Your Music Subscription Is About to Get More Expensive, but Don’t Expect Better Service

No, it’s not because of inflation.

It might not be a surprise that your favorite music app just got more expensive. But, what might surprise you is why.

This isn’t just about inflation. It’s about a changing industry, where labels are asking for more, platforms are spending big on new features, and streaming services are being pushed to show profits.

And, chances are, the trend is here to stay.

What’s Happening With Music Streaming Prices Right Now

Most major streaming platforms have raised their prices recently. Some have also reshaped their subscription plans, dropped free options, or introduced new pricing tiers.

Here’s a quick look at where things stand now.

Amazon raised prices for both monthly and annual subscriptions, making its family plan one of the most expensive now. Spotify’s price also went up just $1, but with new tiers in the works, that might not be the end of it.

Tidal made one of the biggest changes by merging its HiFi and HiFi Plus tiers into a single plan. This lowered the monthly cost for users who previously paid for HiFi Plus.

This sounds like a charity work. But, Tidal also removed its free plan, so everyone now has to pay to listen.

Meanwhile, Qobuz launched a new discounted plan just for students. At only $4.99 per month, it offers full access to the service’s high-resolution library, though it’s only available for listeners aged 18 to 25 who are enrolled in school.

These changes show how music platforms are testing new strategies. Some are trying to boost what they earn per user. Others are reworking their offers to appeal to new types of listeners.

One thing is clear: the pricing landscape is shifting, and it’s not done changing yet.

Why Prices Are Rising

There’s more to these price hikes than inflation. Music streaming services are dealing with a mix of financial pressure, changing business models, and demands from the industry that go far beyond rising costs.

• Licensing costs and royalty tensions
• Record labels push for higher prices
• Expensive new features
• Ad-supported and budget tiers are losing steam
• Profitability pressure

Licensing costs and royalty tensions

Streaming platforms don’t just pay for access to music. They have to license each song and pay royalties to artists, labels, and songwriters. As artists demand better compensation, those licensing fees are going up.

Apple Music said its 2023 price increase would help songwriters and musicians earn more per stream.

Spotify raised prices too, but it also drew criticism for doing the opposite.

In 2024, Spotify began using a legal workaround known as bundling. By including audiobooks in its Premium plan, it reclassified the subscription as a “bundled service.” This allowed Spotify to reduce mechanical royalty payments under U.S. law, even as subscribers paid more.

Record labels push for higher prices

Major labels aren’t staying quiet. Across the board, label executives believe streaming undervalues music and are pressuring platforms to raise rates.

This pressure matters because labels control most of the music people listen to. As contracts get renewed and renegotiated, streaming platforms are likely to give in and pass those costs onto users.

Slowing growth and market saturation

In the U.S., music streaming is starting to hit a ceiling. Subscriber growth slowed to just 3% in 2024, the lowest in years.

Without new users flooding in, platforms need to earn more from the people already paying. That means increasing the average revenue per user, or ARPU.

Expensive new features

Streaming isn’t just about playlists anymore. Services now offer high-resolution audio, spatial sound, live sessions, and AI-powered music discovery.

These features are popular, but they aren’t cheap to develop or maintain.

Spotify’s rumored “superfan” subscription could include special artist content or exclusive access for die-hard fans. Other services are already offering better sound quality and curated experiences.

But these upgrades add to costs, and platforms are starting to pass those costs on to users.

Ad-supported and budget tiers are losing steam

Cheaper plans used to be a way to bring new users in the door. But that strategy isn’t working like it used to. Revenue from ad-supported streaming dropped in 2024, and budget plans like Amazon Prime Music have started to fall behind.

These plans bring in less money and are becoming less appealing to platforms. Instead of expanding them, many services are shifting users toward full-price subscriptions. Some features are also being removed from lower tiers, making the higher-priced plans more tempting (or necessary).

Profitability pressure

Spotify posted its first full-year profit in 2024 after more than a decade in the red. Deezer finally reached break-even after years of losses. But other platforms are still struggling.

Tidal’s parent company took a $132 million write-down in early 2024, a sign that the service isn’t hitting financial targets.

Qobuz, while praised for its sound quality and editorial features, is also in a tough spot as its subscribers are estimated to be below 1M. Still, the platform pays artists more than most services (around $0.022 per stream).

So, while that generous payout helps musicians, it makes it harder to turn a profit.

Licensing costs eat up a huge part of revenue, and when you add in operational expenses like app development and support, there isn’t much wiggle room. With ad revenues flattening and subscriber growth slowing, raising prices is one of the few levers left.

How Listeners Are Responding

For all the talk about rising prices, a lot of people are still hanging on to their music subscriptions.

Looking at the numbers, we’d see that Spotify actually added 27 million new paying users in 2024 alone, pushing their total to over 263 million. So, it’s easy to assume that, that kind of growth doesn’t happen if people are fleeing in droves.

But dig a little deeper, and the cracks start to show.

According to a 2024 survey, over half of U.S. adults canceled at least one streaming subscription due to rising costs.

Some users have started rotating services each month, switching between platforms depending on what they want to listen to. Others have dropped from family plans to individual ones or shifted to free tiers where possible.

Will consumers reach a breaking point?

That’s the big question. Right now, many users still feel like streaming is worth it. For around $11 a month, you get access to tens of millions of songs, offline listening, playlists, and discovery tools.

But the gap between value and cost is starting to narrow.

If services keep raising prices while removing features or adding restrictions, people may stop seeing their subscriptions as a no-brainer.

The convenience of streaming only goes so far if it stops feeling affordable.

Where This Is All Heading

Streaming was once seen as the future of music. Now it’s the foundation. But that foundation is starting to crack in places, and platforms are making big changes to keep things steady.

So, if prices are already rising, what else is coming next?

• Growth is slowing, so profit must come from you
• More tiers, more costs, and fewer freebies
• Account-sharing rules are starting to tighten

Growth is slowing, so profit must come from you

Streaming subscriptions now make up the bulk of the music industry’s income.

With fewer revenue options left, streaming platforms are focusing on the one path they can still control — getting more money from their existing subscribers.

And that’s not a temporary fix. It’s now the core strategy.

Unfortunately, subscriber growth is also starting to stall. And, since the wave of new users is drying up, services are turning their attention inward. They’re raising prices, rolling out higher-priced tiers, and encouraging free users to switch to paid plans.

More tiers, more costs, and fewer freebies

More services are adding features that used to be free into paid plans or new add-ons.

For example, Spotify has tried moving song lyrics behind its Premium plan for many users. (Although, they retracted this after a few months a lots of backlash)

Tidal used to include DJ features in its main subscription, but now charges an extra $9 per month for them through a new add-on.

These kinds of changes suggest that more core features may soon come with an extra fee.

Account-sharing rules are starting to tighten

Shared plans are another focus. Platforms know they lose money when multiple people use one account.

The RIAA counts family plans as a single subscription, even if five or six people are streaming from it. This lowers the average revenue per user, which puts pressure on platforms to fix the math.

They’re taking notes from other industries.

Netflix, for example, began tracking where users log in from and started charging for anyone outside the main household. Streaming music services may soon follow that model. Location tracking, limited device access, or extra user fees could become part of future family plan rules.

If you’ve been sharing a plan with friends or relatives in other places, don’t be surprised if that gets harder — or more expensive.