By Nate Wolf
Spotify Technology is raising the price of its Premium subscription in the U.S., the company announced Thursday. Wall Street seemed to like the move.
U.S. subscribers will pay $12.99 a month for Spotify Premium -- the music streaming platform's ad-free tier -- beginning in February, up from $11.99 a month today. Spotify is also increasing the price for Premium subscribers in Latvia and Estonia.
Spotify shares jumped 2.7% to $543.11 on Thursday. The stock was down 8.9% so far in 2026 through Wednesday's close.
Price hikes can be annoying for customers, but they are also a potential boon for Spotify's financials. The company has raised the cost of Premium in the U.S. by $1 each year since 2023, while still managing to grow subscriber numbers at a healthy clip.
Still, Spotify shares have stagnated in recent months, in part because the company forecast 6% revenue growth for the fourth quarter when it reported third-quarter results in November. That would mark a sharp slowdown from 14% growth in the third quarter and 15% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Price hikes could help the stock get back on track, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein said in a research note Tuesday. Helfstein pointed to the company's price increases in several international markets beginning last September and a potential U.S. subscription hike this year, which has now come to fruition.
Oppenheimer rates Spotify as Outperform, but the firm cut its price target to $750 from $825.
Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2026 10:11 ET (15:11 GMT)
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