As Apple Inc. raises prices on its streaming music service and Spotify Technology SA teases a similar move, Amazon.com Inc. is going in a different direction.
The e-commerce giant announced Tuesday that it was expanding the music benefits that it gives Prime subscribers. The new perk gives Amazon Prime members access to “a full catalog of 100 million songs and the most top podcasts available ad-free, at no additional cost to their membership.”
Amazon’s
AMZN,
release noted that the Amazon Music benefit for Prime members previously gave them access to 2 million songs in an ad-free experience.
Amazon Prime currently costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year. Prior to this announcement, Amazon Music on its own cost $8.99 a month or $89 a year, or $9.99 a month for non-Prime members.
The company’s move comes shortly after Apple
AAPL,
bumped up the price of its Apple Music service to $10.99 a month for an individual plan, compared with $9.99 a month prior. Apple also increased the price of its Apple One bundle, which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ services, as well as gaming and cloud storage depending on a user’s plan.
Apple said that the price increase reflects “an increase in licensing costs” and that, “in turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music.”
See also: Apple TV+ price increase is another sign company is ‘building the next HBO,’ says analyst
Spotify
SPOT,
Chief Executive Daniel Ek later shared on his company’s earnings call that a price increase in the U.S. “is one of the things that we would like to do” and something that executives would discuss.
