Here is what is happening: starting today (November 13), Spotify is testing a new subscription structure across five international markets, offering three new Premium tiers that are intended “to better meet diverse user needs”.
The company’s new subscription options for new users in these regions now include Premium Lite, Premium Standard (with a Student version available), and Premium Platinum.
The markets involved are India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
Even though this is a test launch limited to a handful of territories, it would not be surprising if executives such as Universal’s Sir Lucian Grainge, Sony’s Rob Stringer, and Warner’s Robert Kyncl saw promising revenue potential in the move.
Consider India, for example:
- Earlier today, the official Spotify site in the region listed a standard Individual Premium subscription at ?139 per month, which equals USD $1.57.
- With the new rollout, the updated equivalent tier, Premium Standard, now costs 43 percent more at ?199 ($2.24) per month.
- For users who want a cheaper option, a new tier called Premium Lite will cost ?139 per month, matching the previous price of the Individual Premium plan.
- And the biggest change: the Premium Platinum tier is priced at ?299 ($3.37) per month, which is more than double the cost of the former Individual Premium subscription in India.
What will subscribers get from ‘Premium Platinum’ they won’t on Spotify’s standard tier?
They will gain exclusive access to Lossless audio, one of Spotify’s most requested features, as well as AI-powered tools such as AI DJ and AI Playlist. Other benefits include third-party DJ support, mixing tools, and existing offerings like Jam and daylist.
To clarify, the new Premium tiers in the five markets will only be available for new subscribers, at least for now.
“This is an evolution of our Premium subscriptions portfolio and reflects the engagement insights we’re seeing across our platform.”
Spotify statement
Spotify confirmed that current subscribers in the five markets will keep their existing features and benefits, although they will have the option to upgrade to the new tiers.
The company will continue to offer its ad-supported free tier in all five regions, with Premium Lite serving as the most affordable paid plan.
“This is an evolution of our Premium subscriptions portfolio and reflects the engagement insights we are seeing across our platform,” Spotify said.
“While Spotify has become even more central to people’s lives, those behaviors are not universal, so we are introducing options that consistently meet more of our users’ needs, with local strategies aligned to each market.”
The pilot markets, all considered emerging streaming regions, represent areas where Spotify sees strong future growth.
Spotify did not comment on whether this tiered structure will eventually be introduced in other markets, saying only that it has “nothing further to share” beyond the current five-market test.
Interestingly, many of the features that will be reserved for Premium Platinum subscribers in the test markets are already available to standard Premium users in places such as the US and the UK.
This pilot also signals a shift in Spotify’s approach to lossless audio, which is now placed behind the highest-priced tier in the test regions.
Elsewhere, lossless audio has already begun rolling out to standard Premium subscribers in more than fifty markets starting in September, including the US, UK, Australia, Germany, and Japan.
Spotify’s decision to introduce multiple subscription levels with a more expensive top tier is similar to moves seen in China, where Tencent Music Entertainment announced in August that its higher-priced SVIP membership had surpassed fifteen million subscribers.
According to TME, Premium sound quality “remains the most popular SVIP membership benefit”.
TME SVIP members pay around RMB 40 (USD $5.58) each month, compared to the standard RMB 8 (USD $1.12), meaning these subscribers generate about five times the revenue of regular users.
This approach can also be compared to subscription video streaming services like Netflix, which offers three tiers of its own: Standard with Ads, Standard, and Premium.
Most of the premium features now restricted to Premium Platinum in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates are new for these test markets, although there are a few exceptions. South Africa previously had AI DJ and AI Playlist available as beta features for Premium subscribers, while the UAE had access to mixing tools.
In South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, eligible Premium Platinum members will also receive audiobook access, marking the first time audiobooks have been offered in these countries.
Spotify says that engagement insights show that although usage is rising across global markets, listening habits vary significantly from one region to another, creating the need for subscription plans that reflect those differences.
