Amazon isn’t just increasing the cost of Prime, but it’s also increasing the cost of Music Unlimited for Prime members. Starting May 5, Amazon Music Unlimited is going to cost $8.99 per month or $89 for the whole year. That’s up a buck from $7.99 per month and $79 per year. On top of that, the single-device plan is also increasing from $3.99 per month to $4.99 per month.
Interestingly, the price of Amazon Music Unlimited for non-Prime members is unchanged, it’ll still cost $9.99 per month.
The Prime discount is basically dead
When Amazon launched Music Unlimited, it discounted the service for those that subscribed to Prime. But now with this price increase, that discount is basically dead. As it has been cut in half. So instead of saving $2 per month, you’re only saving $1 per month now. What’s even worse is that Prime is also increasing from $119 to $139 per year (or $12.99 to $14.99 per month, which you should pay for the yearly option).
Amazon Music is reported to be the world’s third-largest streaming music service, behind Spotify and Apple Music. And as of Q2 last year, Midia reported that Apple Music had 78.6 million subscribers, compared to Amazon music with 68.1 million. Of course, Spotify is far ahead with over 180 million premium subscribers (that doesn’t include their free members), at the end of 2021.
It’s a bit surprising that Amazon Music Unlimited is so popular, but that Prime discount likely was a big reason for that. Since it was cheaper than Spotify, Apple Music and even YouTube Music.
This price increase likely won’t lead to a price increase for competing services, since this is only for the Prime version of Amazon Music, and not the prices overall. It’s still priced at $9.99 per month, the same as Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music. But the way things are going up in price, it wouldn’t surprise us.
2022-04-06 15:04:50