Spotify just launched a music-only subscription
Image credit: Jair Medina Nossa
A new offering from Spotify offers a discount to those who just care about music, though it has limited availability for now.
Spotify have just launched ‘Basic Individual’, a subscription that doesn’t include audiobooks. The new tier offers all of Spotify’s music and podcasts to listen to ad-free but doesn’t come with 15 hours of audiobook listens.
Last year, Spotify began adding 15 hours of free audiobook listening for Premium subscribers around the world. It came alongside price rises, which were then doubled with another recent price rise – raising the cost of Premium Individual to £11.99/$11.99.
Now, Spotify are offering Basic Individual to customers for just £10.99 a month. At present, the new offering is only available to UK customers.
Currently, Spotify’s other subscription offerings seem unaffected. Both Spotify Family and Duo come with free audiobook listening, however only the plan’s manager has access to the 15 hours. There doesn’t seem to be any plans for a discounted bundle plan that removes audiobook listens.
Spotify have recently come under fire in the US over audiobook bundling. In adding audiobooks to their music streaming plan, they qualify for a discounted bundle rate in payments to publishers and songwriters. This means that they pay less for mechanical royalties. Billboard worked out that this would mean songwriters and publishers earning around $150 million less for the 12 months after the change was implemented.