Spotify Once Again Raises Prices in France Following ‘Streaming Tax’ Controversy

Spotify has once again upped its prices in France, where subscribers are now paying €12.14 (currently $13.88) per month for Individual.

The streaming platform just recently made the increases official, one year and change following a prior price-bump round in the European nation. The May 2024 raises, Spotify spelled out at the time, marked a response to France’s much-debated “streaming tax.”

Higher-ups at Spotify (and different DSPs, a few operating well outside the music world) had been criticizing said tax for some time beforehand. In one conspicuous retaliatory measure, the service closed out 2023 by cutting sponsorship ties with multiple French music festivals.

In other words, especially against the backdrop of slowing subscriber growth in Europe, today’s price adjustments don’t exactly come as a surprise. Besides Individual’s aforementioned cost, Duo now carries a $19.67/€17.20 monthly charge in France, compared to $24.29/€21.24 monthly for Family.

For reference, Paris-headquartered Deezer, the subscriber base of which is heavily concentrated in France, charges $13.71/€11.99 per month in the country for its own solo tier. Deezer Duo has a $18.28/€15.99 monthly price tag, with Family clocking in at $22.86/€19.99 per month.

Spotify isn’t solely turning to price increases to boost revenue and maintain profitability – incidentally, though, pricing changes are reportedly forthcoming for a variety of non-U.S. markets in 2025.

Rumblings have pointed to the possibility of charging for ad-supported listening or integrating ads into Premium, for instance. As things stand, however, the controversial steps haven’t materialized.

Meanwhile, a so-called “outage” earlier in 2025 ultimately proved to be one component of an effort to decommission “cracked” versions of Spotify Premium. And if more recent Reddit posts are any indication, the broader initiative is still ramping up.

As a simple Google search demonstrates, some have worked their way through an elaborate Spotify Premium sign-up process to pay less per month. This refers to utilizing a combination of VPNs and carefully selected payment methods to create paid accounts in emerging markets – before accessing from different countries once subbed, of course.

Per the mentioned posts, the cost-effective loophole could be closing. According to several Spotify users professing to have non-modded accounts, the service is informing them via email that they “can only use Spotify abroad for 14 days.”

The same individuals are also being compelled to update their locations to continue accessing the platform, the posts show.