Apple Music has raised its subscription prices for the first time in nearly four years, according to prices listed on the Apple Music website.
In the U.S., the price for the individual plan rose from $10.99 to $11.99 per month, while the family plan increased from $16.99 to $19.99 per month and the student plan rose from $5.99 to $6.99 per month.
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This marks the first hike in Apple Music subscription prices since October 2022, when the company cited increased licensing costs.
Representatives for Apple Music did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rival streaming platform Spotify has hiked its subscription prices fairly steadily over the last several years after maintaining a $9.99 price for its individual premium plan since it first launched in the U.S. in 2011. Its first increase arrived in July 2023, followed by another hike in July 2024 and a third increase in February of this year. The price for Spotify’s individual premium plan is now $12.99 a month, while its family plan is $21.99, its duo plan is $18.99 and its student plan costs $6.99.
In an interview with Kristin Robinson for Billboard‘s On the Record podcast in April, Apple Music vp Oliver Schusser noted that the platform is the only music streamer without a free tier. “And believe it or not, we’re really proud of that,” he said, adding, “I think it’s not the right thing for songwriters and artists to just say, you know what, we’re going to give this away for free — especially with the very little monetization that artists and songwriters are going to get in return.”
Schusser went on to lament the idea of free (ad-supported) streaming tiers, arguing they led to lower subscription prices across the board. “The fact that all paid services have to compete with free means, at the end of the day, not enough people are paying, because they can get it for free, and the paid services can’t actually charge the correct price for the service because they’re always competing with free,” he said.
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