In April 2024, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that the service would get a new paid subscription option that would only focus on music, although he did not offer any further details at the time.
If, like me, you have no interest in having audiobooks on your music streaming service, the idea of a cheaper option than Spotify Premium sounded great, especially considering Spotify's recent price increase in the US. But We didn't know exactly what we were getting, but maybe we will now, thanks to this new 'Basic' music scheme that appeared and then disappeared in the UK.
The good news is that the new tier isn't as “basic” as it seems: it's practically Spotify Premium without the books. You get ad-free, downloadable music, with shuffle and queue options, and shared listening.
It also appears to be available in Individual, Duo and Family versions. In exchange for doing away with audiobooks, the price was lower: £1 cheaper for individual users and £2 for family users. In fact, it reversed Spotify's most recent price increase.
And then it disappeared.
Where did Spotify Basic go?
When I logged into Spotify this morning to take another screenshot of the new plans, which were previously under Profile > Account > Subscription > Available Plans, they weren't there, and I've since gone through the website with a fine-toothed comb. and I can't find any reference to the new Basic plan anywhere on the UK website.
What I suspect happened here is that Spotify didn't want the new plan to be public so soon, so after it was spotted, they quickly pulled the plug only to take it offline again. But the fact that it was there before suggests that it will be released very soon, and we have to assume that it will be released in territories other than the UK. I imagine there will be quite a stir if it's not available in the US.
£1 a month isn't a huge saving, but I suspect a lot of Spotify Premium subscribers will welcome the opportunity to roll back the price rise to its previous level and give up audiobooks. It could be a very popular option and will bring Spotify back more in line with the other best music streaming services in price and features… except for the high-resolution audio, of course.
