For many years, Spotify has kept a unified Premium offering worldwide that includes Duo, Premium, and Family plans. Plus, it’s already been 7 years since they officially came to the Middle East. Now, they are revamping the subscription offerings with three options for select countries in the region.
Premium Trio
Spotify users in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have the option to pick from three new tiers. This pilot looks to meet different needs of Spotify listeners, which likely represent their major markets by active listening habits.
- Premium Lite, for fans who seek the essential benefit of listening to music ad-free
- Premium Standard (including Student), for fans who want to take their music with them
- Premium Platinum, for fans who want to elevate their listening experience
If you’re the one that craves the ultimate offering, the new Premium Platinum plan delivers on it. This marks the debut of new features in the Middle East region, which are already available in Europe and USA.
- Lossless audio, one of the most anticipated features on Spotify,
- AI DJ, offering personalized music with AI-powered spoken commentary (only works in English).
- Third-party DJ integration with apps like djay and Serato, allowing you to use your library for mixes.
- AI Playlist, letting you create custom playlists using written prompts based on your listening history and preferences
Platinum subscribers can also access Audiobooks, with 12 hours of listening included for plan managers and optional 10-hour top-ups. At launch, users can pick from more than 150,000 English-language titles. This also includes features such as automatic bookmarking, Sleep Timer, and discovery via Home for a seamless experience.
What has really piqued my curiosity is that such brands test new features in places like USA and UK. Spotify must have enough confidence to consider the Middle East as a worthy testing ground, giving users a first-hand taste. Alongside the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Spotify is also testing this new subscription pilot in India.
One remark is that ‘new’ subscribers will see these revised tiers. If you’re already using any of the existing tiers, you can continue with them or switch to the new ones (note that you can’t switch back once you make the choice). Should these new tiers succeed, expect to see them rolled out to more countries in the MENA region.
Users in both countries can already sign up to the new plans: UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Image credit: Spotify
