- Amazon is hiking prices for its Music Unlimited plans.
- The Music Unlimited individual plan without Prime is now the same price as Spotify.
- There’s a bigger case to be made for another streaming service.
If you currently get your music fix courtesy of Amazon Music Unlimited, we have some bad news: whether you’re a Prime member or not, it’s about to get more expensive to listen to your favorite songs, albums, and playlists this way.
Amazon has announced a price hike for all tiers of its Amazon Music Unlimited streaming service and published an FAQ detailing the changes.
For Prime Members, an individual plan jumps to $10.99 a month from $9.99, and an annual subscription is now $109 from $99. Without Prime – though I’m not sure how many subscribers this might be – a Music Unlimited individual plan is going from $10.99 to $11.99.
If you’re subscribed as a family, that Music Unlimited Plan is getting the biggest increase at $19.99 monthly from $16.99 and $199.99 from $169.99 for a yearly plan.
For individuals, though, the increase now puts Music Unlimited without Prime at the same price as Spotify, $11.99 for an individual plan. Even with a Prime membership, Amazon Music Unlimited isn’t as much of a bargain as it once was.
The new prices are in effect right now, as of January 29, 2025, for new customers, and folks already subscribed to Music Unlimited with or without the Prime member discount will see the new prices on or after March 5, 2025. It depends on when your billing cycle date falls.
Given the price hikes, opting for Amazon over Spotify or another streaming service becomes a bit harder to answer. I personally use both Apple Music and Spotify, and many of my colleagues favor one of these, especially for the Wrapped experience on the latter.
Sure, Amazon Music Unlimited offers the essentials, including ad-free streaming, playlists, and some curation. Further, it even offers HD audio and lossless, something that we’re still waiting for Spotify to match .. speaking of which, have we heard about Spotify Hi-Fi yet in 2025?
And what Amazon Music Unlimited lacks, let’s say, in curation, Apple Music and Spotify more than make up for, not to mention with larger purported user bases, there’s a better chance some of your friends might be using one or two of them. Apple Music still offers radio stations and various playlists curated by artists, and Spotify has pushed with its AI DJ and ever-popular ‘Daylist’ offering.
Like Netflix’s reasoning for its price hikes earlier this month, Amazon is also touting more features in the future. In the FAQ, Amazon writes, “In order to bring you even more content and new features, we’re updating the price of select Amazon Music Unlimited plans.”
One benefit of Music Unlimited is that it easily integrates with Amazon Echo smart speakers and displays, but you can also switch to your preferred platform just as easily.
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jacob.krol@futurenet.com (Jacob Krol)
