this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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Senators Call for The FTC to Launch an Investigation into Spotify for Forcing Subscribers into Higher-Priced Subscriptions Without Their Consent. (www.blackburn.senate.gov)
submitted 1 month ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] ryper@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 month ago

Current regulations allow digital music providers to pay a lower music royalty rate if their paid music subscription offering is bundled with other legitimate product offerings. Seeing an opportunity, Spotify has exploited this regulation by converting all Premium Plan music subscribers into a new, bundled subscription offering without consumers’ consent or any notice. Spotify’s intent seems clear—to slash the statutory royalties it pays to songwriters and music publishers.

Spotify has priced its Audiobook Access plan with 15 hours of listening time per month from a limited catalog of 200,000 audiobooks at $9.99/month. In contrast, Spotify’s music-only Basic Plan—which includes unlimited hours of listening from a catalog of over 100 million songs—is priced only a dollar more. Under the regulations, the higher the Audiobooks Access plan is priced, the lower the music royalty Spotify must pay.