In Europe we have not noticed, but Apple Music has seen price increases in some Latin American countries. An individual subscription to the service has gone from 99 to 115 pesos in Mexico, while in Colombia the family plan has gone from 19,900 to 25,000 Colombian pesos.
The reasons for these price increases are diverse and some have global effects, but in other countries like Europe and the United States the price has not changed for years. Could we see an increase in Apple Music prices in our territory?
Taxes and inflation as main causes
The rise in prices in Mexico is due in part to a new law that applied a tax on digital platforms, raising all prices by 16%. The same thing happens in countries like Colombia, but we must also mention the inflation which, in this country, is 8.5% year-on-year at the time of this writing. In Mexico, this inflation is 7.45% at the moment.
And in Europe? The war in Ukraine pushed inflation up to 9.8% last month. Or what amounts to the same thing: everything costs more. And subscriptions can get in there too, with Netflix raising prices and Disney+ peeking out to test the same move.
Price increases are not going unnoticed: there are already those who say that the subscription bubble has burst
However these price increases do not go unnoticed, and Netflix’s financial results are proof of that. There are already those who claim that the subscription bubble has burst, with thousands of users unsubscribing from services for refusing to pay more and more money.
Another addition here is that the music services have always had a fixed price, also keeping the same prices in the US and the rest of Europe. The figure of 9.99 dollars/dollars is a powerful psychological barrier, and if it increased, it would cause a lot of people’s discontent. Spotify is already noticing fewer new subscribers.
There may always be price increases, it is not impossible for Apple to consider increasing Apple Music. But at the same time, we are in a very delicate time to do so: the war in Ukraine is driving up the prices of many foods, and every extra euro in a service which, after all, is not essential for living can mean the loss of many people. And the services division is what’s bringing a lot of growth to Apple right now, so my feeling is that they should take care of that.
