Apple is blaming the change on ‘rising licensing costs.’
The cost of Apple Music is rising again. Music Business Worldwide reports that Apple is increasing the price of a subscription across its Individual, Student and Family plans “as the result of rising licensing costs.” The new subscription prices also appear to have affected the cost of Apple’s subscription bundle, Apple One.
According to Apple’s updated pricing page, an Individual Apple Music subscription has gone from $11 a month to $12 a month, the Family plan has gone from $17 per month to $20 per month and a Student subscription has gone from $6 per month to $7 per month. Apple last raised the price of its Music service in 2022, when subscription costs similarly jumped by $1 or more.
In terms of Apple One, the Individual bundle subscription is staying the same at $20 per month, but both the Family and Premium subscriptions have increased by $2, to $28 per month and $40 per month, respectively. Individual and Family Apple One plans bundle Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Arcade along with varying amounts of iCloud storage. Apple One Premium includes all those services, along with Apple News+, Apple Fitness+ and even more storage.
Subscription services often raise prices on a regular basis, but Apple’s price increases couldn’t have arrived at a worse time. The RAM shortage has made nearly all electronics more expensive, and Apple only recently raised prices across most of its computers, smartphones, tablets and wearables in June.
Engadget has contacted Apple for more information about the price increases and its licensing justification. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
