Cheaper subscription tiers are becoming a thing among streaming platforms in an attempt to lure consumers into their paid services. Earlier, YouTube confirmed that it"s testing Premium Lite in some European countries, allowing subscribers to watch videos uninterrupted by ads for €6.99 per month.
Now, Spotify appears to be trialing a new cheaper plan called Spotify Plus that combines some capabilities of its free and paid tiers. For $0.99 per month, you can skip an unlimited number of songs per hour and listen to specific titles in an album or playlist. However, you"ll have to bear with the ads just like in the free plan if you wish to gain access to those capabilities for a cheaper price.
Spotify confirmed the report in a statement to The Verge:
“We’re always working to enhance the Spotify experience and we routinely conduct tests to inform our decisions. We’re currently conducting a test of an ad-supported subscription plan with a limited number of our users.”
The current free tier allows you to skip only up to six songs per hour. And while you can select specific tracks to play in specific collections such as “Discover Weekly” and “Daily Mix”, you"ll only be able to listen to shuffled songs in all other albums and playlists. If you want to avoid those restrictions, you can opt for the service"s paid plan which currently costs $9.99 per month.
Spotify, however, cautioned that the experimental tier may not necessarily roll out in its current form in the future. And if ever it does, it remains to be seen how the cheaper tier will help convert free users into paying subscribers.
Source: The Verge