Spotify is testing an ad-supported subscription tier that will allow users to play songs of their choice, with unlimited skips, for $0.99 a month, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Called Spotify Plus, the subscription tier is a fraction of the price of Spotify Premium, the $9.99/month ad-free offering. It is currently being tested with a “limited number of users,” according to the spokesperson, at a variety of price points — including $0.99 a month.
Spotify’s ad-supported free tier currently only allows users to play music on shuffle mode and limits users to skipping songs up to six times per hour. Spotify Plus, which was first reported on by The Verge, would sit in-between Spotify’s free and premium subscription tiers by giving users the ability to pick and choose what they want to listen to with unlimited skips but with interruptions from ads.
“We’re always working to enhance the Spotify experience and we routinely conduct tests to inform our decisions,” the Spotify spokesperson said. “We’re currently conducting a test of an ad-supported subscription plan with a limited number of our users. Some tests end up paving the way for new offerings or enhancements while others may only provide learnings.”
During Spotify’s latest quarterly earnings, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek noted that advertising revenue had become a “second big revenue driver” for the company. Spotify Premium brought in €2.06 billion (~$2.44 billion) in revenue during Q2, while ad-supported brought in €275 million (~$326 million).
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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