Amidst the announcements of OS upgrades for phones, laptops, desktops and tablets, Apple has very quietly increased the price of their monthly and annual fees for an array of digital services, including their Apple Music streaming platform.
Prior to, well, today, an Apple Music subscription cost $9.99 per month or $99 per year. Those rates have increased “beginning today.” Monthly Apple Music subscriptions increased by 10% to $10.99 per month and $109 per year.
The family rate increased even more (gotta keep those round numbers), increasing from $14.99 per month for an Apple Music family account to $16.99.
Apple TV+ increased still more: from $4.99 per month to $6.99, and from $49.99 annually to $69. The Apple One bundle (including Apple Music, Apple TV+ and other services) was also increased from $14.95 to $16.95.
This is the first ever increase in Apple’s streaming subscriptions. In a statement provided to the creepy corporate partisans at 9to5Mac, Apple attributed the increase to a spike in “licensing costs” and alleged that “in turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music.”
Apple TV+, the statement reads, was introduced at a “very low price” and now has an extensive selection of shows to stream, and this will pay for it.
Spotify, in case you were wondering, is still $9.99 per month, though not for long. Less than 24 hours later, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told the Wall Street Journal that subscribers “can expect price hikes” sometime in 2023.
“Spotify has implemented dozens of price increases in markets around the world without losing customers,” Ek told the Journal.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
