Spotify launches Basic plan in the US, still no sign of HiFi tier

Spotify has launched a new price tier in the US. The Basic plan costs the same $10.99 that the Premium tier previously cost, but lacks the 15 hours of audiobook listening.

Recently, Spotify announced that prices would be rising . As of next month, the Premium Individual tier costs $11.99 a month (11.99 / AU$13.99), $1 more than previously. This is the second price rise in 12 months.

The Premium tier launched at $9.99 a month over a decade ago. Then last year, Spotify increased the price by $1 a month, before doing the same this year.

There's still no mention of when the firm's HiFi tier will launch. A lossless offering was promised back in February 2021 to arrive before the end of the year (and first teased a further four years before that), yet still we have no update on when it will launch. It's rumoured to cost another $5 a month extra on top of whatever tier you already have.

By launching this new, audiobook-free tier, Spotify has a music-only offering to match the price of Apple Music and Tidal . It's also possibly setting the scene for a new, pricier HiFi tier. Hopefully, we'll know for sure soon, though we've lost count of how many times we've written that sentence in the seven years we've been waiting for HiFi to launch.

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