Bookbeat will raise the prices of listening packages at the turn of the year.
The popular audio book service Bookbeat is increasing the prices of its customers. Sari Forsström Bookbeat’s communication says that the increase is due to the decision to increase the value added tax on books.
– For this reason and because the consumption of books in our service has increased and the maintenance and other costs of our service have increased, we will update our prices on January 2, 2025 and for new customers from December 2, 2024. The price change applies to all of our order packages, with the exception of the student order, Forsström says.
Bookbeat’s communication says that the price of the Basic subscription package will increase by one euro, and that the prices of packages containing a larger number of hours will increase by two euros. The two-euro increase also applies to the Premium Plus package, which is no longer available to new users. The price of the student subscription remained unchanged.
New prices for Bookbeat subscription packages:
- Basic package EUR 10.99/month includes 20 h/month (student subscription EUR 4.99/month)
- Standard package 16.99 euros/month includes 40 h/month
- Premium package 21.99 euros/month includes 100 h/month
- Premium Plus package 26.99/month includes 150 h/month
Bookbeat stopped offering the unlimited listening package last year.
– The business model offering unlimited subscriptions led in a direction where the costs of listening to a small group of large consumers were constantly rising and could have jeopardized compensation for publishers, said Bookbeat’s press release earlier this year.
According to Bookbeat, more than 300,000 Finns pay for its service every month. Bookbeat is owned by Bonnier from Sweden.
The story was previously published in Talouselämä.