Spotify has decided to force the end of the Spotify Unlimited subscriptions (4.99 euros per month) that are still active. The Internet users concerned will switch to Spotify Free, with advertising. They are free to re-subscribe, with the formula at 9.99 euros per month.
If you are one of those internet users who have a Spotify subscription, know that there is change in the air. More specifically, it is the people who still have a Spotify Unlimited account who are going to have to prepare for the changes. The Swedish streaming music giant has decided to end this offer once and for all, billed at 4.99 euros per month.
The company is sending e-mails to its customers to inform them of the impending end of this formula. Within the editorial staff of Numerama, a person has just received this email. In it, it is announced that the Spotify Unlimited account will be downgraded to a free account (Spotify Free) on the date of the next billing. In the case of our colleague, it will be September 21.
Spotify Unlimited is an old formula that is no longer offered by the music streaming service. It was launched in May 2010 and was intended to be a solution halfway between free access and Spotify Premium, which is the main subscription that the platform sells – it costs 9.99 euros per month. Spotify Unlimited had been discontinued years ago, except for current contracts.
While Spotify Free does not allow you to escape the advertisements broadcast during listening, between songs (this is indeed how the platform finances “free” listening), Spotify Unlimited allows you to escape them. . The formula also included a few other advantages, such as the ability to listen to music offline or to change titles on your PC, without restriction.
Switch customers to Spotify Free
In fact, all the people who are still on Spotify Unlimited will soon lose the advantages associated with this formula. They will certainly no longer be billed at 4.99 euros per month, but will again be subject to sound advertising. They are free to stay on this access, switch to Spotify Premium (which remains) or perhaps go to a competing service.
The email sent by Spotify does not detail the logic that led the company to take this turn. Contacted by Numerama, the service has not yet returned to us. We can nevertheless guess that it is a question of clarifying the numerous subscriptions that the site offers (there is also Spotify Premium Duo, Spotify Premium Family and Spotify Students), but also of trying to generate more money. .
According to statistics from this spring, Spotify claims 158 million subscribers (which includes Spotify Premium, Unlimited and others). The detail by category is not provided. The platform is also visited globally by 356 million customers each month, also including Internet users who are satisfied with Spotify Free. These figures are growing steadily.
Spotify may anticipate a certain percentage of lost users who will not upgrade to Spotify Premium. However, the attraction of finding lost features (enjoying Spotify without any particular limitation and especially without having sound advertisements) could convince many to pay no longer 4.99 euros, but 9.99 euros per month from now on.
