Spotify results: streaming becomes more expensive, but users keep listening
Commenting on the latest Spotify quarterly results, James Bull, Technology Industry Senior Analyst, RSM UK said: “Spotify’s strong results reinforce its position as the leader in global audio streaming with roughly a third of the market, as it makes strides towards its long-term ambition of reaching one billion users by 2030.
“The results land against a backdrop of rising prices across the streaming industry. Spotify implemented price increases across around 150 countries during 2025 including in the UK, and has announced further increases in the US effective from February 2026, which is estimated to generate an additional $1bn in revenue this year.
“While Spotify has increased prices and was briefly the most expensive streaming service, they are not alone. Amazon has since announced price increases to its music service, signalling that higher prices are becoming the norm across streaming rather than something users can easily avoid by switching platforms.
“The pressure to increase prices is structural. Spotify and other streaming services signed new “streaming 2.0” agreements with labels, effective from 2026, which are estimated to increase royalty costs by 5-6%. Those costs are now being passed through to subscribers in the form of price increases, however, Management notes that so far it has had no material impact on subscriber churn.
“Spotify’s response has been to broaden its revenue base and deepen customer engagement. Podcasts and audiobooks continue to increase usage across the platform, while advertising is expected to play an increasing role during 2026. More notably, the new label agreements will enable Spotify to launch a superfan add-on tier in 2026, which has been estimated to generate around £0.5bn of revenue in its first year, adding a new layer of monetisation beyond base subscription pricing.
“Music streaming is no longer getting cheaper; however, Spotify’s results suggest it has become embedded enough in daily life that many subscribers are willing to accept gradual increases as the price of convenience.”