Welcome to Lowpass, a newsletter about the future of entertainment and the next big hardware platforms, including smart TVs, ambient computing and AR / VR. This week: Spotify is getting more expensive any day now, and Plex is turning 15.
Waiting for the Spotify price increase
Big changes are afoot in the music world: The online music industry is finally abandoning its $10 per month price tag for all-you-can-eat, Spotify-style streaming. Next up to increase its price is Tidal, which announced a few days ago that it would charge subscribers a dollar more per month starting in August.
Tidal is by far not the only service to move to a $10.99 price tag. Apple Music raised prices last October, Amazon’s Music Unlimited plan got more expensive in January. Also more expensive now, even though no one really noticed the increase: Napster and Deezer, which both now also charge $10.99 per month.
Next in line may just be Spotify. Here’s why the market leader is poised to raise prices soon, and how the company may go about doing it.