Will music streaming prices rise again? Probably, and regularly
Music streaming services have been raising their prices in recent years and whilst consumer feelings are mixed, the industry may need more.
For many years, as the music streaming industry blossomed and grew their prices remained the same. Competition and growth managed to stave away over a decade’s worth of inflation. Then, in 2023, music streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer raised their base subscription prices.
With the value of subscriptions falling each year as music streaming services maintained their prices, it was an inevitable outcome. Since breaking the seal, prices of many streaming services have risen again since 2023.
Spotify announced just earlier this month that their monthly subscription rate will be rising across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Meanwhile, Apple Music Vice President Oliver Schusser has put to bed suggestions that Apple Music’s costs will also rise shortly.
But as global costs rise, price rises are a necessity. So, will music streaming prices continue to rise, by how much, and how often?
The predicted future for music streaming prices
Goldman Sachs recently unveiled some of their key findings in their Music In The Air report for free. Contained within is an astonishing prediction that music industry revenues will grow from $105 billion to nearly double that in 2025.
There are a number of reasons behind the industry’s remarkable growth. A leading factor is the growth of emerging markets, which reportedly accounted for 60% of new streaming subscribers in 2024 and Goldman Sachs claims “still leaves an untapped audience of billions”.
However, price rises are an important factor and future growth may depend on more subscription price rises. Goldman Sachs wrote: “Thus far, music streaming has lagged on-demand video streaming in terms of price. In the U.S., the monthly subscription price for streaming video has been rising by 15% nearly every two years for the past decade, whereas music streaming prices have been largely stagnant.”
Of course, we are seeing continuing price increases with Spotify. However, competition remains strong between the music streaming services as seen by Apple’s public commitment not to follow Spotify in this year’s price changes.
Goldman Sachs predict that industry-wide, we will see price rises in music streaming – perhaps as often as every year. They write: “We see increased confidence among industry participants that price increases will happen every 12-24 months going forward.”
Subscription price rises are particularly import in markets where music streaming is already strong. Without considerable space for growth in new consumers, price rises provide an answer to growth both to build the businesses and follow inflation.