Amazon Music

Music Streaming Showdown: Amazon Jumps on the Price Hike Bandwagon!

Amazon Music Unlimited raises its subscription prices to match Spotify's. Is this a trend we should be wary of?

Hold on to your earbuds, music lovers! Amazon Music Unlimited has just hit the crescendo of confusion with a hefty price increase across the board. That’s right, for all you non-Prime members in Canada (and the US and UK too), your monthly tunes are now costing you a note more at $11.99. Gone are the days of cushy deals during Prime Day! With this price boost, Amazon is finding a way to keep up with Spotify's premium offerings, which just raised their subscription to $11.99 as well. It’s like a grocery store sale — as soon as one store jacks up the price, the others follow annoyingly close behind!

But the price adjustments don’t stop there! If you thought the individual plan was hitting your wallet too hard, wait until you hear about the family plan. Suddenly, cozying up with your family for a musical experience can also mean dishing out an additional $3 per month. Now, the Amazon Unlimited Family Plan is rocking a $19.99 price tag, making you think twice whether it's worth sharing your listening preferences with all those little ones (or big ones) in your home! Hey, at least now everyone can argue about who gets to choose next on that playlist.

On an amusing note, can anyone explain why these music streaming platforms always seem to be in a race for the highest price? It’s like they’re playing a game of musical chairs where the last one standing is the highest-priced service. As customers, we might have to start placing bets on who leaps into the next price increase first. Let’s not forget about the audiobook-equipped membership too! Apparently, Amazon is hedging its bets by throwing in those audiobooks as part of the package. It’s like, ‘Hey, for an extra dose of financial pain, why not also listen to somebody reading to you?’

So, while we all might be groaning about these increases, it’s worth noting that streaming prices have generally been all over the place lately. Did you know that in the wild world of music subscriptions, artists usually see only about 0.005 to 0.0084 cents per stream? Meanwhile, platforms like Spotify and Amazon are currently basking in the warm glow of millions of subscribers, but it's consumers who are feeling it in their bank accounts. With Amazon determined to be on the same pricing pedestal as Spotify, we can only laugh (and cringe) at the irony of choosing between two identical payment plans. One thing is for sure: our playlists have never been this expensive!