Earlier today (November 13), Spotify launched a higher-priced Premium Platinum tier in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
The new tier, priced at more than double Spotify’s standard offering in these markets, includes lossless audio, AI-powered features, and exclusive perks.
The music industry, particularly the major music companies, has been waiting patiently for Spotify to launch a higher-priced ‘Supremium‘ tier in mature streaming markets. Bloomberg reported in February that Spotify was considering charging up to $5.99 more per month on top of a Premium subscription for access to a ‘Music Pro‘ tier, which would include various ‘superfan’ perks.
However, when Spotify finally launched lossless audio in September, it made the feature available to standard Premium subscribers for no additional charge, rather than gating it behind a higher-priced tier, leaving questions about the company’s super premium strategy.
Today’s Premium Platinum launch in those select emerging markets, as part of a broader pilot for a new three-tier subscription structure, finally sees Spotify experiment with Premium price segmentation, testing a model that has already proven successful in China at Tencent Music Entertainment.
TME revealed in August that its Super VIP (SVIP) membership program had surpassed 15 million subscribers. They pay approximately RMB 40 (USD $5.58) per month compared to the standard RMB 8 (USD $1.12) subscription, meaning SVIP members generate five times the revenue of regular subscribers.
During TME’s Q3 earnings call yesterday (November 12), the company’s leadership team detailed how the SVIP tier has become a significant growth driver for the company.
Although Tencent Music didn’t provide an updated SVIP subscriber number, it did say that both SVIP adoption and Average Revenue Per Paying User expanded year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2025.
TME generated RMB 4.50 billion ($632 million) from music subscriptions in Q3, up 17.2% YoY, while its average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) grew 10.2% YoY to RMB 11.9.
According to TME, this monthly ARPPU growth was primarily due to the growth of its SVIP membership program, as it “continued to expand SVIP membership privileges for [TME] users”.
During the call, TME’s leadership team highlighted the key drivers behind the SVIP adoption growth.
CEO Ross Liang revealed that premium sound quality remains the most popular SVIP membership benefit.
QQ Music’s newly introduced three-dimensional immersive DTS Booming External Speaker became “the top conversion driver among audio qualities” for SVIP subscriptions in Q3.
Additionally, Viper Ultra Sound 2.0 on Kugou Music, an enhanced audio technology offering improved sound quality with reduced data usage, also proved “highly effective in retaining SVIP loyalty,” according to TME
TME’s SVIP members also receive privileged access to digital albums, alongside limited-edition collectible NFC cards. Liang noted that collaborations with artists during Q3 “significantly boosted SVIP conversions.” The company also rolled out new ‘Starlight cards’ featuring popular artists, which “instantly became a big draw.”
AI-enhanced features also deepened engagement with the SVIP tier in Q3, they said. TME used AI to enhance its Bubble superfan apps, while new AI-powered capabilities included “in-app translation and speak to text capabilities empowered by large AI models,” Liang explained.
Live concerts and merchandise
Two of the biggest growth drivers for TME’s Super VIP tier in Q3 and the company’s overall revenue haul, however, were Live events and exclusive merchandise.
SVIP members receive early access to concert tickets and artist merch, creating what the company describes as “a more comprehensive and immersive experience.”
TME said that it delivered triple-digit year-on-year revenue growth in offline performances and artist-related merchandise sales during Q3.
An executive stated that by organizing top artist performances, TME hopes to “provide more performance privilege as well as privilege to the fan-based economy to our SVIP [subscribers]. This can also help to promote the SVIP subscription business development.”
The company said that it hosted 14 shows for Korean artist G-Dragon across six cities, including Sydney, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur, drawing over 150,000 attendees. TME also staged its annual flagship TMEA concert featuring 35 different artists and groups, which drew more than 10,000 attendees. The company introduced a new flagship event, the TME Live International Music Awards, a two-day event with 20,000 attendees.
TME also claimed to be helping artists significantly scale their performances.
The company cited one example where they helped an artist attract more than 40,000 attendees in Chongqing, up from 10,000 in a single event in Q3, “marking a successful upgrade in concert scale, moving from arena level to stadium level.”
A TME executive emphasized that organizing live events is “a commitment for TME to go for, and we also have a long-term investment for that.” The executive added that TME’s unique advantage comes from being able to “integrate our online and offline music resources and continue to further deepen our collaboration with the musical ecosystem.”
By organizing superstar artist performances, TME hopes to “provide more performance privilege as well as privilege to the fan-based economy to our SVIP [subscribers]. This can also help to promote the SVIP subscription business development.”
Music Business Worldwide