New ‘Basic’ US Spotify plan drops audiobooks

In the US, Spotify has increased the price of its Premium subscription offer to US$11.99 (A$18) a month and introduced a new ‘Basic’ plan that costs US $10.99 (A$16.50) and does not include audiobook streaming, reports the Verge.

In 2023, Spotify increased the cost of the US Premium subscription from US$9.99 per month (A$15)—the price the service launched at in the US more than a decade ago—to US $10.99 (A$16.50) per month. ‘Now that Premium costs an extra dollar beyond that, the new Basic plan seems to indicate that Spotify sees demand for a cheaper option that drops audiobooks,’ said the Verge.

The cost of the Spotify Premium subscription in Australia has not changed and includes 15 hours per month of audiobook streaming.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Spotify first made its audiobook limited-streaming offer available to Premium subscribers in Australia, the US and UK last year, and has since extended the offer to Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada and Ireland.

Category: International news