SPOTIFY ROLLS OUT MUSIC-ONLY TIER

Spotify has started offering a music-only subscription plan in the U.K. Called Basic Individual, it’s offered at £10.99 a month.

The tier costs £1 less than the streaming service's Individual premium plan, which also includes 15 hours of audiobook listening per month.

Daniel Ek announced the music-only tier on Spotify’s earnings call in April but didn’t say when or where it would roll out.

Spotify has been getting heat from rightsholders over classifying its subscription packages as bundles after adding audiobooks to its premium offering last year. This move resulted in the DSP paying a lower mechanical royalty rate to publishers and songwriters in the U.S. starting in March, a decision the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) has challenged via a lawsuit.

In May, Sony Music Publishing Chairman/CEO Jon Platt weighed in, saying mechanical royalty payments have been reduced by around 20%. “In effect, Spotify is taking the position that all U.S. subscribers are part of a bundle without choosing the bundle option,” he said.

While the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate structure allows for a “discounted bundle rate in certain circumstances,” added Platt, SMP does not believe the offering falls within the parameters that were agreed to in the most recent U.S. CRB proceeding, in 2022.