technology home entertainment audio Spotify CEO Daniel Ek signals price rise as musicians ask for money

The head of the world’s biggest streaming music service has indicated the price it’s going to charge you is about to go up.

Spotify’s Premium monthly subscription currently costs $11.99 in Australia and lets you access virtually any song you can think of within seconds for less than what you used to pay for one album on a CD.

At the start of October the company hiked the price of its Family plan subscription, which lets “family members living under one roof” share a subscription among up to six different users.

The price increased from $17.99 to $18.99.

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On an earnings call with investors on Thursday, CEO Daniel Ek revealed more price hikes would soon follow, especially in “mature markets”.

“While it’s still early, initial results indicate that in markets where we’ve tested increased prices, our users believe that Spotify remains an exceptional value and they have shown a willingness to pay more for our service,” Mr Ek said.

“So as a result, you will see us further expand price increases, especially in places where we’re well-positioned against the competition and our value per hour is high,” he added, according to TechCrunch.
 

Spotify recently passed 320 million monthly active users around the world and first launched in Australia in 2012.

The company is currently facing a backlash from musicians who think Spotify should pay more for their work.
 

The US-based Union of Musicians and Allied Workers is calling for more transparency and better pay from the business.

They want rights-holders to get a minimum price of one cent per stream and to be paid directly for a stream, rather than compete with each other in the current and complex “pro rata” model, which the Union argues disproportionately benefits already successful artists.

“Many claim that such wages are not compatible with Spotify’s current economic system,” the Union wrote in a statement on their website.

“Our demand is that this model be adjusted so that artists can be paid fairly. If Spotify’s model can’t pay artists fairly, it shouldn’t exist.”