Spotify Restricts Features for Free Subscribers

Just when a massive amount of people had become dependent on Spotify on a day-to-day basis, relying on its convenient features, like repeat and loop, the music streaming service decided to lock these features behind a paywall; an excellent strategy as it is, to increase Premium subscribers in the country. 

In India, Spotify's premium subscription begins at ₹7 per day, granting users access to ad-free music on mobile and the option to download a maximum of 30 songs onto a single mobile device. Additionally, for ₹119 per month, Spotify's subscription allows users to download up to 10,000 songs on up to 5 different devices.  

Along with these changes, the company has also brought a new feature called ‘Smart Shuffle’.  This feature, which was unveiled earlier this year, provides automatic music recommendations tailored to your preferences and the song or playlist you're currently enjoying.  

Spotify is one of the top five countries based on highest monthly active users, but the majority had still been on the free ad supporter tier, reluctant to switch to a paid version despite its advantages. 

The company believes that the Indian market has reached a level of maturity, and they anticipate that users will voluntarily transition to a subscription-based model. This shift is driven by the fact that the free tier will no longer provide the ability to rewind or repeat songs within the app. Nonetheless, free users will still have access to their preferred artists, albums, and playlists, and receive song recommendations.  

Such a move is not unheard of, nor is Spotify the first music streaming service in India to encourage this switch from free to a paid subscription. Last year, the popular company ‘Gaana’ did the same. Is that the reason why people happily switched to Spotify? If so, will the same happen with Spotify or has the Indian market really ‘matured’ as the company thinks?