Spotify price hike forcing users in Estonia to search for alternatives
Spotify raised its prices in the Baltics by 18–25%, now charging nearly €12 per month. Estonia's authors' group sees gains, but critics say artists won't benefit.
Spotify has raised its prices. Where the individual plan once cost €9.99, subscribers will now pay nearly €12 per month for the same package.
The student plan has increased by €1, from €5.49 to €6.49.
The Duo plan — for two users — jumped from €12.99 to €15.99 per month, matching the previous price of the family plan, which now costs €19.99.
Additionally, while users could try the individual plan free for three months as recently as December, the trial period has been cut to one month starting this year.
Marek Tihhonov from the Estonian Authors' Society said that although the percentage increase is relatively steep, the price hike amounts to just a few euros more per month for subscribers.
From the society's point of view, the increase is a positive change for artists. Thanks to higher prices and broader listenership, authors will receive proportionally larger payments, Tihhonov said.
Reigo Ahven, developer and founder of the music platform Fairmus, said many people are simply used to Spotify, which makes them unlikely to cancel due to price increases.
"It's common practice to raise prices until about 20 percent of customers leave. That's when you know you've hit the limit — when people are no longer willing to pay," he said.
According to Ahven, the price hike could actually reduce what artists earn.
"I definitely don't agree with exploiting a monopoly to push prices to a level that ultimately cuts off musicians' access to their audiences and therefore their income from recorded music. I believe this increase is coming at the expense of artists," he said.
Ahven noted that Estonian pianist and composer Kristjan Randalu has already left Spotify due to low compensation.
There are more than 600 alternative streaming platforms, he said. The better-known ones include Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, SoundCloud and Deezer.
Fairmus, the Estonian streaming service, charges €5 per month, Ahven said. Unlike Spotify, which pools all subscriber money and distributes it based on total streams globally, Fairmus sends each subscriber's fee directly to the artists they actually listen to.
Of the 8,000 songs on Fairmus, roughly 7,000 are by Estonian artists, he added.
Ott Ajaots, a reporter for DigiGeenius, said most platforms have the same music catalog. Some may even feature more artists than Spotify.
Switching to a cheaper platform could save users around €50 per year, Ajaots noted.
"Often, you can transfer hundreds of songs for free. That's what I did — canceled Spotify, moved to a competitor and transferred my tracks in about five minutes."
According to Ajaots, Estonian musicians earn nearly one cent per stream on Apple Music or Tidal, compared to just 0.3 cents on Spotify.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
