Deezer Free, the music app’s free plan, will no longer be available in several countries starting in 2023.

This announcement, informed by the platform via email to its users, implies that in some territories it will no longer be possible to access the free version of Deezer, with the only option being the paid version of the service to continue using it.

Deezer withdraws its free plan from some countries

Being a determination informed directly to its users, with a message which simply states: “We appreciate that you are part of the community that uses Deezer Free. However, sometimes the good stuff ends. Deezer Free will no longer be available in your country on January 23, 2023.”

The exact details behind this decision are not known. However, recent reports indicate that users in Chile, Peru and Colombia received this message.

Apart from the notification shared via email with its users, the company has not made a public statement regarding this movement, leaving the real scope of the measure taken in doubt, given the ambiguous expression “in your country” used in reference.

It should be remembered that Spotify, Deezer’s direct competitor, enjoys wide popularity in Latin America. Like Deezer, it offers a large music catalog and podcasts. Additionally, it offers part of its musical catalog in Hi-Fi quality.

It is likely that, given the local market conditions, this change has to do with Deezer’s business strategy and its focus on certain regions. While they will no longer follow an ad-supported free model, with limitations on manually selecting songs, downloading songs for offline listening, or accessing lossless audio, the paid service will continue to be available with its full experience in countries affected by this measure.

Currently, there are many options to listen to music by streaming. Deezer’s new strategy in these countries is committed to a totally subscription-based model, just like the modality under which Apple Music operates. For those who want to stay with a free option, in addition to Spotify there are other alternatives, such as YouTube Music’s free plan, which, following a similar logic, offers an experience with some restricted functions and with ads between songs.