Spotify has announced a change for users of its free tier in India. Several features that were available on Spotify’s free plan can now only be accessed if you go Premium.
Spotify’s Free Tier in India Is Changing
As reported byTechCrunch, Spotify’s free tier in India will now lack the following abilities:
These Changes to Spotify’s Free Tier Are Annoying
With the exit of these features, what kind of listening experience will Indian users have on the free tier of Spotify?
A very annoying one. Free-tier users have always complained about how frequent the ads are on the free plan, as Spotify’s ads play after every other song. Ironically, these ads are all from Spotify itself, advertising the premium plans it offers. They all have the same script—“Hate listening to this ad? We know. Get our premium plan to never listen to this again”.
Now on top of that, you do not have the ability to rewind songs, go back to something you liked, or even listen to the playlists you have made without Smart Shuffle getting in the way. You’ll have to go back and manually tap on every song—and that’s a dealbreaker for most people. What if you’re driving or playing music at a house party?
So, does this mean that most people will finally go premium? Perhaps, but disabling key features is bound to rub people up the wrong way and make them consider other platforms.
They may turn to YouTube Premium, priced at Rs 129/month, which is nominally higher than Spotify’s Rs 119/ month plan. After all,YouTube Music provides strong competition to Spotify.YouTube Premium comes packed with features and a music app that offers pretty much everything Spotify does. The music app lets you stream and download videos, while Spotify’s free tier hasn’t done that for a long time now.
iOS users could also switch to Apple Music, priced at Rs 99/month, which allows you to stream high-quality songs with people who also have iPhones. Choosing Apple Music may be the best option for you, our guide tothe key differences between Spotify and Apple Musicshould help you choose.
Spotify Premium: A Must-Have or a Hard Pass?
Given the reasons above, Spotify may have overestimated the number of users who will switch to its paid plans in India, and underestimated the existing competition in the country.
