Amazon customers furious after popular service hikes price 17%: 'Goodbye'
Customers are ditching Amazon's flagship music streaming service after the company announced price hikes.
The price of Amazon Music Unlimited, its ad-free subscription program that has almost every song ever recorded, is rising by as much as $3 a month.
Dozens of customers complained about the pricing changes in a Reddit thread titled 'Price increase Family plan. Goodbye [Amazon Music], you've made this decision too easy.'
'I am out,' a Redditor wrote in the thread. 'Price was a big factor now it’s more expensive than Apple [Music].'
It marks the first increase since August 2023 and comes just months after Amazon added free access to one audiobook a month. Amazon is the third biggest music streaming service behind leader Spotify and Apple.
Amazon said on its FAQ page. the increase was 'in order to bring you even more content and new features'.
The Family plan - allowing up to six people to get ad-free audio - has jumped from $16.99 to $19.99 per month, or 17 percent.
For individual plans, the price for ad-free streaming has risen by $1 a month. For Amazon Prime members it up to $10.99, while non-Prime members will pay $11.99.
Amazon recently raised its prices for its music streaming subscription
Amazon’s latest price hike kicked in on January 29 for new subscribers.
Existing customers will see the updated rates on their next monthly renewal starting March 5, 2025.
In November, Amazon announced it would allow subscribers to access one audiobook per month via Audible.
Audible, the e-commerce giant's audiobook and podcast service, offers over 1 million licensed titles.
'They just added audiobooks for “free”, then announced a price increase,' one Redditor chimed in the thread. 'Just go to your account and “downgrade“ to standard, and there is no price increase. Sleazy? Yes. Deal-breaker? Nah. Par for the course with big tech.'
A 30-day free trial is still available for those looking to test the service before committing.
There are still some free options for music lovers. Prime members continue to get access to a version of Amazon Music at no extra cost, featuring the full 100-million-track catalog and hundreds of thousands of ad-free podcast episodes.
But there’s a catch — it mostly locks playback into shuffle mode by artist, album, or playlist.
Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy,
Amazon also runs a free, ad-supported tier.
Amazon Music's non-Prime subscription is now the same price as Spotify's Premium plan.
YouTube Music’s and Apple Music’s subscriptions remain $10.99.
The Amazon Music news comes after the company has cut back on programs to become leaner.
In January, the online shop shuttered its Try Before You Buy service.
The same month Amazon also ended a delivery perk, that allowed free same-day delivery from local clothes stores.
The policies align with internal memos, reported by Entrepreneur, that show Amazon is attempting to get leaner.
'We do not have bottomless pockets,' another customer ranted on Reddit. 'Or endless patience.'
