Apple Music Just Got More Expensive

Apple Music subscribers in the US are paying more starting now. The individual plan has gone from $10.99 to $11.99 a month, a family plan jumps from $16.99 to $19.99, and the student plan rises from $5.99 to $6.99.

Apple confirmed the increase in a statement to Music Business Worldwide, saying the change comes "as a result of rising licensing costs." The company hasn't elaborated beyond that, and it didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.

The hikes aren't limited to the US. Music Business Worldwide reports that prices have also gone up in the UK and Europe, and the outlet says it "understands" other countries are seeing increases too, though the full list of affected markets isn't clear yet.

This is the first Apple Music price change since October 2022, when Apple raised rates alongside similar increases for Apple TV Plus and the Apple One bundle. That timing lines up with a broader pattern: streaming services tend to space out price increases by a year or more, testing how much subscribers will tolerate before churn becomes a problem. Apple is also reportedly raising prices for AppleCare Plus coverage on Macs and iPads, suggesting this is part of a wider round of price adjustments across its services business rather than a one-off tied specifically to music.

The move also puts Apple in step with its biggest rival. Spotify recently bumped its Premium plan in the US from $11.99 to $12.99 a month, meaning both major streaming platforms have now raised prices within a relatively short window of each other. When the two largest players in a market move in the same direction on price, it's usually a sign that the underlying costs, in this case music licensing, are rising across the board rather than being unique to one company's business decisions.

Why Licensing Costs Keep Climbing

Streaming services pay labels, publishers, and rights holders for the right to offer songs on demand, and those agreements get renegotiated periodically. As artists, labels, and songwriter groups have pushed for larger payouts from streaming, and as competition among services has intensified, the underlying cost of holding a music catalog has kept increasing. Apple citing "rising licensing costs" as the reason for its hike points directly at that dynamic: the company isn't necessarily pocketing extra margin, it may be passing along higher costs from the rights holders it pays.

For consumers, the practical effect is that the two dominant subscription music services now cost close to the same amount, narrowing what was already a small gap. A dollar or two a month might not seem significant on its own, but for households juggling several Apple subscriptions, family plans, and other streaming services, these increases add up over a year.

A Curious Footnote: CD Sales Are Climbing

In a smaller but notable data point from the same report, CD sales in the US have reportedly been increasing. It's a reminder that even as streaming prices rise and the industry leans further into subscriptions, physical formats haven't fully disappeared from the picture. Whether that's nostalgia, collector demand, or frustration with rising subscription costs pushing some listeners back toward owning music outright isn't specified in the reporting, but it's a trend worth watching alongside the streaming price story.

For now, Apple Music subscribers on individual, family, or student plans will simply see the new charges reflected in their next billing cycle. Whether Apple extends this increase to markets beyond the US, UK, and Europe, and how Spotify or other competitors respond in turn, will shape how the streaming price landscape looks heading into next year.