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Netflix's recent tax push has lead to streaming service Spotify increasing its price of its ...
Netflix's recent tax push has lead to streaming service Spotify increasing its price of its "premium" subscription. Photo: Getty Images

Music streaming service Spotify has increased its prices by $2 a month due to a New Zealand tax introduced last year.

Spotify said in a statement that the price for new "premium" subscribers would increase from $12.99 a month to $14.99 from February 1.

Existing subscribers will continue to pay $12.99 a month until February 28.

The so-called "Netflix tax" came into effect in November, following which its name-sake also raised its prices.

Netflix, an online movie streaming service, lifted its prices from $12.99 a month to $14.99.

Physical goods bought online have long incurred a GST charge if they meet the value threshold, but the new tax affects things like streaming services, e-books, music and video downloads.

Under previous law, the government was missing out on $180 million a year by not collecting GST on online purchases, including $40 million from spending on Spotify, iTunes, Netflix and other online services.

Comments

For music lover Spotify is very costly one. I have been using Spotify premium from last 6 months. It was a bad experience with it. Recently I have shifted to Setbeat app which offers all spotify services for free.