If you are a music lover, chances are you have come across Spotify, a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs.
Of course, as a money-conscious individual, I love a good deal. Here are some top tips to save money for scoring the best Spotify deals for you.
Start with the Free Version
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If you don't know if Spotify is for you, start with the free version. Spotify offers a free, ad-supported version of its service, which may suit your needs just fine. Despite some limitations that I will get to below, the free version still offers plenty of music for you to enjoy:
- You get 15 on-demand personalized playlists chosen by Spotify's machine learning algorithms.
- For songs that appear on any of the playlists, you can listen in any order with unlimited track skips on your mobile device. However, when using your desktop, you can listen to any song, album, or playlist without restrictions.
Of course, the free version, compared to its premium counterpart, certainly has its drawbacks.
Here are the Key Disadvantages of the Free Version of Spotify:
- It is an ad-supported service, which means that you won't be able to skip any ads.
- Although you get 15 on-demand playlists, you can only listen to music pieces outside of the playlists' shuffle mode. This means that you won't be able to select a specific track to play, and there is a limit on how many songs you can skip in an hour.
- Spotify is not available if you are offline. If you are on a limited data plan, this can be a big drawback.
- The sound quality is not as good as that offered in the premium version.
If you can tolerate these drawbacks, then the free version may be the best for you. However, if you can't tolerate the restrictions, you may want to consider upgrading to Spotify premium instead. Of course, the moment you decide to spend money on Spotify is when you should start looking for Spotify deals.
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Check out Their Website for Official Deals
Spotify routinely runs some great deals and discounts for the premium service. At the time of writing, Spotify offers a deal where you can get one month of the Premium plan for free. For those who are debating the difference between free and premium versions, this may be a great opportunity to try the latter out without spending any money. Keep in mind that you need to remember to cancel your subscription if you decide at the end of the month that the Premium version is not worth it.
Spotify has also run other discounts and promotions in the past, such as offering a free Google Home Mini for eligible Premium Individual and Premium Family master account users. Deals like this don't come by often, so make sure that you check Spotify's website if you are considering upgrading.
Take Advantage of Your Student Status
With the rising cost of tuition, students have to deal with the challenges of paying for college. Many companies and services recognize students' financial burden, and therefore offer discounts specifically for students. Spotify is not an exception.
Besides getting one month free upon signing up, students also only need to pay $4.99 per month, versus a regular individual account at $9.99 a month. That's a steep 50% discount that you surely want to take advantage of if you are a student.
Share a Plan with Your Roommates, Your Family, and Friends.
In addition to the student plan, Spotify also offers a few others for groups, including a Duo plan and a family plan.
Duo Plan
This plan gives Spotify access to two individuals living in the same house. It also comes with a Duo Mix, which is a special playlist for the two of you. The cost is $12.99 for two people, a 30% discount per person versus the individual plan.
Family Plan
The family plan allows up to 6 people living together to listen to Spotify. The family plan also comes with Spotify Kids, a separate app just for kids, and block explicit music. It is a steal at $14.99 a month. At a minimum of 3 people in a household, that's only a little over $5 per month, which puts you at the same rate as the student plan.
Both of these two plans offer much better deals compared to the individual plan at $9.99/month. If you have a roommate or live with your family or friends, make sure you take advantage of these group deals and split the costs afterward.
Check out Deals from Other Sites
Sometimes, Spotify may release special coupon codes or deals that you may not be aware of. As a result, I recommend that you type in to google phrases like “Spotify deals” or “Spotify discounts” to see if there are any deals that pop up.
Some specific sites that may be good sources of discount information other than the wild wide google include RetailMeNot and RedFlagDeals (for Canadian folks out there!). The Spotify subreddit and the deals subreddit are also good forums when you are looking specifically for Spotify deals. I have to admit that even though Reddit can be quite unfriendly when it comes to bloggers who try to self-promote, it is still a great source of information.
Cancel Another Subscription You do not Use
If you still want to purchase without increasing your monthly budget on subscriptions, consider canceling another subscription of your own. Take a look at your bank statement and list out all the subscriptions you have, and ask yourself the following questions:
Are You on Any Monthly Subscription that You:
- Do not use as often as you thought you would?
- Forgot to cancel after the trial period? Many companies have automatic rollover to the paid version after the trial period ended.
- Can share with your family and friends to reduce the cost per person?
At the end of the day, monthly subscriptions are small luxuries that improve your quality of life, so make sure that you spend your money only on the ones you absolutely want and love.
Make Some Money on the Side to Supplement
If you are strict about your budget, consider supplementing your income with some side hustles. Consider making money online from the comfort of your home. You could aim high and try to make $1000 in a week, but you don't have to. The most expensive plan, the Family plan, is $14.99 a month. That's not too difficult to earn if you become an Instacart shopper or run some errands on TaskRabbit.
Find an Alternative to Spotify
If you decided that Spotify isn't for you, you might consider checking out some alternatives. Here is a list of the popular ones out there:
Final Words
Music is important to us. It unites us and helps us navigate through the pandemic. It pleases our ears, stimulates our mind, and nurtures our soul. Spotify is certainly a great service with which we can access millions of tracks and appreciate the artistic beauty musicians bring to the world.
This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.
Josh writes about ways to make money, pay off debt, and improve yourself. After paying off $300,000 in student loans with his wife in less than five years, Josh started Money Life Wax and has been featured on Forbes, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and more! In addition to being a life-long entrepreneur, Josh and his wife enjoy spending time with their chocolate lab named Morgan, working out, being outside, traveling, and helping others with their finances! I got serious with money when I used Personal Capital to track my finances.
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