After raising the price of its Premium subscription for the umpteenth time in the past nine months, Spotify has now introduced a new 'Basic' plan for users who don't want to pay extra for audiobooks.

Spotify previously justified its price increases by adding audiobooks to the platform, which no one asked for. This meant that whether you liked them or not, you would get 15 hours of free audiobooks and have to pay the increased subscription price of $11.99 per month.

But thanks to the new Basic plan, which basically looks the same as the Premium plan, users who are considering leaving the platform can continue using the service without having to pay more.

While Spotify may be willing to let go with the release of the “Basic” plan at older prices, the move raises more questions than it answers. Why are Premium subscribers automatically being charged more instead of making audiobooks optional, and why do people have to manually switch to the Basic plan?