Spotify Is About to Be More Expensive Than Apple Music. That's Not the Worst Part.

Spotify is going through something right now. On Monday morning, the industry-defining audio streaming service announced that it would be hiking its Premium subscription prices for users in the United States, effective next month. The individual plan is rising by 1, the Duo plan by 2, and the family subscription by 3. These shifts arrive almost a year after Spotify raised U.S. subscription rates for the first time ever, upping the individual plan to 10.99 a month to match with competitors' price points. That increase was meant to mollify music-industry executives (who demanded better royalty payouts) and investors (who demanded that Spotify squeeze out regular profits).