If you love your Afrobeats way too much, you might have to start paying a little extra for it. Spotify, the market leader in digital music streaming, has once again nudged up subscription prices in South Africa and Nigeria.
After raising prices in September, the company returned in November with another bump. Nigerian users on the Individual Premium plan will now pay ₦1,600 ($1.11), up from ₦1,300 ($0.9), while South Africans also saw slight increases, with the Individual plan holding at R69.99 ($4) after jumping from R64.99 ($3.8) earlier this year. Spotify has also added a few new features in South Africa, including higher-quality audio options and new subscription tiers.
Why the adjustments? In 2024, Spotify became profitable for the first time, pulling in €1.14 billion ($1.7 billion) in net income after years of red ink. Africa is not yet a dominant share of its global revenues, but its importance is growing. The platform’s payouts to Nigerian and South African artists crossed $59 million last year, a signal that the region’s listening power matters. From Spotify’s perspective, raising average revenue per user in fast-growing markets makes sense.
Between the lines: For users, though, the reaction will likely be mild for now. A Nigerian subscriber who was fine with ₦1,300 ($0.9) will probably still manage ₦1,600 ($1.11), especially given that the added features, while modest, do improve the service slightly. But if these hikes become a yearly ritual, the calculus could shift.
Piracy, despite being illegal, remains an ever-present workaround for users with diminishing disposable income, and persistent price increases risk pushing frustrated listeners back toward unlicenced downloads. That would be bad news for everyone in the streaming economy, from artists to platforms, because piracy drains revenue and squeezes already thin margins.
Competition adds another twist. With this latest hike, Spotify is now more expensive in Nigeria than Apple Music and YouTube Music, both still priced at ₦1,300 ($0.90). In South Africa, YouTube Music is the cheapest option on the shelf.
Yet, the price hikes aren’t peculiar to Spotify; in May, Apple Music also raised prices, suggesting a broader trend. It begs the question: is streaming simply getting more expensive, or are the costs of running global platforms rising so quickly that higher prices are inevitable?
