Apple Music Rises to $11.99 as Apple’s Bundle Math Flips

Apple Music’s individual plan rose to $11.99 a month on July 17, its first price increase since October 2022. The family plan climbed $3 to $19.99, and Apple says rising licensing costs are to blame, the same explanation it gave four years ago.

Buying Apple Music and Apple TV+ as separate subscriptions now costs more per month than Apple’s own all-in-one bundle. And this is the second time in three weeks that an Apple product has gotten more expensive, after a memory chip shortage forced price hikes on Macs and iPads in June.

Tier by Tier, What Changed

Apple confirmed the new prices in a statement to reporters, effective immediately in the United States, the United Kingdom and across Europe, with additional markets, including Brazil, rolling out in the days that followed.

The steepest jump lands on families. A $16.99 plan covering up to six accounts is now $19.99, an increase of nearly 18%. Individual subscribers absorbed a flat $1 increase, or roughly 9%, and student plans rose by the same dollar. Apple One’s cheapest tier, which bundles Apple Music with Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and 50GB of iCloud+ storage, did not move at all. Its Family and Premier tiers each rose $2.

Students get something new for their extra dollar. The $6.99 Student plan now includes free access to Apple TV+, a service that costs $12.99 a month on its own.

The Bundle Now Beats Buying Separately

Add Apple Music’s new $11.99 to Apple TV+’s standalone $12.99 and the total comes to $23.98 a month. Apple One’s Individual plan, unchanged at $19.95, includes both of those services plus Apple Arcade and 50GB of iCloud+ storage for roughly $4 less.

Anyone already paying for Apple Music and Apple TV+ as separate subscriptions is now paying extra for not bundling them. Here is what each Apple One tier includes at its new price.

• Apple One Individual – $19.95 a month, unchanged: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and 50GB of iCloud+ storage.
• Apple One Family – $27.95 a month, up $2: the same four services shared across up to six people, with iCloud+ storage raised to 200GB.
• Apple One Premier – $39.95 a month, up $2: adds Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+, with iCloud+ storage expanded to 2TB.

Every Apple One tier moved by $2 or less, even as the standalone Apple Music Family plan jumped $3 on its own. The gap between paying separately and bundling just got wider.

Same Excuse, Four Years Apart

Apple Music launched in June 2015 at $9.99 a month and held that price for seven years. When it finally rose, in October 2022, individual plans went to $10.99 and family plans to $16.99. Apple’s reasoning then was almost identical to its reasoning now.

As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today.

Apple said in a statement to reporters on July 17, confirming the increase took effect immediately across its main markets. In 2022, Apple added a line missing from this year’s version, saying artists and songwriters would earn more for the streaming of their music. This year’s statement made no such promise. Apple has not named which labels or licensing bodies pushed for higher rates, or said whether the increase is tied to a specific contract renewal.

For its hardware price increases in June, Apple gave far more detail. Memory and storage costs had quadrupled over the prior three quarters, according to Counterpoint Research, as chipmakers redirected factory capacity toward the artificial intelligence data center buildout. For Apple Music, the company offered one sentence and little else.

Apple Mocked This Move Before Making It

Spotify raised its own US prices in February, pushing its Individual plan from $11.99 to $12.99 and its Family plan to $21.99. Apple spent months afterward poking fun at the move on social media, positioning itself as the cheaper, more consumer-friendly option.

Five months later, Apple raised its own prices for the same stated reason Spotify used, landing exactly where Spotify’s Individual plan sat before its hike: $11.99. Apple Music remains a dollar cheaper than Spotify across its main tiers, the same gap that has held since Spotify’s increase in February.

Pandora remains the cheapest major service on paper, leaning into an affordability pitch. Amazon Music’s Prime members get a further discount not reflected in its standalone price above.

A Second Straight Month of Higher Prices

Three weeks before the Apple Music increase, Apple raised prices across nearly its entire hardware lineup. On June 25, the company hiked the cost of MacBooks, iPads, HomePod speakers, the Apple TV set-top box and the Vision Pro. It blamed a global shortage of memory chips tied to the artificial intelligence data center boom. The MacBook Air rose $200 to $1,299, and the MacBook Pro rose $300 to $1,999.

Apple shares fell 6.1% that day, their worst single-day drop in more than a year. Chief Executive Tim Cook had already warned the increases were coming. “This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”

The price increases took effect globally that day, while iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods prices held steady. Apple also nudged up AppleCare+ pricing for Mac and iPad, and raised iCloud+ prices by 11% to 55% in eight countries, including Nigeria, Türkiye and Japan. The US iCloud+ price did not change.

What Could Push the Price Up Again

Apple Music has not announced a free tier, but its own software hints at one. Code spotted in a May beta of Apple Music for Android referenced “premium access required” and a track-skipping limit, a finding first surfaced by developer Aaron Perris and reported in late May. Apple has not said what the strings are for, and it could just as easily involve radio stations.

Spotify has been public about eventual superfan tiers aimed at its heaviest users, while Apple Music’s beta code points toward a cheaper entry point instead. The two rivals appear to be testing opposite edges of the same pricing ladder.

Whatever comes of that, the memory shortage behind Apple’s hardware increases shows no sign of easing. “The memory environment is tough and remains structurally tough for the foreseeable future,” said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of the technology consulting firm Creative Strategies, in comments carried by Fox Business after June’s hikes.

Whether that pressure ever reaches Apple Music again will depend on licensing negotiations, not component costs. Apple’s only two price increases for the service, in 2022 and 2026, arrived almost exactly four years apart.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Will My Apple Music Bill Actually Reflect the New Price?

Existing subscribers are billed at the new rate starting with their next renewal date, not immediately. Apple typically notifies customers by email before the higher charge processes, and new subscribers still get their first month free.

Does the Apple Music Student Plan Require Proof of Enrollment?

Yes. The Student plan remains available only to verified students enrolled in a degree-granting university, a requirement Apple kept in place through this price increase.

Is Apple Music Classical Affected by the Price Increase?

No. Apple Music Classical remains a separate app included with an Apple Music subscription at no additional cost, and access to it was not changed by the July increase.

Does Spotify’s Higher Price Include Anything Apple Music Does Not?

Yes. Spotify’s $12.99 Individual plan bundles 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening, a perk Apple Music does not match. That audiobook bundle has drawn criticism from songwriters, who say it lets Spotify pay a lower royalty rate.

Did Apple TV+ or iCloud+ Prices Change in the US at the Same Time?

No. Apple’s Apple TV+ and iCloud+ prices for US customers stayed the same in this round. Only Apple Music and the Apple One Family and Premier tiers increased domestically, while the iCloud+ increases were limited to select international markets.