Spotify has announced that it has increased the prices of its Premium plans, again. This is not really surprising because most streaming services have raised the costs of their subscriptions in the recent times.

This is the second time Spotify has hiked its price in less than a year. To recap, the music streaming service announced a price increase for its services in July last year. To be fair, it was the first time the price of Spotify Premium had been hiked in 12 years. The Premium subscription, which debuted at $9.99/month in 2011, saw a $1 increase, to $10.99. But now, eleven months later, the company has announced that the prices are going up again.

New Spotify Premium pricing in the U.S.

The new Spotify Premium plan starts at $11.99 for an Individual account. The Spotify Duo Plan now costs $16.99 per month, up from $14.99. The Spotify Family plan, which allows six members in a household to share the subscription, has seen a $3 price increase, up from $16.99 to $19.99. The Spotify Student plan continues to be available for $5.99 a month.

Users will receive an email notifying them about the change in their subscription's prices in the coming month.

An announcement on the company's website says that the prices were increased so Spotify can "continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experience". Spotify had increased the prices in the UK from £10.99 to £11.99 per month, and similarly from AU$12.99 per month to AU$13.99 in Australia. It is unclear whether Spotify will increase its Premium prices in other Countries.

A Bloomberg report says that Spotify increased its prices to cover the costs of audiobook streaming, which was introduced last year. It also hints that Spotify is preparing a new Basic Tier, which will offer music and podcasts, but that plan will not offer the audiobook library. The company is supposedly working on a Supremium Plan which will offer Lossless Audio, something which users have been requesting for a long time.

Interestingly, Spotify only saw about 1.5% of users canceling their subscription in April. Evidently, the company's business seems to be prospering despite the increase in the subscription plans. The streaming service boasted 615 million monthly active users at the end of March this year, of which 239 million were Premium subscribers.

An $11.99 price tag for streaming music seems a little too steep to me. Apple Music and YouTube Music cost $10.99 per month, but it is possible that those prices could go up too.

Now that every streaming service have been increasing their prices, what are some good alternatives for Spotify? Personally, I think Amazon Prime offers the best bang for your buck. It costs $14.99 per month in the U.S. but it gives you access to faster shipping on your orders. You can watch a lot of TV shows and movies on Amazon Prime Video, listen to music via Prime Music, read Kindle books on Prime Reading, claim free PC Games, and you also get some discounts and deals. That's more economical than paying for Netflix + Spotify, at least for my needs.

Do you use Spotify Premium?