lousy) per each played song – should it only be better (maybe even dramatically better) and absolutely not worse for the artists – if MORE people get the music (simply by paying less) and then automatically play MORE songs, which result in MORE money to the artists!
Ian White
August 8, 2021 at 9:54 pm
Spotify isn’t modifying its pay structure even with the $1 per month so there is no benefit to the artists. The platform is spending the revenue elsewhere.