Spotify Mistreating Subscribers, Senators Say
The music platform's audiobook feature allegedly exploits a loophole in federal regulations.
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2025 – Two senators have called for a federal investigation into the music streaming platform Spotify, claiming unlawful and deceptive business practices.
Spotify, the largest music streaming service in the country, forced its premium subscribers to change to an “ultimately higher-priced” bundle plan without notifying their consumers, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Ben Ray Luján,D-N.M., said in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission Friday.
This move was apparently based in a federal regulation that allows companies like Spotify to pay lower royalties for the music they stream if the plan they sell is bundled with other products.
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In this case, Spotify added 15 monthly hours of audiobook listening to its premium plans in 2023. By changing the default plan to a bundle, the cost was divided between the audiobook and music royalties, resulting in Spotify’s payouts to musicians and publishers dropping $150 million in the first year, Blackburn and Luján wrote.
The National Music Publishers’ Association Executive Vice President and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre claimed that number was $230 million.
Around the time they made this change, Spotify raised its prices. A year later, the price was raised again. The Individual Premium plan is now $11.99/month, $2 more than it was prior to the bundle being added.
Spotify offers a Basic plan that does not include audiobooks, which costs $10.99/month; however, this plan “is only available to certain existing subscribers—not new subscribers. Additionally, Spotify has hidden the Basic Plan,” making it difficult for subscribers to change from the bundle, Blackburn and Luján wrote.
“[Our] approach to expanding [Spotify’s] offering and raising prices is industry standard,” Spotify told Variety Friday. “We notify users a month in advance of any price increases and offer easy cancellations as well as multiple plans for users to consider.”
The senators disagreed.
“It seems clear that Spotify’s audiobooks service is set at an artificially high price for the purpose of gaming federal regulations and deeply cutting music royalty payments,” the senators wrote, citing that the Audiobook Access plan, which offers only the 15 hours of audiobook time but is only $1 cheaper than the Basic plan, which offers unlimited access to over 100 million songs.
Blackburn and Luján are not only worried about consumers, but also the music industry, which is projected to lose over $3.1 billion through 2032 according to Aguirre.
“These losses will continue if we can’t reverse or correct Spotify’s actions,” said Aguirre.
Blackburn and Luján asked the FTC to look into Spotify’s price changes and practices over the last two years and determine whether they have been exploiting FTC regulations.
