Spotify’s price hikes and bookstore pushed me to leave after 5 years

Spotify is adding the option to purchase books through its app. Starting this spring, thanks to a newly announced partnership with Bookshop.org, Spotify subscribers will be able to get physical books, sourced from independent book stores, shipped to their doors. The partnership ties into Spotify’s new Page Match feature, which lets you scan the book you’re reading with your phone’s camera to skip straight to that part of the audiobook (assuming it’s in Spotify’s library).

That’s all pretty cool, and people who listen to a lot of audiobooks on Spotify might get a lot out of it. But as a subscriber who uses Spotify almost entirely as a music-streaming app, I can’t say I’m excited about yet more stuff in the app’s already crowded interface. The announcement coming alongside the platform’s third price hike in as many years doesn’t help, either.

All this has me thinking it’s time to give a new music platform a shot.

These other types of media aren’t what I go to Spotify for, and lately, my experience using the platform has felt crowded by them. Books and podcasts populate the app’s home screen, mixed in with music recommendations. Opening Spotify on my phone this morning, I was greeted with a full-width, auto-playing video — an episode of a podcast I’d never listened to (much less watched), on Spotify or any other platform.

And now, starting this spring, Spotify will need to find a place to work physical book sales into its ever-expanding UI. With any luck, the addition will be discreet, tucked away in the Audiobooks tab I rarely visit.

But even if it doesn’t take up real estate on the screens I frequent, Spotify’s non-music ventures are growing the app in ways I don’t benefit from, and I’m footing the bill.

As of the latest price hikes, a Spotify Premium subscription comes in at $13 a month, making it one of the priciest music streaming options out there. The equivalent plans on Apple Music, YouTube Music Premium, and Tidal each cost $11 per month. Spotify’s increased fees have come with new music features, including a lossless audio option added in September, but Apple and Tidal’s cheaper plans offer lossless streaming, too.

I’ve stuck it out with Spotify because switching would be a hassle. My friends who send me new music to check out all use Spotify; my wife and I have shared Spotify playlists and use the app’s Jam feature to jointly control music around the house. I even use the streamer’s proprietary Spotify Connect to stream music to some of my speakers.