Spotify could soon match Amazon Music Unlimited’s untimely price hike

Just when you thought your subscription bills couldn’t get any higher, Amazon has announced a price increase for its Music Unlimited streaming service – and this could, unfortunately, point to a similar increase in Spotify rates.

Beginning February 21, subscribers to both the individual and student Amazon Music Unlimited plans in the US and UK (opens in new tab) will have to pay more for the same service. The individual plan goes up from $9.99 / £9.99 to $10.99 / £10.99 per month, while students will have to pay $5.99 / £5.99 per month (was $4.99 / £4.99).

These increases have sadly become the norm for music streaming services, with Apple also increasing its individual plan by the same amount last October. As you can see in the table below, Spotify is now a bit of an outlier among its closest streaming rivals, but there’s good reason to believe that won’t be the case for long.

Speaking on Spotify’s October 2022 earnings call, the streaming service’s CEO Daniel Ek said a price hike in the US is “one of the things we’d like to do.” He added that “if you think in light of our competitors raising prices, that naturally also gives us more confidence to get involved”.

In other words, the imminent rise of Amazon Music Unlimited only makes an imminent Spotify surge more likely. This could also potentially affect the long-discussed Spotify HiFi service for high-resolution audio fans, which was previously rumored to cost $19.99 per month. If the price of that “Platinum” level, if it ever arrives, moves above that rumored price point, it could be a tough sell in the current climate.

Streaming services vary in their bitrates and audio quality, which is why Spotify currently trails Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services. In fact, Tidal HiFi currently looks like a particularly good deal, especially since it generally pays artists a higher amount per stream than its rivals.

Analysis: Free trials may provide temporary relief

The most annoying thing about these streaming price hikes is that you don’t get anything extra except vague promises of future improvements. Amazon, for example, says that the imminent emergence of Music Unlimited is to “bring you our service in the usual quality.”

For many, these monthly increases can add up and make a music streaming service hard to justify. Some services offer cheaper options – on Music Unlimited, for example, there’s a single device subscription (which remains at the current price of $4.99 / £4.99 per month). But as the name suggests, it means you can only stream music on one Amazon Echo device.

If you’re willing to hop around and set some reminders, another option is to embrace the free trial of any streaming service to bring bills down to zero in the short term. As we showed in our recent guide to unsubscribing, it’s possible to get ten months (or eight months in the UK) of free music if you buy the free trials of Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify Premium, Tidal, YouTube Music and Deezer.

Naturally, these offers are only available to new subscribers, so you can’t use trials for services you’re currently using (or have already used in a free trial). But if you’re looking to escape music streaming price hikes in the short term, those free trials are definitely worth exploring, as long as you set a reminder to cancel before that first monthly charge.