Spotify Is Considering 99-Cent Plan, But There’s A Big Catch

Spotify Is Considering 99-Cent Plan, But There's A Big Catch

Some Spotify users might be offered a ‘Spotify Plus’ plan for 99-cents per month. It includes unlimited skips, on-demand streaming, and a huge catch.

Spotify is testing a new subscription that costs just $0.99, offering unlimited and on-demand streaming for 90-percent less than its Spotify Premium Individual plan. As it stands today, there are four tiers to Spotify Premium. The Individual plan mentioned above costs $9.99/month and offers ad-free streaming, on-demand playback of any song, unlimited skips, and offline listening. The Duo plan goes up to $12.99/month for two accounts with those same features, while the Family one costs $15.99/month for six accounts. Spotify Premium also offers an incredible Student plan — giving college students access to Spotify Premium,  Hulu, and Showtime for just $4.99/month.

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Additionally, Spotify allows anyone to use its service for free — though it comes with a lot of restrictions. Free users can only skip six songs per hour and pick individual songs for on-demand listening from 15 playlists (such as Daily Mixes and Discovery Weekly). Any other playlist or album can only be listened to in shuffle mode, resulting in a considerably worse experience. Having the option to listen for free is nice, but it’s clear Spotify wants people to get fed up with those restrictions and switch to a paid plan.

Related: Spotify Wants To Make Sure You Never Miss A New Release

As reported by The Verge in August 2021, Spotify is testing a brand new subscription that would dramatically lower the price of admission. This new subscription tier is called ‘Spotify Plus,’ and it grants subscribers unlimited skips and on-demand listening to any song, album, or playlist — all for just $0.99 per month. On the surface, it sounds just like the $9.99/month Spotify Premium Individual plan. You can listen to whichever songs you’d like, skip around as much as you’d want, and generally have full access to the entire Spotify experience.

The Big Catch For Spotify’s 99-Cent Plan

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However, as mentioned above, the Spotify Plus plan does come with a substantial catch. At this $0.99/month tier, Spotify Plus users would still be required to listen to advertisements in between songs. None of the current Spotify Premium plans come with advertisements, but if/when the Plus subscription comes out, ads will be a core part of it. There’s also no mention of Spotify Plus users being able to download songs for offline listening, suggesting that’s also not included at this price. It makes sense that Spotify has to make some compromises to offer such an affordable subscription, but dealing with ads and no offline listening could be deal-breakers for many potential subscribers.

Don’t Expect To Sign Up For Spotify Plus Any Time Soon

Spotify logo on an iPhone

Even with those restrictions in mind, Spotify Plus could still be a great option for a lot of people. Just under $1 per month is hardly anything, and at that price, Spotify Plus removes two of the biggest annoyances of the free Spotify experience. Ads are annoying, sure, but having free range to listen to anything with unlimited skips is nothing to scoff at.

Spotify confirmed that this plan is being tested by the company with “a limited number of our users,” but there’s no guarantee it’ll become widely available for everyone. In a statement sent to The Verge, Spotify says, “Some tests end up paving the way for new offerings or enhancements while others may only provide learnings. We don’t have any additional information to share at this time.” It’s also reported that Spotify Plus is being trialed at multiple price points, meaning it might cost more (or less) than $0.99/month for some people. More options are always a good thing, so here’s to hoping Spotify’s test goes well enough that this plan eventually rolls out to everyone.

Next: Sick Of Spotify? Here Are The Best Alternatives

Source: The Verge

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Joe Maring
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Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.

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