It was touted as a complementary expansion when Spotify added 15 hours of audiobook listening for US premium subscribers in November, but the free ride is over. Spotify is reportedly set to raise subscription prices $1 or $2 per month to offset the audiobook cost.
According to Bloomberg, the change will come to the US market later this year, with prices to jump in the UK and Australia by the end of the month. New rates will see individual plans increase by $1 a month, with family and duo plans seeing a $2 rise. For those wishing to return to a premium plan sans audiobooks, a new basic tier will be introduced at the old price without the literary offerings.
As of February, Spotify had already disbursed tens of millions of dollars in royalties to audiobook publishers, leading to the price rise. A lack of change in subscriber growth following July’s price hike has also bolstered Spotify’s confidence in implementing further price adjustments as the company’s shareholders put heavy pressure on executives to make the company profitable.
While Spotify’s audiobook listening has risen since the program’s adoption, additional revenue is only generated from listeners who surpass this limit and buy more listening time. In March, the audio streamer added an audiobook-only tier with the same 15 hours of listening for $9.99 per month.
Spotify’s entry into the audiobook sector has made a notable impact, securing an 11% share of the US market in the fourth quarter of 2023 and contributing to a 28% increase in market growth year-over-year, according to Bookstat. This expansion places Spotify ahead of Apple in the audiobook domain, though it still trails the market leader, Amazon’s Audible.
