Basic Individual plan vs any premium plan

[imagineartony]

What are the actual differences between the Basic Individual plan and the premium ones?

Looks like it might be the access to the audiobooks, but spotify doesn't make it clear.

[Cozily1653]

Basic plans - Spotify

Basic is only available for previously existing premium user who want to opt-out of the audio book.

[journeyman163]

  Ive been a member for I dont know how many years as a senior. I am not a heavy user by any means maybe once a week for two hours in the gym, I got basic membership as premium was something to do with audio books I never have used them them. Now I want to add my wife as we have bouoght a smart speaker but there is not a duo basic plan only duo premium whhy not duo basic, seems very unfair to me, also they pay a lot less in the the USA that is being bias. I dont know now ab out mt wife joining or even myself continuing.

[Mser56-]

Everyone who is interested at all in the challenge of the senior population to receive the same discount privileges as students, couples, families etc — you have my gratitude. I’m not going to be able to continue the cost of my subscription and intend to cancel in the near future. Thanks for listening and I hope that the obvious lack of fairness will be corrected in due time. Thanks, Mitch

[Jclovett84]

It's only available it you already have Duo premium 

[DanGarion]

Why does the Spotify App shows Basic Family but when I choose to change to the plan it doesn't allow me to CHANGE to it???

[PeteB_UK]

I had to make the account change online (i.e. proper browser) rather than App.   That was a while ago now -- but it all worked fine.

[Yourjuicebox]

I'm currently on the Premium Individual plan. I noticed a Basic Individual plan was offered to me. It's not too clear exactly what features are different besides audiobooks. On the feature list for Basic, I don't see the following:

Hulu Access, High Quality Audio, Download, Play in any order, Organize Queue, Audiobooks.

Before I go through with the downgrade I wanted to understand exactly which of those features I listed above are missing in the Basic Individual if not all of them.

[AdamDamon]

Hi @Yourjuicebox,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community, and welcome!

In most countries where the Basic Individual plan is available, the only difference between it and the Premium Individual plan is that with Basic Individual, you don’t get the 15 hours of audiobooks access that you would have with Premium Individual (although you can still purchase audiobooks via one-time payments separately with Basic Individual).

However, if you live in South Korea, note that the Basic Individual plan does not include the feature to download music for offline listening. 

The other features that you listed (high-quality audio, being able to play songs in any order, and being able to organize the queue) are available with Basic Individual, with the exception of access to Hulu as part of the plan—that feature is only included with the Premium Student plan. 

Feel free to read more about Basic plans in this support article, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Have a good day!

[minnesotahoss]

My one year individual premium subscription just ended and I wanted to move to individual basic, but it doesn't allow me to.

I live in the us and have not had the Basic plan previously.

Thanks!

[AdamDamon]

Hi @minnesotahoss,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community, and welcome!

Unfortunately, it’s expected that you’re unable to switch to Basic Individual, as you aren’t currently subscribed to a recurring Premium plan (Basic plans aren’t available while on prepaid plans), and also because you’re now on the free plan (Basic plans are only offered as a downgrade option, so you can't upgrade from free to Basic Individual).

Note as well that the Basic offer is only available for Spotify users who were subscribed to a recurring Premium plan before the beginning of the Basic campaign; so even if you start a recurring Premium subscription now, you still won't see the option to downgrade to Basic Individual.

Your best option in this case would be to get another prepaid yearly Premium Individual plan, as it offers the best price (99 USD for 12 months).

Let me know if you have any other questions, and have a good day!

[angelEQ]

I've been a Spotify subscriber for some time now, and definitely don't use it for audiobooks or podcats (imo, they clutter up my home screen). In the app, it shows the option to switch to Basic Individual, but when I get to the next screen, it disappears. What's the deal?

[Zgrif5th]

My wife finds $150 to be too high of an annually rate. I love my music and sometimes it makes me happier than she does. Is there any other discounts offered besides student rates?

[dunc_blake]

Hi Vasil - I've tried this but there are no basic plans visible to select (nb I'm in the UK).  Do you have to have been a premium member for a certain period of time before you can switch?  I can't think of any other reason...?

[PeteB_UK]

Yes, I can still download at least in the Android app 😀

[Baker85]

https://support.spotify.com/ca-en/article/spotify-basic/

This helps explain it!

[imagineartony]

good to know, I do not think they had this page and information back when I first asked this question.

[aadavis25]

I did some research and discovered that the price increase last summer was actually an account upgrade in which they added audiobook access for an extra $2 a month. The basic plan which must be manually opted in to is the same price as what the plan used to be. I have young kids and plenty of subscriptions which often increase in price so didn't pay attention to the details.

This is dishonest. I contacted support and they refused to refund the difference. I'm seriously considering cancelling my Duo plan. I apologize if I missed the outrage wagon about this already but I need Spotify to know automatically upgrading people's accounts to a new higher tier and calling it a price increase is unethical.

[jempie]

I am in the UK and have a soon to expire Premium Individual plan. All the renewal options are in dollars! 

I want to downgrade to a Basic Individual plan but can’t seem to be able to select any options as it says:

”You can’t change country until my pre-payment expires.”

I don’t want to change country! It sounds like I have to choose a Basic Indivudual plan before my current one expires, but I am unable to do this.

[AdamDamon]

Hi @jempie,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community, and welcome!

I recommend making sure that you’re on the UK page, not using a VPN, and are logged in to your own Spotify account when you try switching to Basic Individual. You can scroll to the very bottom of your account page to double-check if you see the right country/region.

If you see the correct country on your account page, can you send a screenshot showing the whole screen where you encounter the error message you described, as well as the URL, so that I can have a better idea about what’s happening? Make sure to hide sensitive info when posting to the Community.

Keep me posted, and have a good day!

[jempie]

I realised the email link I was sent was wrong. I updated the US parameter in the URL to be UK and that was correct.

However, Spotify has taken a payment for a Premium Individual account, despite saying that it wasn’t on auto renewal. I’ve changed it now, but a bit annoying it did auto renew.