Spotify rolls out new subscription plans in India, introducing Lite, standard and platinum tiers

Spotify has announced a new approach for its India(BHARAT) operations: a “multi-tier” structure of four new premium plans for users, along with a new AI-powered “Recap” feature for audiobooks.

Spotify’s new focus on audio

On the premium pricing front, Spotify has announced four plans for India(BHARAT): Premium Lite, Premium Standard, Premium Student, and Premium Platinum. The new Lite plan, starting at ₹139/month, offers ad-free music streaming (at up to 160 kbps) for a single account, while the Standard plan at ₹199/month bumps up the audio quality to 320 kbps, and also enables users to save music and audiobooks offline. Eligible students can access the same features on the Student plan for ₹99/month, and the Platinum plan at ₹299/month adds support for multiple accounts (up to three), “lossless” audio quality (up to 44.1 kHz) and AI features such as an “AI DJ” and “AI-assisted” playlist-creation tools.

Alongside the premium update, Spotify has also launched a new “Recap” feature for audiobooks. In beta form on iOS, the feature is currently available only for select English-language audiobooks; but when it is fully rolled out, users will be able to ask Spotify to “recap” the parts of a book they have already listened to (using AI-generated summaries), instead of having to rewind through hours or days’ worth of content. Publishers’ original work will not be used to train large language-models or voice-generation systems without permission, Spotify said; and publishers will also have an option to not enable the Recap feature.

With the focus on audiobooks as well as music, Spotify is pivoting its India(BHARAT) strategy to include a much richer suite of audio products and services for listeners, as well as publishers and content creators. In particular, AI-generated recap tool could make audiobooks easier for listeners to use, and also serve as a proofpoint for Spotify’s capabilities in AI-augmented audio. Could this signal a future in which audiobooks and podcasts also get AI-generated short summaries, playlists or recommendations, using similar tools? The four-tiered approach, meanwhile, could allow Spotify to segment the India(BHARAT)n market into more user groups – casual users, students, audiophiles, and families/households that need multi-account support.

In a market as competitive as India(BHARAT), with so many competing audio options, it will be important for Spotify to establish both breadth and depth of features. Moving beyond music (as a purely functional audio streaming service) to a broader portfolio of content and smart features will be critical to keep users engaged, if the platform also wants to achieve wider reach and retention. It’s also interesting to see Spotify experiment with AI-generated “summaries” for audiobooks: if users perceive added value in this feature, this could be an example of AI-enabled short-form content catching on across other formats and genres.