Apple just raised the subscription cost for its music and streaming services. The price hike happened on Monday and is the recent example of rising costs for streaming services that have been noted in recent months.
Before the price hike, an individual Apple Music subscription was at $9.9 but has now gone up to $10.99 per month and for a family of five, the price has gone up from $14.99 to $16.99 per month.
Apple’s TV+ service has also gone up with a 40% increase and it will now cost $6.99 per month from the previous cost of $4.99. All these changes were announced on Monday. Annual subscription costs have also been raised.
A statement from the company indicates that the price hike for music streaming services is “due to an increase in licensing costs.” While the raised prices will surely affect user pockets Apple believes that the move will positively affect artists “artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music.” Apple has also committed itself to “continue to add innovative features that make Apple Music the world’s best listening experience.”
When Apple TV+ was introduced it started with low subscription costs and according to Apple they went in “at a very low price because we started with just a few shows and movies” but since then Apple has grown the streaming services. Apple has extended what the streaming service can offer to include award-winning content in form of movies, series, documentaries, and family-friendly entertainment. Apple has also shown growth following winning an Oscar for best picture of the year in 2022 for the movie CODA.
Since many things have been going up including subscription fees for streaming services, this new price hike from Apple is the latest test to see how willing consumers are to spend more to access streaming services. Rising inflation has pushed costs for so many products in different sectors across the US and consumers are being pushed to decide which services are worth monthly pay.
Disney also raised its subscription fee back in August. Disney’s premium level Disney + saw a big price hike from $3 to $10.99 per month which is the biggest price increase for the streaming service which has been operating for close to three years. At the beginning of this month, Hulu also raised its prices for subscriptions and this may be linked to the fact that the streaming service is majorly owned by Disney.
Netflix also recently raised its monthly subscription cost for its streaming services for users in the US and Canada. In the US the standard subscription fee went up to $15.49 from $13.99 while premium subscribers saw the change from $17.99 to $19.99 per month.
The price increase from Apple also follows another price hike that was announced last week for existing iPad mini models in markets outside the US. European markets were heavily affected by these changes with other markets getting 19% and 21% hikes for iPad models. While this increase was seen in European countries and other markets, the US was not affected but the subscription fee hike is affecting US users.
The idea to raise a subscription for music and video streaming services comes barely a few days before Apple launches its new models of the iPad, iPad Pro, and Apple TV. Macroeconomic pressure has hit the technology sector very hard and Apple like other tech companies are pushing for new ways to improve revenue generation.
For example this year Apple’s stocks on the market declined to close to 18% and the company has been looking at strategies to get things up and running again. An increase in subscription services can boost revenue for the company which has been staggering for some time partly due to slow sale growth for its iPhone models. But Apple, like other companies, is trying to stay reasonable and fair enough for consumers while creating revenue-generating strategies that will work with rapid inflation.
Apart from raising subscription fees for users of its streaming service in the US, Apple has also raised the price for its bundle Apple One. The bundle adds a gaming and storage service and was at $14.95 but will now cost $16.95 for individuals while the family plan has increased from $19.95 to $22.95 per month. Premier subscription per month will now cost $32.95 from $29.95
Annual subscription for individuals using the Apple Music streaming service has gone up from $99 to $109 while for the Apple TV+ the price has moved from $49.99 to $69 per year.
While users may feel a bit shaky about the new prices, Apple’s subscription prices are still competitive when compared to other streaming services that offer fewer features than Apple does use its streaming services. For example, Spotify does not currently offer lossless audio and Spatial Audio features while Apple Music does without the extra charge.
Spotify may include these features soon but will possibly charge extra. Spotify currently has a monthly individual plan at $10 per month while the family plan for six people is at $16 with just a slight difference from what Apple is now offering. If the decision by Apple will affect Spotify’s subscription prices remains to be seen but big music companies have been pressuring Spotify to increase the costs of subscriptions which will probably increase how much artists and songwriters will earn for each stream.
And for Apple TV+ price changes, it remains affordable when compared to Amazon Prime Video and Netflix’s add free streaming service and Disney+. Amazon also raised its subscription fee in February.
Apple has now joined other streaming services in raising subscription prices for this year and it remains to be seen how this move will affect consumer use in the long run. The company also recently raised prices for apps and in-app purchases made on mobile gadgets for 28 countries across Europe and Asia by over 20% in most places.
