Benzinga - by Michael Juliano, .
Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) has a new, more expensive premium plan for music lovers.
What Happened: According to Bloomberg, subscribers would pay at least $5 more monthly for the plan.
The new offering, set for later this year, features access to improved audio. It also offers new capabilities for making playlists and managing song libraries.
Spotify did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
Spotify expects to offer the upgraded plan as an add-on for existing customers. That means most users will stay on their current Spotify plans while those who buy the upgrade will create more revenue for the company and its partners.
Also read: Decoding Spotify Technology’s Options Activity: What’s the Big Picture?
Why It Matters: Spotify is just the latest streaming company to raise prices, seemingly justifying the decision by offering more to its customers.
Other content providers — Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Warner Bros Discovery‘s (NASDAQ:WBD) Max, and Comcast Corp‘s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Peacock — are all raising prices.
The premium plan could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. That money would go toward music rights holders.
Pricing will vary based on users’ base plans. It will result in a roughly 40% higher cost for the feature — dubbed a “Supremium” plan.
Tactics like these have been discussed for years. Companies see higher-quality audio as an opportunity to upsell and/or implement tier pricing. Competitors like Amazon Music and Apple Music have already started offering improved audio as part of their standard plans.
Last week, Spotify adjusted the cost of its monthly individual plan to $11.99 from $10.99. The duo plan went from $14.99 to $16.99. The family plan went from $16.99 to $19.99 in the U.S.
Price action: Spotify’s shares have declined 0.9% to $312.18 in early-morning trading on Tuesday.
Read Now: Spotify Stock Is Surging Today: Here’s Why
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