Spotify is testing a cheaper plan with fewer restrictions but still plays ads

Spotify is testing a new low-cost subscription tier supported by advertisements, dubbed “Spotify Plus”. The subscription tier is described as having “unlimited skips and on-demand listening”, while still incorporating advertisements like what is seen on the company’s free subscription tier.

Currently, Spotify’s free tier doesn’t let users skip more than six tracks per hour. Users can also only listen to specific tracks from 15 selected playlists, from editorial-selected playlists to algorithmically generated playlists like your “Discovery Weekly” and your “Daily Mix” playlists. Outside of that, free users can only shuffle tracks. To avoid all of that, you can subscribe to Spotify’s full premium service, though it comes in at $9.99 a month. However, as reported by The Verge, Spotify’s “Plus” tier may come in at just $0.99 a month. Other prices are, however, being tested too.

Spotify confirmed to The Verge in a statement that it is “always working to enhance the Spotify experience and we routinely conduct tests to inform our decisions,” and that they are “currently conducting a test of an ad-supported subscription plan with a limited number of our users.”

The company also confirmed that there’s no guarantee that Spotify Plus will be launched in its current tier, if at all. “Some tests end up paving the way for new offerings or enhancements while others may only provide learnings. We don’t have any additional information to share at this time.”

Spotify likes to test features on end-users, some of which do find their way into the main app. For example, the company announced a new HiFi tier for lossless music streaming earlier this year, which has still yet to fully come to fruition. However, other features, like group listening music sessions were discovered early last year and are now available to all users, so it’s entirely possible that this feature will eventually launch for everyone.

The post Spotify is testing a cheaper plan with fewer restrictions but still plays ads appeared first on xda-developers.