Spotify Basic legacy subscription of £10.99 per month - stick or move to YouTube Music??

AlphaDelta89

Hello Martin,

I have a dilemma which I would like you and your MSE savers to weigh-in what I should do. I have been a Spotify Basic Premium subscriber that is worth £10.99 before they rose prices to 11.99 and subsequently 12.99. I stream a lot of music on my commutes, something like 35,000 listening minutes a year. The only drawback is I don't have access to audiobooks but that never really appealed to me.

Recently, I saw Spotify doing deals for lapsed subscribers like the £6.49 for two months and YouTube Music is often trying to bribe me to join them for four months free. I have about 100 playlists and over 8,000 songs across all of them. However, if I was to leave Spotify Basic Premium, because it is a legacy subscription, I will lose this 10.99 perk for life and I can never get it back if I were to rejoin. So if I did comeback to Spotify Premium, it will be at the 12.99 a month that everyone else pays. Do I leave Spotify Basic to get the YouTube Music offers or stick with Spotify Basic until Spotify decide they are pulling my legacy subscription from under the rug?

oldernonethewiser

If it is music money saving then stream free radio stations.

Have you tried the free version of Youtube Music?

Exodi

I have YouTube Premium for £12.99 per month.

I used to have Spotify but just couldn't justify it after the last few prices increases when YouTube Music vs Spotify is pretty same same, but YouTube Premium also includes the benefits that come with the video side.

It was a perfect fit for me, I don't really watch TV, the only thing I'd watch on TV is documentaries or financial videos (yes I must be fun at parties) - which YouTube Premium allows me to do ad-free.

They also provide podcasts, or alternatively, I can listen to any video I whim on earphones with my locked in my pocket with the screen off. For my last walk with my baby, I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jDN7h7-S5E (a very interesting debate between Gabriel Zucman and Arthur Laffer on taxing wealth).

I just don't think Spotify brings enough to justify charging the same price as YouTube Premium - I'd even suggest the £10.99 a month you pay is overpriced, in my mind it should be about £7.99 or £8.99 to make sense to me as an audio-only platform. Appreciate that might not be financially viable, artists already complain about compensation amounts.

I wonder if the ~25% dip in their share price over the past year is due to softening customer demand.

NotABotOfPeople

I agree with @oldernonethewiser that streaming radio is by far the moneysaving option, but if you want to have more control, then I've seen some people turned off by Spotify's ties to Big Music and an invasion of AI "artists" switch to Tidal, which claims to have stronger AI-labelling and no-impersonation policies, but it's also £12.99/month after the 30 day free trial, so wouldn't save you anything ongoing.

horsewithnoname

if you use Amazon then Amazon music is included with Prime, along with the prime television. Compared to the others it’s reasonable value if you use it all.

twopenny

I've transferred CDs to a micro card for my phone. £1 for 16 songs.

Same with podcasts and CD books.

But if you're dedicated to streaming how do you contact to end it? Can you let them know you're leaving because it's too expensive. I've just saved £140 doing that with insurance and car recovery.

I get the impression that such as streaming services they win by being inaccessible to their customers.

ch3shirecat4

Stay with spotify its by far the best. i pay from amazon prime but still wouldnt use the music as its just a much less nice experience