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Apple is raising the prices of its entertainment services

Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One are getting more expensive in a first-ever price hike of Apple services.

Apple logo

Apple's music and video subscriptions are getting more expensive.

Image: Apple

Apple is raising the prices of several of its subscription services: The company began charging $10.99 for Apple Music on Monday, a $2 per month price increase. The price for Apple TV+ is also being increased by $2 to $6.99 per month, while the company’s Apple One subscription bundle now costs $16.95 per month, $2 more than before. It’s the first time the company has increased the price tag of its entertainment subscriptions since it launched Apple Music in 2015.

Apple is also increasing prices for discounted subscriptions, including annual and family plans, where available. 9to5Mac, which was first to report the news, has a detailed breakdown of all the changes, as well as a company statement that blamed the Apple Music price hike on increased licensing costs. "In turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music," an Apple spokesperson told the publication.

Apple's spokesperson also argued that the Apple TV+ price increase was justified because of the company's ramped-up content slate. The company isn’t alone in its strategy of passing rising costs onto the consumer. Google announced a price hike of its YouTube Premium family plan last week, and Disney+ prices are going up in December. And the price increase for Apple Music could give other music subscription services, including Spotify, cover to follow suit.

However, the price increase also comes just a week ahead of Netflix’s introduction of a lower-priced, ad-supported tier. That plan is priced the same as Apple TV+ after today’s price hike. Before those changes, Netflix’s cheapest plan was twice as expensive as Apple's offering.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Apple is looking to introduce an ad-supported Apple TV+ plan as well.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Apple One's price. This story was updated on Oct. 24, 2022.
Janko Roettgers

Janko Roettgers (Twitter, Mastodon) used to be a senior reporter at Protocol, reporting on the shifting power dynamics between tech, media, and entertainment, including the impact of new technologies. Previously, Janko was Variety's first-ever technology writer in San Francisco, where he covered big tech and emerging technologies. He has reported for Gigaom, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung, and ORF, among others. He has written three books on consumer cord-cutting and online music and co-edited an anthology on internet subcultures. He lives with his family in Oakland.

entertainmentstreamingsubscriptionsappleapple tvapple musicmusic streamingtelevision
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