Perhaps acknowledging that the competitive landscape has changed, Spotify has introduced new pricing plans today. Premium desktop and mobile access is now split into two separate tiers, £4.99 and £9.99 per-month in the UK respectively.
Rival We7 introduced identical pricing when it launched its premium offering in late January this year, while US-based MOG is also planning to enter Britain at a very competitive price point, according to reports.
Along with the separate desktop and mobile premium packages, Spotify has also introduced what seems unnecessary complexity into its free ad-supported offering. A new ‘Spotify Open’ drops the need for an invite but is limited to up to 20 hours every month, which the company says is the equivalent to listening to 25 albums or 300 tracks per-month. The original invite-only free version still exists and has been re-badged ‘Spotify Free’.
In fact things have got complex enough to warrant the dreaded product comparison grid on the music streaming service’s web page.
Looking at the grid reveals one interesting tidbit. In the newly introduced desktop-only premium tier, gone is offline playback. In other words, your desktop computer will need to be tied to an Internet connection while you use the service, lest you bump up to the higher mobile tier.
