Spotify Plus to offer low-cost perks with ads

It seems that Internet services are starting to adjust their subscription plans to cater to more users without actually changing their premium prices. YouTube, for example, is testing a cheaper YouTube Premium Lite that removes only ads but keeps all other restrictions in place. On the other hand, Spotify seems to be coming from the opposite direction and is testing an even cheaper subscription tier that removes most of the restrictions but keeps the ads intact.

Many streaming or on-demand services have free tiers that are riddled with ads. Subscriptions have become one of the main methods of removing those ads while also gaining some much-needed perks. Those subscriptions often cost around $10 per month, and there's really no way to pick which perk you want in order to reduce the cost.

What Spotify is trying to do instead is to offer a subscription that may cost nothing more than $0.99. Calling it "Spotify Plus" rather than "Lite," the music streaming giant will be throwing in the most significant perks of Spotify Premium. What it won't remove, however, are the ads.

This means that subscribers on this tier will be able to skip any number of tracks as they want per hour. They can also select specific tracks rather than be limited to shuffling or Spotify's generated playlists. For most Spotify users, these might be all the perks they need and might be willing to live with ads for the right price.

That $0.99 may or may not be the final price, though, as Spotify is still the new tier at different price points. It is also performing this test with a limited number of randomly selected users, and it has given no word on Spotify Plus' future launch. It is definitely a tempting offer, especially when you consider what you're getting in exchange for a lower subscription fee.