SPOTIFY chief executive officer Daniel Ek says the company has a “great product” with its upcoming audiobook offering.
Paying subscribers will soon get added perks with their membership following a recent price hike.
Spotify is preparing to release a new benefit to its paying subscribers – free audiobooks.
Rolling out this winter, users who pay $10.99 for a Premium plan will get 15 hours of free audiobook listening a month.
Customers will be able to stream the audiobook of their choosing, much in the same way they can stream the app’s vast music library.
Speaking during the company’s third-quarter earnings call this week, chief executive officer Daniel Ek described the new offering as a “great product.”
“We just believe it is going to be a great product that will open up more authors to more consumers,” he said.
“And what we have seen is that when we enter a business, it gets bigger.”
Audiobooks on Spotify was unveiled earlier this month and has already launched in select markets, including the UK.
Customers in the US can expect to see the feature this winter, although Spotify has yet to confirm an exact date.
Beyond the free fifteen hours of audiobook content, users will be able to pay for further listening with credit card payments.
PRICE HIKE
Spotify customers may be looking to get additional value out of their subscription after the company raised the monthly fee in July.
The price of a Premium Individual plan went up from $9.99 a month to $10.99,
That’s the first time Spotify has ever increased its subscription prices since it launched in the US in 2011.
The Stockholm, Sweden-based company justified the increase saying: “These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.”
STREAMING WITH TEARS
But Spotify is far from the only streaming company that recently introduced a significant price hike.
Netflix shocked customers earlier this month by raising the price of some plans by as much as $3 a month.
Under the changes, the cost of its most premium tier has gone up from $19.99 a month to $22.99.
Meanwhile, the basic non-ad tier, which is not available to new members, increased from $9.99 to $11.99.
But there’s good news for customers on the cheapest Netflix plan, standard with ads.
This remains at $6.99 a month for now.
Apple has also unveiled significant price increases for some of its most popular subscriptions.
And check out The U.S. Sun’s full guide to streaming services, including one option that’s totally free.