It shouldn’t be a surprise that Apple Music is raising the price of its subscriptions: the last time such a hike happened was four years ago in 2022.
However, it’s interesting that Apple offered a public reason for the latest increase, which affects individual subscriptions as well as family and student plans in a range of countries.
“As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today,” said the company in a statement to Variety.
Citing licensing costs could be seen as a pre-emptive measure to avoid backlash from customers. It feels a bit ‘this isn’t our fault: those rightsholders keep demanding more and more money!’
That seems… unnecessary. Paying $11.99 a month instead of $10.99 a month for access to the full recorded-music catalogue, plus the various features that Apple Music has added to its service since 2022, is hardly a bad deal. It’s an argument DSPs could and should be making to their listeners.
Any customers tempted to complain – and this applies to any music service upping its prices – should really spend a moment thinking about how video-streaming plans have risen in cost by comparison over the last few years.
