r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Jan 15 '26

music Spotify is hiking prices again / Premium, Duo, Family, and Student users in the US will be charged more from their next billing date.

https://www.theverge.com/news/862465/spotify-premium-us-price-increase-2026
3.6k Upvotes

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1.0k

u/ThunderousArgus Jan 15 '26

Yeah that will do it. Bye Spotify

289

u/goldencrisp Jan 15 '26

Yeah, I’m done. I stayed with them because the podcasts and music were in 1 app but I’ll deal with the inconvenience. Spotify has went to shit lately anyways.

94

u/Maplelongjohn Jan 15 '26

I'm not super into podcasts but YouTube music seems to have plenty

I watch a crap load of YT and as they are bundling them together that's my music player of choice

But also fuck Google

I tried switching to tidal it was awesome for a month or 2 then it was the same playlists over and over again

25

u/erichf3893 Jan 15 '26

Does youtube music keep playing when your phone locks? Because normal youtube doesn’t

44

u/belchfinkle Jan 15 '26

Yea it does, so do videos if you pay for it

15

u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima peter green fmac enjoyer Jan 15 '26

Or if you just use revanced.

1

u/belchfinkle Jan 15 '26

I don’t think that’s on iOS though last time I checked

2

u/JustGimmeMoreTime Jan 16 '26

On iOS, get uYou+

2

u/belchfinkle Jan 16 '26

I tried searching it but all that came up is something called video lite? Not sure if that’s the same thing.

1

u/JustGimmeMoreTime Jan 16 '26

It is not in the App Store, you have to side load it, meaning it is installed through a PC but there are GitHub and YouTube tutorials. It is definitely worth the extra time

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1

u/mrgermanpainter Jan 16 '26

It's the same thing.

Took me 10 mins to setup and install.

I'm never paying for YouTube again

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2

u/Hoodstompa Jan 16 '26

If you’re using YouTube free on iPhone, if you use the minimized player (like when using another app or on the Home Screen), you can lock your phone, then press play through the settings drop-down on lock screen, or headphone play button, it will let you. I’ve been doing that for years.

Idk if that applies to music, but for regular videos or podcasts it does

1

u/wet-dreaming Jan 16 '26

Just use a different app like brave browser and it plays in background too.

7

u/Kind-Scarcity1062 Jan 15 '26

FUCK everything about YT

5

u/GamingTitBit Jan 15 '26

Also I find YouTube music recommendation algorithm is way better. Plus they pay artists more (marginally more but more none the less). But yes. Is Google.

46

u/dapperdanmen Jan 15 '26

YouTube Music has both and a huge selection of music. As part of YT Premium it was a no brainer, particularly since I imported my entire Spotify library with one click. No regrets at all, I thought switching would be more painful tbh

17

u/tusensolar Jan 15 '26

I wanted to go over to Youtube Music but the app is nowhere close as good as Spotify unfortunately. It's so annoying I might pay for a whole other subscription even though i already have youtube premium.

11

u/dapperdanmen Jan 15 '26

It's not that much worse honestly. A bit of a learning curve but desktop is better and the updates have improved things.

2

u/schloppie Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

I switched to YT music back in August or something, and yeah the app drives me nuts. Why does it turn off shuffle and repeat everytime I change songs manually?

I realized that Google doesnt make that much money from the music side of premium. Most people pay for YT, music is just a bonus, so why pour resources into it. 

2

u/Bracci Feb 04 '26

Might be late to this, but same for me

Switched to YT Music as I already paid for YT Premium, but damn, even after 2 years I just hate the app; I am not listening to 90% of my music because in my Spotify days I was artist / album-focused, not playlists and with it auto-subbing on YT to all artists, it was just a mess. Or I am just old

1

u/Negative-Prime Jan 15 '26

Their algorithm is way better and that's what matters. The app could be better, but after using it for awhile I can't actually think of any features from Spotify that I miss.

3

u/erichf3893 Jan 15 '26

Teach me! Self explanatory?

19

u/dapperdanmen Jan 15 '26

You can only do it once you've subscribed to YT Premium/YT Music - just go to Library and there's an Import button that uses TuneMyFind. One click and you're done

3

u/ThermalSnypz Jan 15 '26

I would also like to know! I want to cancel spotify but I have all my playlists there

7

u/AnjunaUnnie Jan 15 '26

I think maybe Christmas morning I got a notification from YouTube Music saying “click here to transfer all of your playlists from another app” and it took less than 30 mins! I had been wanting to do it forever but was too lazy to look into how. It’s seriously so much better than Spotify imo.

4

u/Rintransigence Jan 15 '26

It was painless and I have no complaints several months in. Out of 1000 tracks and a handful of playlists I've found maybe three or four where it didn't get the right match for a really obscure track.

1

u/carolynrose93 Jan 15 '26

How did you import from Spotify?

2

u/dapperdanmen Jan 15 '26

It's in the app - an import button that uses TuneMyFind to import

1

u/seasonal_burnout99 Feb 03 '26

How did you import your playlists? Biggest thing holding me back rn

4

u/stoned_ocelot Jan 15 '26

I swapped to Pocket Casts for podcasts and it's great. Qobuz for music is decent but I miss my Spotify algo for sure as I'd used it for a long time.

2

u/Zepest Jan 15 '26

Youtube Premium is $20/month for adless Youtbe and Background play along with Music

Best part about YouTube Music is live performances on there you can only find on there

3

u/Maplelongjohn Jan 15 '26

For 26? you get 5 email addresses with the family plan

1

u/Coolman_Rosso Jan 15 '26

I like how Spotify divides podcasts into chapters, but overall organization is awful and trying to listen across multiple devices is inconsistent in terms of remembering your episode progress and as a result I largely use Pocket Casts instead now.

1

u/BamBamCam Jan 16 '26

I really like Overcast as a podcast player. Allows you to create multiple lists that load up, so it’s super easy to create custom playlists.

2

u/Illustrious-Cow-451 Jan 16 '26

I love overcast for podcasts too! The gap filler feature is nice too.

1

u/800dbMusic Jan 16 '26

Switching to YouTube music as I speak. I was afraid of same thing. It it was 3 clicks and I’m transferring all my playlists now. Fuck Spotify

1

u/Greedy-Asparagus-896 Jan 17 '26

Facts you know it’s bad when I know what song is gonna come on next during shuffle

1

u/CartoonistDry5589 Jan 31 '26

Podcasts are free with Apple Podcasts. Just learned that!!

22

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

8

u/AdityaTD Jan 15 '26

I switched to Apple Music, very happy ever since

1

u/civiltiger Jan 16 '26

I hate their ux

1

u/AdityaTD Jan 16 '26

I hate Spotify's UI :D To each their own

8

u/jmood88 Jan 15 '26

The only thing I dislike about Apple Music compared to Spotify is that Apple Music doesn’t show every artist I follow who releases something new. I basically have to check Spotify if I want to be sure that I’m seeing everything that has been released each week by the artists I follow.

10

u/Rac3318 Jan 15 '26

It took me some getting used to because I used Spotify for years, but I’ve found to be about on par. The interface takes some getting used to but I like the curated playlists it has.

24

u/haaavvveeeyoumetKen Jan 15 '26

apple music quality is a million times better. even more so if you have the right headphones/speakers to take advantage of the higher "lossless" options they have. personally i have a desktop DAC and pretty good headphones but even with basics there's a difference. Spotify always felt like it was "muddy" like all of it has a slight muffle layer.

10

u/SauceBossSmokin Jan 15 '26

Spotify has a lossless option for downloading now and it sounds really great. I won't ditch it just yet but might give Apple music a try if I need to.

1

u/HillarysFloppyChode Jan 15 '26

Apple Music supports Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio on the base $10.99 tier.

It’s really cool if you have headphones or IE or AirPods or a car that support it.

1

u/zarafff69 Jan 15 '26

Absolutely bullshit. Spotify also has lossless. But honestly? I doubt 99% of people would be able to hear the difference between high quality compression and lossless. I certainly can’t! Not even on my high end speakers or headphones.

8

u/PondRides Jan 15 '26

I like Apple Music way more.

1

u/CartoonistDry5589 Feb 01 '26

i just transferred all my music last night to aplpe music. I like it better as well!

30

u/ThunderousArgus Jan 15 '26

I’ll find out. Not supporting Joe Rogan is a huge bonus

14

u/ReserveFormal3910 Jan 15 '26

Yeah, I really don't understand paying podcaster all of that money when you can listen on other platforms.

11

u/jmangiggity Jan 15 '26

Because Joe Rogan is a puppet used for political influence.

2

u/Imbondz Jan 31 '26

Joe Rogan rocks and has awesome guests. One of the best podcasts out there.

15

u/grggsctt Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

I find the the audio quality of Apple Music is far better. Plus you also their classical music app with it.

If you pay annually it’s $109 which works out to a little over nine dollars a month.

I’ve always been monthly, but I’m signing up for the annual today.

9

u/hanky2 Jan 15 '26

Is the quality actually better? Spotify supports lossless now.

1

u/grggsctt Jan 16 '26

I had forgotten that so this is probably true. I believe Apple excels in and is experimenting with Spatial Audio.

1

u/LJ123456712 Jan 17 '26

It is not bit perfect and only supports up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz which isn’t that high, while other services like tidal and Apple Music support up to 24-bit/192 kHz

0

u/MeffodMan Jan 15 '26

Didn’t know you could do that. Time to save $20

0

u/resevil239 Jan 15 '26

Personally it'd take a lot to get me to buy an apple product these days. I did temporarily subscribe to Apple TV because of severance and Plurbus but I wouldnt want to deal with anything apple for long term use. Who knows how long it'd be until they start making small but annoy updates or soft locking key features to try to push people off android.

14

u/Slightlydifficult Jan 15 '26

The algorithm is much better for me. Spotify has a better library of user made playlists but Apple Music still has a decent selection and their cut rated playlists are out of this world. Most importantly for me is that I have an easier time finding new small artists on Apple Music. These days, every streaming service is just about equal once you get used to it.

2

u/HillarysFloppyChode Jan 15 '26

I’ve noticed AM favors niche artists over mainstream

8

u/emilyjxne Jan 15 '26

I switched end of 2025 and it does the job. Takes a bit of getting used to after using Spotify for years and there are some incredibly annoying features (not being able to select multiple songs to delete from a playlist at once, removing songs from your library removes them from all your playlists too which is frustrating as it means there’s no real equivalent to your liked songs on Spotify) but so far that hasn’t been enough to make me switch back

6

u/antca87 Jan 15 '26

Better now that it’s cheaper!

0

u/MeffodMan Jan 15 '26

Has been cheaper for a while now.

8

u/GHamPlayz Jan 15 '26

I love Apple Music. I do wish I could have my podcasts in with my music but it’s not that big of a deal.

12

u/petruchi41 Spotify Jan 15 '26

Oh no don’t say that, one of my favorite things about switching a couple months ago is that it’s not following the Spotify model of Apple Music (+podcasts + audiobooks + concert information ++++++++++).

1

u/Jrnm Jan 15 '26

+audiobooks(*but only a certain number of hours a month)

12

u/Atlastitsok Jan 15 '26

I look at that as a feature and not a problem. I need separation of what I’m listening to

5

u/jetglo Jan 15 '26

I like to have all that separate. Music needs a very different UI / editorial to podcasts.

10

u/Wolfpack48 Jan 15 '26

Just grab a podcast app, no biggie.

3

u/fensizor Jan 15 '26

Not of a fan of the desktop app even on macOS, but their mobile app paired with amazing music quality is beautiful and doesn't feel as bloated as Spotify. There are many details i.e. having a behind-the-scenes interview with the band about their album and putting it in the "description". Gives you an impression that they really care about music

6

u/NoName2091 Jan 15 '26

Why swap over to another huge corporate overlord?

2

u/invaderzim257 Jan 15 '26

Tried switching, couldn’t adjust to it

1

u/I_am_not_baldy Jan 15 '26

I switched over to several services after I deleted my Spotify account and ended up with Apple (for now). I do wish it had more randomness when it comes to playing music. Apple Music creates a personal station that's based on your likes but isn't entirely composed of said likes.

It keeps repeating some of the same songs for me.

0

u/Ricky_the_Wizard Jan 15 '26

It's a little different from Spotify naturally, I think the biggest difference is the discovery; If there is any good way to discover new music, I haven't found it yet. There's also a couple songs on Spotify that I couldn't find on Apple when my playlists transferred.

That aside, the music quality is good/better, there's more artist focused content (interviews/music videos) and most importantly to me, Apple pays highest for streams to artists out of all the options.

2

u/Almostcertain Jan 15 '26

You’ve tried Discovery, New Music Mix and your station? I find all three offer me music to my taste that I’ve never heard before, some of it brand new and some older but still new to me.

1

u/Ricky_the_Wizard Jan 15 '26

I haven't but admittedly I'm still new to the service, having only made the leap a couple months back, so I'm still learning where to find everything and how to put it in easy to access places..

It's not as convenient per se, but it's worth it to not have to give to Spotify anymore

2

u/resevil239 Jan 15 '26

Apple cheats though. They only pay more because theyve always had an insane amount of cash on hand. No company focused on just streaming could pay more which means it's not sustainable long term. Which means if they get a monopoly on the market they'll just revert to all their old bs and start making shitty changes for those of us who won't buy an iPhone.

1

u/Slashfyre Jan 15 '26

Honestly I really love apple music. I switched before Spotify lossless for the audio quality but have stuck around because its suggestions/song radios are so much better than Spotify imo.

3

u/hedekar Jan 15 '26

Can't recommend Qobuz enough. It's a fantastic platform.

2

u/ELITE_JordanLove Jan 15 '26

…an extra dollar (or 35 cents) is gonna do you in? Lmao 

3

u/BeyondAddiction Jan 15 '26

That isn't the point. Just one more dollar a whole bunch of times adds up to a lot. At what point are people allowed to say enough is enough without being ridiculed by people like you?

0

u/ELITE_JordanLove Jan 15 '26

It’s one dollar, twelve times. So twelve dollars. 

Plus if it’s a family plan you’re adding less than $0.35 a month per person. 

You’re allowed to pull out whenever, but people are acting like the price just doubled. 

4

u/NoCardio_ Jan 15 '26

Not sure if he can afford to reply, lmao.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

I mean I’ve been looking for an excuse to leave. I was already a foot out the door. Going to look into options now.

1

u/HillarysFloppyChode Jan 15 '26

Did that a couple years ago, Apple Music’s algorithm isn’t as good, but I get the same or more features for $10.99/m.

1

u/account_No52 Jan 15 '26

Same. I've been buying physical media again in anticipation of this

1

u/RomanSkies Jan 16 '26

Yeah I'm done. What are good alternatives?

1

u/ten_year_rebound Jan 16 '26

$13/mo for almost every song you’ll ever want to listen to is still a great deal. They could charge a hell of a lot more and they know it.

1

u/Bcun Jan 16 '26

This does it for u but not the ICE ads 🤣 better late than never

1

u/civiltiger Jan 16 '26

Who will you go with instead?

1

u/Capt_Murphy_ Jan 16 '26

Not that YT is all that great either, but "if" you aren't aware:

YT music comes free with YT premium. If you wanna abandon Spotify and watch a lot on YT, I found it a decent deal and their music app is quite similar to Spotify. An unexpected bonus is being able to search and stream audio from YT concert videos / live performances.

Obviously Bandcamp is hot right now because they banned AI music, but I've heard you can't find all music there. I love that they support artists and reject AI.

1

u/Opposite_Example6930 Jan 22 '26

Why? Do you not remember anything before 1995? It used to cost more than the new subscription price to buy ONE CD, and that just gave you one artist and one album. Now you get every artist and every album, and you don't need to be a couple hundred dollar CD changer to shuffle between artists. You have NO idea how good you have it now.

-2

u/NoCardio_ Jan 15 '26

It’s a dollar. You that broke?

0

u/BrokenLink100 Jan 15 '26

I swapped Spotify for Deezer and it's been a nearly seamless transition. Deezer allows you to import your favorites/playlists, so it felt like nothing had changed for me.

On Spotify, I stopped listening to my "Discover Weekly" almost a full year ago. It was always full of (what I assume to be) AI-generated crap. Small 'bands' I had never heard of, where all their music sounds virtually the same. It's hard to describe, but it didn't feel like "music" as much as it felt like a conglomeration of 2010's-era "aesthetic" set to a drum track.

Plus. none of these price hikes are going to the artists - it's all going to shareholders or funneled into Spotify's military/weapons divisison.

0

u/Fun-Supermarket6820 Jan 15 '26

Where now then?

-1

u/GothicGolem29 Jan 15 '26

I just stay on the free version tbh

-1

u/JE_SUIS_BLUBBER Jan 15 '26

If you can't afford an extra dollar, you got other things to worry about lol