Spotify confirmed with The Verge this week that the company is testing a 99-cent subscription plan with a small group of users. The subscription plan, called Spotify Plus, will offer users an unlimited number of skips and on-demand listening. These features are two of the biggest concerns that turn ad-supported streamers into premium members.
However, there’s still a big catch; the $.99 plan will still play ads between songs. Additionally, the description of Spotify Plus lists nothing about downloads, meaning if you wish to listen to your favorite songs while disconnected from wifi, you will need to purchase one of Spotify’s 4 other premium plans. Those being $9.99 to use one premium account, $12.99 Duo plan for two premium accounts, $15.99 Family plan which can link up to 6 premium accounts, or, if you are a college student, a $4.99 plan for one account and access to ad-supported memberships with Hulu and Showtime. All plans are billed monthly.
There is no current information on how this new subscription model will impact the amount of money musicians can make from the amount of streams their music earns on the platform. Today, Spotify classifies 1,250 streams from premium accounts and 3,750 streams from ad-supported accounts to count as one album sale. With the $.99/month plan, the price of membership is only 10% of what it costs to be an individual premium account. This would likely make the number of streams to classify as an album sale stay at 3,750, but the company has yet to comment.
What we do know for now is that the Spotify Plus does exist, but for a very small group of participants. The company is also testing a variety of price points for the service. Spotify told The Verge that there is no current plan to roll-out the new model nation-wide, but their research is still ongoing.