Spotify ditches the audiobook listening experience with a new Basic plan

What you need to know

• Spotify has brought in a new basic plan for individuals and families in the U.S.
• It costs $10.99 per month, but it has the benefits of the Premium Individual plan without audiobooks.
• The same plan is available for six members under the Basic Family plan, which reportedly costs $16.99 per month.

Spotify users in the U.S. can now take advantage of a new Basic plan that offers all the benefits of a Premium plan without audiobook listening time.

The streaming giant recently hiked its Premium individual plan from $10.99 to $11.99 monthly. It now has the $10.99 plan dubbed the Basic plan with limitations.

"Enjoy the music streaming benefits of your Premium plan without the monthly audiobook listening time. Starting at $10.99/month for eligible users, "Spotify notes in the announcement post. 

9to5Google states that users, for some reason, can't "directly sign up for the new plan" through Spotify's website but rather can downgrade to the new plan, provided they are already existing individual plan users.

The new introduction of the Basic plan confirms the recent Bloomberg report, which shared Spotify's plans to increase the Premium Individual plan by over $1 and the company's intention to introduce the latest $10.99 per month plan forgoing the audiobooks.

The new $10.99 per month plan appears to be the entry-level for subscriptions to the music streaming platform. While there is still a $9.99 per month plan, it is only for audiobook listening dubbed under the "Audiobooks Access" tier. It gives 15 hours of audiobook listening time.

Spotify now has some diversified plans for people in the U.S., starting with $10.99 Basic followed by Premium Individual ($11.99), which provides ad-free music online/offline next to 15 hours of audiobook listening time per month. 

Then there's Premium Duo for $16.99 per month, giving the benefits of the Premium Individual plan but for two members. The Premium Family is another notable plan that costs $16.99 per month, and up to six users can take advantage of it with all $11.99 plan benefits.

9to5Google further notes that there is a new Basic Family plan costing $16.99 per month, which, for some reason, isn't mentioned in the aforementioned post but is visible for Spotify subscribers. It works similarly to the Basic plan for up to six members without audiobook listening experience.

It is interesting to see Spotify omitting the audiobook listening experience by introducing these new plans while the primary intention to increase the Premium Individual in the first place is reportedly to "cover the cost of audiobooks," according to the earlier mentioned Bloomberg report.